By Keitaro Kato, Transmitters Tribune

April 15^th, 2012: Kawaguchi, Japan – Nori Yamamoto is playing some of the best baseball of his life, but he sure isn’t happy about.  This is because new Transmitters’ GM Sebastian Pruiti just brought in Masamune Matsui with a pretty hefty price tag attached.  A one-year, $3.5 million deal was able to land the power-hitting catcher who has hit over 20 home runs each of the past five years.

When asked during Monday’s press conference why he made this deal after all of the cost-cutting moves this offseason, Pruiti was very blunt.  “With the salary we were able to slash early in the offseason, we had some money to spend.  Being able to get a great hitter like Matsui on a one-year deal is key because he can be a stopgap until Félix Lima is ready.”

After the press conference, reporters were quick to rush to Yamamoto’s locker, who was just finishing up changing before his 3^rd pre-season game.  Apparently, the deal wasn’t run by Yamamoto.  “We signed who?  Matsui?  Really?  You guys pulling a prank?”  When he was assured that he wasn’t being “punk’d”, Yamamoto let loose.  “This is just blatant disrespect.  I am playing some of the best baseball of my life, and they sign a guy to compete with me?  I just gotta do me, though.”

Yamamoto is correct; he is playing the best baseball of his life.  After seven games, Yamamoto is hitting .500 over 28 at bats, with 5 RBI.

After Yamamoto’s comments, I had to go back to Mr. Pruiti and had to see if he had any type of response.  I showed him the notebook with the quotes, and Sebastian Pruiti just let out another one of his patented chuckles.  “Is this guy f***ing serious?”  I nodded.  “Disrespect,” Pruiti continued.  “Nori was a throw-in during that Luna deal.  We don’t owe him anything, respect included.  He is lucky we are keeping him on the roster at this point.”

As I started to walk out of his office, Mr. Pruiti let off one more round.  “If you see Nori again, tell him the only guy he is competing with is Yoshiki Iwasaki for the backup spot.”

Shojiro Sano is Still Striking Out

Shojiro Sano has loads of potential.  He has tons of pop, a pretty good glove and some good smarts.  However, one thing he can’t seem to shake is the “strikeout bug”.  In 458 at bats last year, Sano struck out 99 times while only walking 37 times.  He struck out 21% of his at bats while only walking every 2.7 times he struck out.

Entering spring training, Sebastian Pruiti and the rest of the staff were hoping he had gotten his strikeout problems in order.  Apparently, he hasn’t.  In 37 plate appearances, Sano has already struck out 11 times (20% of the team’s total strikeouts), and he has posted a wOBA of just .217.  At 23, sending Sano back to the minors may hurt his confidence, but it might be the Transmitters only option if they want him to improve.

Don’t Let the Numbers Fool You; Daisen Is Pitching Well

In his two appearances, Kagehisa Daisen has posted an ERA of 13.50.  However, Sebastian Pruiti and the rest of the coaching staff really like what they see.  “We don’t really look at ERA all too much anymore.  FIP is what we go by, and Daisen’s FIP is telling us he is pitching, and will continue to pitch, well.”  For those not familiar, FIP is a measure of all those things for which a pitcher is specifically responsible.  “Daisen has only walked 3 batters, given up zero home runs and struck out one,” Pruiti continued.  “He is going to be fine.”