Phillies Go Japanese?

I first saw this on The Good Phight. No, the Phils aren't going after that Japanese starting pitcher. They might have gone after Japanese third baseman Akinori Iwamura. He is a 27 year old that can play 3B, 2B, or any outfield spot. The bid is said to be larger than $300,000.

The Padres will find out next week if they outbid others from a group believed to include the Devil Rays, Red Sox and Phillies.

There hasn't been much news about this guy in Philadelphia which either means the Phils aren't serious about getting him or they are keeping their desire very quiet, possibly in an attempt to keep the bidding price low. The Phillies have been one of the few teams to not to catch baseball Yellow Fever in the last few offseasons. It'll be interesting if Pat Gillick changes that.

Padres Article about getting Iwamura.


Update: I was doing some searching trying to find a pic of this character for you guys and I stumbled upon what I guess is his own personal official site where he goes by the nickname of TOPGUN #1. I think I must be missing something in the translation because that would just be pretty funny if he called himself Topgun. Here's his homepage. And here's a picture of him.