Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008

Kyodo News

Nippon Professional Baseball officials have demanded a review of scouting rules in written requests submitted to amateur baseball bodies Friday in an attempt to prevent outflows of promising talent from the country.

Sources said NPB, feeling a sense of crisis after highly touted pitcher Junichi Tazawa declared earlier this month to launch a bid to play in North America, has insisted that the current rules regarding contact between major league scouts and Japanese amateur players be reconsidered.

Representatives from the Japan Amateur Baseball Association and the All-Japan University Baseball Federation received the requests from NPB, which also include creating regulations on Japanese players hoping to rejoin their home leagues after an overseas stint, the sources said.

The move by NPB was prompted by Tazawa's announcement on Sept. 11 that the 22-year-old ace of the Nippon Oil team has opted to pursue a career in the major leagues by bypassing Japan's amateur draft scheduled for Oct. 30.

SEATTLE (AP) Mariners president Chuck Armstrong said his team is vetting a wide range of general manager candidates, pointedly leaving open the possibility of Seattle hiring the first female general manager in major league history.

Highly regarded Los Angeles Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng is considered an option.

The 39-year-old Ng has had her job for seven seasons and was a top adviser to New York Yankees' GM Brian Cashman before that.

Ng was believed to be the final candidate beaten out by Ned Colletti when Los Angeles selected a new GM in 2005, and the Dodgers say she is the first woman to ever interview for a GM job.

She may be getting a second interview soon.

"It's time for some fresh thinking," Armstrong said at the end of his 23rd season with the team — what he called his worst and most "miserable" one.

"We're color blind, gender blind," he went on to say. "We just want the best person that we think would be the best person for the Mariners as we move forward," Armstrong said.

He and team CEO Howard Lincoln said the replacement for Bill Bavasi, fired June 16, and temporary in-house fill-in Lee Pelekoudas will be an outsider with new ideas to resurrect the franchise.

This week Seattle became the first major league team with a $100 million player payroll to lose 100 games. The Mariners began the season expecting to win the AL West but entered Friday night's game against Oakland at 58-101, their most losses since 1983.

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