Marinerds, etc.

I got an email request this morning to translate Kazumi Saitoh's latest diary entry. I didn't think too much of it until I started checking up on the dailies and saw that he was taken off the roster, for possibly quite a while, with fatigue in his right shoulder.

CRAP.

Unfortunately, this is a known defect; he's had shoulder trouble in the past, and an operation several years ago. I had actually noticed that he seemed off his game during the Fighters-Hawks game I liveblogged a few weeks ago -- notably, he couldn't throw a curveball for a strike, and his velocity was down a bit. And he's been throwing a lot more pitches than he usually does. So, for the Saitoh fans who were wondering why he wasn't flat-out dominating this year -- now you know why. Seems like they're hoping he'll be back in shape to play in a few months, but man -- that's a HUGE hit to the Hawks to have him out for a while, even though Arakaki-Wada-Sugiuchi is STILL quite a punch at the top of the rotation.

Anyway for Grace, who requested it, his latest diary entry reads:

右肩の疲労のため、登録抹消する事になりました。
開幕前から、肩の回復具合が今年は遅いと感じて、今年の開幕を向かえました。
現在もそうですが“痛み”は無く、少しの希望や可能性を信じて、色々と調整法を変えたりいていたんですが。
この１週間～１０日間の回復具合があまりに良くないので、自分なりに色々考え決断しました。
決断するまでは、少しでもチームに貢献出来るというものがあったんですが、これ以上はチームにも自分自身にも良い方向ではない、と判断しました。
ファンの皆さんには、大変申し訳ないんですが、万全の体調で復帰し、「朝の声だし」で言った約束を守るために、頑張ります！

And here I translate:

Because of fatigue in my right shoulder, I have been taken off the roster.
Even since before Opening Day, I felt like my shoulder was slow to recover, but I stepped up to the mound on Opening Day regardless.
Recently I don't actually feel *pain* in my shoulder, and I've been hopeful and believing in the possibility that I could just change my preparation routine between starts, but.
After the last week or ten days or so where my shoulder recovery has been lousy, we came to a bunch of decisions.
It has been decided thats even though I have been contributing a little to the team, it's not good for either me OR the team for me to continue pitching like this.
To all the fans, I am REALLY sorry about this. But I am going to do my best to get back to full health, and to keep the promises I made during the "Morning Voice".

(I went back and listened to what he said during the Morning voice stuff during spring training, but it was basically "We will be the best in the world! We will throw manager Oh up in the air in victory after the season!")

You know who I really feel bad for? Naoki Matoba, the guy who pretty much only still has a job on the top-level team because he's Saitoh's personal catcher for the most part, who has gotten all of one hit in 17 plate appearances this year. Of course, catchers have pretty much been a black hole in the Hawks lineup since Kenji Johjima left, so whatever.

By the way, yes, the Fighters are still the only team in the Pacific League who haven't reached double digits in wins. When I predicted that Rakuten was not going to finish in the cellar this year, I wasn't expecting the team below them to be my Sapporo squad, but alas, that seems to be the way it's going. Aside from Darvish, none of the pitchers are really dealing like they were last year, and nobody on the team is slugging over .500; Seguignol and Inaba are trying, but the loss of Ogasawara and Shinjo in the lineup is actually making a fairly big difference. Tsuboi's doing his usual high-average low-power thing, Hichori's not bad but he still needs to cut down on his strikeouts, and Kensuke Tanaka is finally picking up the pace a bit. I guess all is not lost, especially if they can find a foreign slugger who can actually hit (Sorry, Mr. Green.). Brian Sweeney is starting to learn the Japanese strike zone a bit better, too. But, eh. We'll see, I guess.

I've got a bunch of things going on such that I haven't had much time to work on the blogging things I wanted to. Sorry about that. I'm actually thinking of going to Mariners Fan Fest next Sunday (even though it'll make me sad that it's not as cool as Phillies fan events. Also, how about that Chase Utley contract?)

