TBNL: Murakami homers, Takatsu is out, Maeda is back in, the bookmaker is booked

Today’s TBNL features a bunch of NPB news, notes an unusual amount of injury cart activity, and dives into the claim that former players are being targeted to run for political office.

Oh, and I stumbled on a fun piece of trivia.

Munetaka Murakami is making up for lost time after an injury kept him on the shelf to start the season. The Yakult Swallows infielder has played in just 31 games this season and totaled 130 PA, yet he’s hitting .291/.346/.701 with 14 home runs.

Despite the limited playing time, Murakami is now tied for ninth in the NPB in home runs after a three-homer game on Saturday against the Carp. He’s tied with former Angels and Twins outfielder Trey Cabbage and former Rays and Pirates outfielder/first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo (who also had a three-homer game on Saturday versus the BayStars).

Murakami won’t reach the league leaders — Teruaki Soto has 34, while Franmil Reyes has hit 28 — but it’s not out of the question he’ll finish the season in among the top five, even playing in substantially fewer games.

In other positive news from the NPB league leaderboards, Trevor Bauer still has the worst ERA in the NPB among qualified pitchers.

After collecting 260 saves over his first 13 seasons in the NPB, all with the Yakult Swallows, Shingo Takatsu was among the best closers the league had ever seen. Still, the draw of pitching in the US proved too much, and a 35-year-old Takatsu signed as a free agent with the White Sox before the 2004 season. Takatsu spent two seasons in the majors, appearing in 99 games with the White Sox and Mets, posting a 3.38 ERA (137 ERA+) with 27 saves over 98.2 IP.

He’d return to the Swallows for two more seasons after his time in the US. Takatsu then pitched a year in Korea and a season in Taiwan before retiring. He’d finish his career with 286 saves in the NPB, which stood as the record until Hitoki Iwase passed him (Iwase finished with 407). Takatsu still sits in second.

Takatsu then served as Yakult’s pitching coach from 2014-19, before being named the club’s manager for the 2020 season. He has held that role since, but will not be returning for the 2026 season. Team officials have already decided to make a change and will not renew Takatsu’s contract for next season, according to a report from Yahoo! Japan. The Swallows have the worst record in the Central League at 43-66.

Following eight dominant seasons with the Hiroshima Carp, Kenta Maeda wanted to pursue an opportunity to pitch in the majors. He asked the Carp to post him and agreed to an incentive-laden eight-year, $25 million deal with the Dodgers. Maeda spent four seasons in Los Angeles before a trade to the Twins before the 2020 season. The right-hander spent nine years in MLB, including the handful of appearances he made this season with Detroit before being released.

All told, Maeda has a 4.20 ERA (99 ERA+) with 1,055 strikeouts over 986.2 IP during his time stateside. He finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2016 and second in AL Cy Young voting in 2020, going 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA (160 ERA+) over 66.2 IP during the COVID-shortened season.

Maeda appeared on TV Tokyo’s “Sports Real Live” show last week and revealed his plans to return to Japan for the 2026 season. He has planned on doing so since signing as a free agent with the Tigers before the 2024 season. While there are no certainties he’ll return to the Carp, it would not be a surprise to see a reunion this winter.

Among the more popular storylines in the Asian baseball world this year centers on the future of Taiwanese right-hander Jo-Hsi Hsu. The 24-year-old has emerged as one of the best pitchers in Taiwan’s CPBL over the last three seasons. This year, he’s posted a 1.92 ERA with 96 Ks over 89.0 IP for the Wei-Chuan Dragons.

Hsu is expected to be on Taiwan’s World Baseball Classic roster next spring.

Eligible to be posted this offseason, Hsu is reportedly drawing interest from teams in both MLB (scouts from the Phillies and Blue Jays have been seen in attendance at his starts) and the NPB (reports suggest Hsu is “a top priority” for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters). A groundball pitcher who can touch the mid-90s, Hsu might profile best as a reliever in the majors (he’s only 5’10” and has already had Tommy John surgery), so there’s thought that he could prefer to head to Japan if it allows him the better chance at remaining a starter long-term.

