Where are they Now? Jesus "Evil Ways" Luna

[DanD]

On January 11th, 2008, Jesús Luna signed a seven year, $104,615,000 contract with the Yamato Battleships of the League of the Rising Sun. It was a sad in Arlington. Unable to afford such a quality starting pitcher, the Arlington franchise was forced to look internally.

A long journey started for Luna. Actually, the journey started the week before when his agent Richard Bonedus suggested a visit to Japan. Frustrated with a lack of offers from PEBA teams, several Japanese teams contacted Bonedus early in January.

What he didn’t expect was a flood of fans, players and general managers waiting for him at the Tokyo airport. Overwhelmed with the tremendous greeting, Luna knew he found a new home immediately. “I couldn’t believe the response. I was in awe. No one in PEBA would be willing to give either the salary or the years of contract that I knew I deserved. As soon as I touched ground in Japan, it was an absolute bidding war. I loved the attention and the respect I was given. By the end of the day, I decided on the Yamato organization.”

The 2008 season has not gone nearly as well as the reception he was initially given. Luna has won 14 games and lost 9 with a 4.14 ERA. His ERA is nearly a run higher than last year (3.12 in 2007). The statistic that is very surprising is the number of home runs allowed. In 197.2 innings pitched, Luna has allowed 51 home runs! He has given up 38 more than last year. Luna has this excuse for the striking increase: “Japanese hitters are much more aggressive than I am used to. The parks are much smaller than what was in the PEBA league. Every time someone hits a strong fly ball, I cringe. My fastball is just not as crisp as it should be. Once I get past the first pitch, I feel like I regain the control.” This must be true. Luna has struck out the fifth most strike outs in the league with 211.

Luna will be counted on as Yamato makes a push for the playoffs. Yamato has won 81 and lost 61. They are currently tied in the wild card standings with the Niihama-shi Ghosts. There are just 4 games to play in the regular season. Good luck to the Yamato franchise and Jesús Luna. The whole Arlington fan nation will be watching.

[John]

Glad to see an article about one of our foreign leagues! As it turns out, Yamato did indeed make the playoffs by 2 games over Niihama-shi. Looks like Luna will start game 2 of the series against Shin Seiki. I personally enjoy watching the foreign leagues play out, especially now that my own team has been unceremoniously dumped from the race.

[DanD]

Yeah it sucks when your team comes up short. Especially a team such as yours, John. Luna was a great player for us. I just wish he wasn't so insistant on 7 years at age 30. I really wish he was state side with us. Two questions, why does the league report still say 10-20 and was it supposed to be updated?

[John]

The HTML reports get updated about an hour and a half after the league file. It's updated now.