So instead, here's another translation installment of Kazumi Saitoh's blogging about training in Arizona. I forget if I explained this, but in Japan, spring training (aka "spring camp") starts on February 1st, but most players start what's called 自主トレ, or "independent training" around the beginning of January. Yeah, they're crazy, but at least it's something to read about besides contracts. Most guys just hang out in their local area -- the Fighters, for example, are training near Chiba -- but some go to various other places, and as previously mentioned, Softbank Hawks players Kokubo, Egawa, and Saitoh are in Arizona, along with Yokohama's Yoshimi.

Anyway, here's Saitoh's latest blog entry, and my translation, which is about their daily routine:

Well, I'm half done my independent training time in Arizona, and I feel like I'm almost ready to start our real spring training.
Here, let me tell everyone about the daily routine I have in Arizona. (I'm betting *some* people might wonder about it...)

First, we're all staying in separate rooms so we have slightly different schedules, but I get up at 5:30am:

5:30 AM: Wake up
6:00 AM: Breakfast
6:40 AM: Leave the hotel
7:00 AM: Arrive at the gym

Upon arriving at the gym, as soon as preparations are done, we start practice! (The coaches get there even earlier than we do.)

Each day's gym workout routine is a little different, but takes about the same amount of time, we're usually there until around 9 or 10am.
Once we're finished training in the gym, we head to the baseball stadium. It takes about 20 minutes to get there by car. And once we get to the stadium, we start our practice there!
First we do running, 12 times around the field, for lower body strengthening. Then we do 12 reps of sit-ups and other back stretches. Then once that's all over, we finally actually do something with a baseball!
We pitchers throw a baseball around, while the fielders also play catch and pepper (one guy throws the ball lightly and hits it back), and bat off a tee. We start practice so early that by the time the afternoon rolls around, we go back to the hotel and do things like playing golf for a few hours for a change of pace.
Since we get up so early in the morning, we also go to sleep early. I'm always asleep by 9pm, and before I know it, it's morning! (laughs)
This is what it's like to do "independent training".

This year, again just like last year, I'm training hard to be a new and different "Kazumi Saitoh" than before. I hope you're all looking forward to this season, I know I am!
So, "Good night!"

Nikkan Sports caught up with the guys in Arizona and put up a few pictures: Egawa hitting, Saitoh and Kokubo stretching, Saitoh and Kokubo reading off the day's routine, Kokubo hitting.

While I'm at it, there's plenty of other awesome independent training shots on Nikkan Sports:
Tigers: Spaceman Tomoaki Kanemoto, Gunner Okazaki, some new form of Torture the Rookie, Tatsuya Kojima competing for worst teeth on the team, and Mizuochi gets sent to the farm team on a cart. No, just kidding.

Fighters: A Hichori sighting!, Yagi and Takeda pose with some bored-looking kids, Naoto Inada does a DJ OZMA pose, Takahito Kudoh and "also, puppies", and outfielder Inaba is throwing in the bullpen? What?

Hawks: Tsuyoshi Wada practices archery, and uhhh, I have no idea what Matsunaka and Matsuda are doing in a picture captioned "I will make the opening day lineup". Also, this is what a coaches' meeting looks like, apparently.

Akinori Iwamura will apparently not have a Japanese teammate after all, as Shinji Mori was released on Thursday, supposedly. Well, unless Jason Grabowski counts, as a Devil Rays NRI who played (and sucked) last season with the Orix Buffaloes.

Also, the Yomiuri Giants signed Luis Gonzalez. No, not this one, this one. I hope *they* realize that, though...

Yes, I'm still a big dork. Yes, this is what I feel like translating today.

Saitoh, Kokubo, Egawa and Yoshimi spent Sunday going to the Grand Canyon, and Saitoh wrote about it on his blog:

On the 14th, we finally had our first off-day since coming to Arizona, so everyone went to the Grand Canyon.

