Ted Heid, the Seattle Mariners' director of Pacific Rim scouting, said Wednesday that he is scheduled to visit Japan around Nov. 15 and plans to meet with Yokohama BayStars catcher Motonobu Tanishige during his one-week stay.
"I want to meet him (Tanishige) and ask him personally about his purposes for wanting to play for a major league team," Heid said before departing Seattle for business in Beijing.
Tanishige announced earlier his wishes to negotiate with major league clubs over Japanese teams after becoming a free agent at the end of the season.
The 30-year-old Hiroshima native had a career-high 20 homers and 70 RBIs with a .262 batting average in his 13th year with the BayStars this past season.
He played a major role in leading Yokohama -- along with closer Kazuhiro Sasaki who is now with the Mariners -- to the Japan Series title in 1998.
Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, who is also majority owner of the Mariners, said earlier this month that he was planning on introducing Tanishige to the American League club for a possible tryout.
However, Seattle general manager Pat Gillick countered by saying through a local paper that he does not intend to acquire a Japanese player for the upcoming season.
Matsuzaka update
Seibu Lions ace Daisuke Matsuzaka underwent treatment for his troubled right knee on Thursday, but doctors were saying that the damage is relatively light.
The Sawamura Award winner, however, will not return to the Lions' fall training camp in Nango, Miyazaki Prefecture, but instead take treatments at the team's facility in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, officials of the Pacific League club said.
Matsuzaka had gone to camp on Tuesday after pitching in Saturday's Pacific League all-star exhibition game in Shizuoka but left Wednesday complaining of a pain in his right knee.