The Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, besides the big change in managers from Shigeo Nagashima to Tatsunori Hara, will also take on a new look with regard to the teams foreign player roster next season. The M&M combo of pitcher Darrell May and first baseman-outfielder Domingo Martinez are not returning, and it appears Maru-chan will be replaced by New York Mets Hawaiian outfielder Benny Agbayani.

The Kyojin still have three Korean pitchers (Cho Sung Min, Chong Min Chul and Chong Min Tae), and Hector Almonte, a Dominican relief pitcher hired at midseason last year, stayed and joined the Giants' fall camp in Miyazaki, Kyushu, trying to make an impression on Hara and his pitching coaches in an appeal bid to be retained for 2002. Almonte attracted attention upon his arrival last summer but faded fast and spent the last two months of the season on Yomiuri's Eastern League farm team. Reports are that his fall camp performance was not that impressive.

As a foreign replacement for starter May (10-8 in 2001), the Giants are most likely still searching for an American closer to fill the bullpen ace game-ending role the club has lacked. According to press reports, southpaw May has notified the team he wants to end his Japan career after four seasons, two with the Hanshin Tigers and two with the Giants. Durable Darrell never cared much for the Japanese style six-man starting rotation where he pitched every seventh or eighth day, and word is he may try a return to the majors where he can crack some team's five-man rotation and throw every five or six days.