Nomo’s Success Has Scouts Tracking Japan’s Other Stars

With Hideo Nomo continuing his astonishing pitching, baseball people have been asking many questions about other Japanese prospects - apparently too many of the wrong kind.

That has led the Yomiuri Giants to say “no more.” According to published reports Sunday, a Florida Marlins scout met last week with Giants ace Masumi Kuwata - one of Japan’s top pitchers.

Giants management questioned Kuwata and at first considered filing a tampering charge against the Marlins, the Nikkan Sports newspaper said.

The scout, Matt Winters, was seen talking with Kuwata for 15 minutes Friday.

The Giants initially believed the approach to Kuwata violated a Japanese-major league baseball agreement, the newspaper reported. The agreement says that players can be obtained only through the offices of the baseball commissioners.

The Yomiuri, Japan’s largest newspaper, said Winters admitted that the purpose of the contact was to acquire Kuwata. But Nikkan said that the club decided after talking with Kuwata that no tampering occurred.

Officials of the Giants were not available for comment Sunday night.

Kuwata said Winters asked him about his sore elbow and did not talk about a possible contract, the newspaper said. Kuwata, 27, has been on the disabled list since June with a sore elbow.

Nomo, who retired from Japanese baseball after last season, won again Saturday night, pitching a one-hit shutout for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 26-year-old right-hander is 9-2 with a 1.89 ERA for the Dodgers, and leads the National League in strikeouts.

The Nikkan Sports said Leron Lee, on the staff of the Montreal Expos, said last week in Tokyo that he is interested in obtaining Kuwata and slugger Makoto Sasaki, an outfielder for the Pacific League’s Seibu Lions.

Lee, who once played in Japan for the Yakult Swallows and Chiba Lotte Marines, later apologized in a letter to Giants manager Shigeo Nagashima, saying his main purpose in visiting Tokyo now is not to find Japanese baseball players, but to promote American football in Japan. The San Francisco 49ers played the Denver Broncos in an NFL exhibition game Sunday.

Kuwata’s Yomiuri Giants won the Central League pennant last season and he was chosen as MVP. He had a 2.52 ERA, the league’s second best, and was 14-11 with 185 strikeouts.

This year, Kuwata was 3-3 with a 2.48 ERA before being sidelined.