Cameron back on the West Coast, new Japanese posting
Mike Cameron’s been traded to the Padres for Xavier Nady. He’ll attempt to prove his defensive value is still high in the huge outfield of Petco Park. This means Cameron will be back catching fly balls in Safeco May 19, 20, and 21st when the Padres are in town. Wooooo!
Also, Deanna emailed to say
The random Japanese baseball scoop of the day is that Yusaku Iriki is
being posted, for god knows what reason, by the Nippon Ham Fighters.He’s like Masao Kida, only even more mediocre. 33 years old, spent most of
2003 and 2004 either on farm teams or out injured with hamstring problems.
I’ll be astounded if anyone actually bids for him, but he has stated that he
would “regret not attempting to go to MLB”.
Comments
28 Responses to “Cameron back on the West Coast, new Japanese posting”
I do give him props though for at least attempting it. If he keeps the same mindset after his attempts to make it to the MLB, I’m sure he’ll be very successful in his other ambitions.
Crap, I’ll be TDY while Cammy is here…darnnit
NO!
Our hated rivals got Cameron!
Don’t worry, we’ll probably end up trading for him eventually. It seems like San Diego is the only team that we ever make any trades with. He’ll be back, you just have to be patient.
Sweet! This only increases the chances that we somehow trade to get him back!!!
Dammit, now I won’t get to see Cammy highlights on New York local news anymore. But the important thing is that he gets to play Center Field again. Cammy in right field was a royal waste.
Cameron, whose plate appearances used to be introduced by DMX’s “X gonna give it to ya” gets traded for someone who must have experienced the same thing at least once if not regularly. Coincidence? I think not. This is obviously evidence for an intelligent designer at work.
That was Nady’s regular walk-up song as well.
Mention of the Nippon Ham Fighters brings something to mind. A few years ago, when Bob Costas was broadcasting the Mariner-Yankee ALCS,
Kazuhiro Sasaki came in, and Bob gloated, “He’d better realize that he’s not facing the Nippon HAM FIGHTERS now. What is a HAM FIGHTER, anyway?”
(BTW, they’re the FIGHTERS, sponsored by Japan’s largest producer of pork products, Nippon Ham.)
Oh noes! Our dreaded National League rivals have acquired Cammy? Curse yous cruel fate! Curse yous!
Seriously though, I hope everything works out for him. Still scares me to think about that collision he had last season.
ahh, to be able to see Cammy in Peoria & Safeco… apparently it depends on the physical:
“Under normal circumstances, a physical is a formality. But the Padres are concerned about Cameron’s eyesight, which was affected when he broke his right orbital socket in the collision with Beltran, and want to confirm that it is not a problem before completing the deal.”
but on the bright side… his agent says “Cameron has not been bothered by headaches or recurring symptoms and that he is working out and hitting off a tee at his suburban Atlanta home.”
+This is obviously evidence for an intelligent designer at work.+
Selig?
His trusty angel, Alderson?
Ooops. I forgot Intelligent Design isn’t theology, but science. It must be green aliens then.
Nippon Ham Fighters…
I’m trying so hard not to make any comments about that.
If you think the Nippon Ham Fighters is an odd team name go check out the Phillipines Basketball Association:
Teams
[edit]
Current Teams
As of the 2005-2006 season, the league has the following teams (followed by their coaches in parentheses):
* Air21 Express – (Bo Perasol)
* Alaska Aces – (Tim Cone)
* Coca-Cola Tigers – (Binky Favis)
* Barangay Ginebra Kings – (Siot Tanquincen)
* Purefoods Chunkee Giants – (Ryan Gregorio)
* Red Bull Barako – (Yeng Guiao)
* San Miguel Beermen – (Jong Uichico)
* Sta. Lucia Realtors – (Alfrancis Chua)
* Talk N’ Text Phone Pals – (Joel Banal)
[edit]
Defunct and Guest Teams
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Basketball_Association
It reads more like a local Beer League than a professional league.
* Crispa Redmanizers
* Pop Cola Panthers
* 7-Up Uncolas
* Shell Turbo Chargers
* Tanduay Rhum Masters
* Toyota Super Corollas
Yikes, that’s some really bad copy and paste by me, sorry.
Redmanizers? Holy mackeral, Red Man has a team?
ah, a game worth going to 🙂
How difficult would it be to get psyched up to play a game if your team was the “Talk N’ Text Phone Pals”?? Yeesh.
Iriki isn’t even worth mentioning.
It’s not like we haven’t been complaining about junkballing righties that eat bullpen and bench slots.
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard a “ham fighters” or “fightin’ hams” joke, I’d be able to pay for a plane ticket to Sapporo. Round-trip, even.
And that’s the HOKKAIDO NIPPON HAM FIGHTERS to you, sir! 🙂
Anyway, the reason this is sort of wacky is because basically every single Japanese team has sent players to MLB except for the Fighters and Carp (well, not counting the expansion Eagles). Unless Maeda gets it into his head that he wants to come over, I don’t foresee any Carp fishing for MLB spots this year, though.
IceX, dude, did you read a single word of that besides “Iriki”? I think the whole point of “This guy sucks, but he’s going to show up on the posting radar eventually, so you might as well know about it” couldn’t be clearer if it was written in ham.
Of course, I’m just underlining the fact that it’s not even worth mentioning. 😛
Dunno if I should double-post this here (I feel bad right after another “don’t be an idiot in the comments” post) incase the other one falls off, but if anyone wants to see That Ichiro Article from Number 640, I scanned it in. (It’s in Japanese, of course, but I did add a bonus Johjima picture to make it all better)
I would root for the “Toyota Super Corollas”. They may not score a lot of points but I bet they last forever!
After that hit I wondered if Cameron would ever play again. I wish him all the best no matter where he plays.
After that hit I think we all wondered if Cameron would ever walk again.
Speaking of Cameron, apparently there’s been a guy pretending to be Cammy on Long Island, despite not really looking like Cammy … the SportsbyBrooks site has a photo of the maroon (once you page down past all the babe shots) and frankly, I’m thinking he should have pretended to be Mark McLemore
Small correction, Iriki was released by the Fighters. He was released similar to what the Hawks did with Tadahito Iguchi last year. Iriki is free to sign with any team without worrying about the posting system. Nikkan Sports also mentioned the same thing. So, there will be no closed bidding for Iriki.
http://www.japanesebaseball.com/forum/thread.jsp?forum=33&thread=17665 (Topic I posted on Japanese Baseball.com about Iriki)
http://www.japanesebaseball.com/forum/thread.jsp?forum=46&thread=17668
“The Fighters have decided to release Iriki and will take the neccessary procedures at the baseball commissioner’s office as early as Thursday.”
Quoted from the above Japan Ball article