I had actually been there two years ago when I trained in Arizona, and this was Kokubo's fourth time there, but since Egawa and Yoshimi had never been there, we went for their sake.
So even though I'd been there before, we took a different route there this time, and I got just as excited as the other two.
We arrived at the Grand Canyon around 4pm. Along the way I saw sand that looked like the most pure white snow. Seeing that "snow" along one side as we went through the desert area, it was just the most beautiful scenery, so peaceful and relaxing!
After two years, all I could say about the Grand Canyon this time was still just "Awesome!" "Amazing!"
The power of nature is so amazing that it just makes your worries and even your own existence seem so small in comparison.
It's usually a difficult thing to comprehend, but when you're in front of the Grand Canyon, you know that it's the truth.
Everyone, if you ever have the chance, by all means try to come here. I'm sure it's been a life-changing experience for people who have.
Thanks to the beauty and peace of the Grand Canyon, I feel refreshed and ready to work hard at training from tomorrow onward!

PS - when I return to Japan, I'll put the pictures I took at the Grand Canyon and of our training workouts in general up on the home page, so, please wait until then to enjoy them!

Wheeee, sounds like they're having fun, and I am looking forward to seeing pictures, that's for sure! It's really a shame I sort of feel like rooting for every team in the Pacific League except Orix this year for one reason or another -- despite that being a Fighters fan is supposed to make me anti-Hawks, I'm such a Saitoh fangirl, and I'm hoping Kokubo really does come back from this in good shape, and I wonder if Egawa is still doing his "Post-Kokubo" training by following him around, heh. At least he's having more fun than the Hawks rookies, who are going through new member orientation (no, really) and all.

Oh yeah, and in other news, the song "Sorafune" by TOKIO is going to be the opening theme for the Spring Koshien high school invitational tournament. Which is funny to me, since I've had that song going through my head for a few weeks now. (Yes, I watched "My Boss My Hero". Yes, I like Tomoya Nagase. Shut up.)

And FINALLY some news about Seguignol! Sounds like a 1-year, 2-oku contract with incentives bringing it to 2.5-oku (about $2 million), and they're hoping to have it all settled in time for spring camp. Woohoo! I am a lot less worried now about our lack of bats, even though Andy Green could still be a big question mark. GANBARE FIGHTERS!

He's such a dork, he arrived and almost immediately updated his blog on his website :) And because I'm such a dork I figured I'd write out a blog translation.

Today's entry will be here once it becomes backnumbered. He's apparently in Phoenix with fellow Hawks Hiroki Kokubo and Tomoaki Egawa (and Yokohama's Yoshimi). 43-year-old veteran pitcher Kimiyasu Kudoh, who just got taken by the Bay Stars as compensation for the Giants signing away FA Ken Kadokura, has also been in Phoenix for a while. Anyway, Saitoh writes:

Yay! My computer's up and I've got a net connection! (though I didn't set it up.)
From today onwards (it's now 9:30pm on the 8th in Arizona) we've started our independent training!
Honestly, starting training has me thinking a bunch of mixed feelings, from "I'm nervous", to "Okay, I've started training again" to "Geez... it's already started...?"
But, in order to feel less uneasy in spring training amidst the shouts of "run!" "throw!" etc, I think I want to get back into a serious workout routine while I'm here.
Arizona has some crazy awesome weather!
It's like Hawaii or Guam, really high temperature (hot like summertime), but the humidity is low, it's a really great environment to be in.
Only catch is that I have to be careful of the low temperatures in the morning and evening. Except for that, this is the best place ever!

Anyway, I'm going to go to sleep to prepare for tomorrow's workout. I want to get up early for training camp.
I'll write more about it again later.
So, goodnight...

I've thought it might be fun to translate some Japanese player blogs here from time to time, we'll see. I should go back and translate the one where Saitoh was like, "51 million dollars?!?! Holy crap!"

Also, alert Jeff Shaw! Ex-Hawk Tadahito Iguchi is hanging out in Nago, Okinawa, trying to teach Hawks catcher Naoki Matoba how to hit. Given that catcher is the main hole in the lineup offense-wise for the Hawks next year, this could be a great service Iguchi is providing for his former team.