Bullpen carts can be fun, but seeing the injury cart come out isn’t. The latter has received quite a workout over the last few days.

Angels left fielder Taylor Ward crashed into the metal scoreboard in left field on Sunday at Houston’s Daikin Park. He immediately got up and moved to the Angels’ bullpen, gesturing for a towel to stop blood coming from a cut that had opened over his right eye. He was carted off the field and taken to a nearby hospital for stitches and to be evaluated for a concussion.

Padres right-hander Jason Adam threw a pitch on Monday and then collapsed on the mound trying to move for an infield grounder. He immediately grabbed his left knee and was carted off the field. An MRI is pending, but the belief is that he ruptured a tendon in his quadriceps. Recovery will likely take six to nine months.

D-backs outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. jumped to avoid a collision with Blaze Alexander during Monday’s game against the Rangers. Alexander made a highlight-reel catch on the play, but Gurriel landed awkwardly and would be carted off the field with a knee injury. He will undergo further testing on Tuesday.

Mathew Bowyer, the California-based illegal bookmaker who took thousands of bets from Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was sentenced on Friday to 12 months and one day in prison. Bowyer also paid $1.6 million in restitution, according to ESPN’s Tisha Thompson.

Despite pleading guilty to several charges, prosecutors pushed for a reduced sentence because Bowyer “assisted in securing the convictions” against Mizuhara and another bookmaker.

The Blue Jays may be the only present-day team in Canada, but MLB has seen action in four stadiums within the country’s borders. The Montreal Expos played their home games at Jarry Park (1966-76) before moving to Olympic Stadium (1977-2004), while the Jays called Exhibition Stadium (1977-89) home until moving to the Skydome (now Rogers Centre).

Only one pitcher has won a game in all four parks: John Candelaria.

The left-hander spent 19 seasons in the majors, a dozen of which were spent in Pittsburgh, followed by time with seven other teams between 1975 and 1993. He finished with a 177-122 record and 3.33 ERA (114 ERA+) in just over 2,500 innings.

Mark Teixeira’s somewhat surprising announcement on Thursday that he was running for Congress — seeking Texas’s 21st Congressional District, a seat only open because the current Congressman is running for Attorney General — was met with mixed reactions.

Teixeira has never held an elected office before, but the Republican is considered the favorite to win the seat.

The Maryland-native starred at Georgia Tech before starting his pro career. He played for the Rangers, Braves, and Angels before signing an eight-year, $180 million free agent contract with the Yankees, winning his lone World Series ring that first season in New York. He won five Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers, and batted .268/.360/.509 (126 OPS+) with 408 doubles, 409 home runs, and 1298 RBI over his 14-year career.

Adam Wainwright’s name came up this past June. Democratic officials in Missouri included Wainwright in a poll to gauge voters’ potential interest in an open seat in the state’s second district. Wainwright quickly shot down the possibility, telling the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he had no interest in a political career and was never actually approached by state officials.

The Georgia-native was a first-round draft pick by his hometown Braves in 2000, but traded three years later to the Cardinals (alongside two others for J.D. Drew and Eli Marrero). Wainwright pitched for 18 seasons in St. Louis, finishing with a 200-128 record and 3.53 ERA (114 ERA+) over 2,668.1 IP. He pitched in three All-Star Games and finished in the Top 5 in Cy Young voting four times.

Former reliever Trevor May — who pitched for three teams over a nine-year career, posting a 4.24 ERA (98 ERA+) while saving 33 games — has started his own newsletter in retirement, iamtrevormay.com, noting that “two recently retired, high-profile baseball players like Wainwright and Teixeira being linked to congressional bids in the last few months is surprising and something worth digging deeper into”.

More from May:

Former athletes in politics isn’t new, but it’s not exceptionally common. The idea of former players — even those well-liked across the league like Teixeira and Wainwright — stepping into politics brings mixed feelings, including a little excitement (as a fan) and reason to be skeptical (what makes them qualified for such a role in the first place).

But intentionally targeting former athletes to step into politics simply as a means to reach (i.e., fool) voters is less than ideal. And that’s essentially what May suggests is happening.

It will be interesting to see if this trend continues.