The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles will hold talks Saturday with Kazuhisa Ishii, who was released by the New York Mets last month.
Rakuten club president Toru Shimada revealed the plan Friday, saying, "The whole organization wants him, led by manager Katsuya Nomura.
We have a large enough budget." Ishii also plans to have talks with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and his former Central League team, the Yakult Swallows, in the near future before deciding around Jan. 20 which team to pitch for in 2006.
According to baseball sources, a total of seven Japanese and major league clubs have shown interest in acquiring him.