The Seattle Mariners continue to operate with hypothetical scenarios in their plans to replace Kazuhiro Sasaki because he contractually remains a part of the team.
Nothing is hypothetical about what Sasaki is facing back in Japan and why he has asked out of his contract with the Mariners. There’s more to it than Sasaki wanting to be closer to his children.
His wife, Kaori, has been ill for some time.
“She has been in and out of the hospital,” said Allen Turner, Sasaki’s translator during his four years with the Mariners. “That is definitely one of the things.”
Turner said he doesn’t know the nature of the illness or believe it is life-threatening, but “she hasn’t felt well for a while.”
That is a reason, Turner said, Sasaki left the Mariners for a short time during the 2002 season to handle what the club described then as “undisclosed family business.”
Kaori Sasaki and the couple’s children spent the 2000 and 2001 seasons in Seattle after Kazuhiro signed with the Mariners, but she stayed in Japan throughout 2002 and 2003.
” (The illness) is one of the reasons she didn’t come back,” Turner said. “He had the kids here with him in the States the first year.”
Both children, daughter Reina and son Shogo, remained in Japan last year because, agent Tony Attanasio said early this week, the family wanted to keep them in Japanese schools.
When Attanasio announced Monday that Sasaki had decided to leave the Mariners, he said it was because the pitcher didn’t want to spend another season away from his wife and kids.
Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi said he had heard talk last fall about Sasaki wanting to stay in Japan, but said Attanasio talked to the pitcher and was told he would come back.
“There’s got to be some flash point that took place at home, and he changed his mind,” Bavasi said.
Bavasi said the team’s legal staff is preparing documents that must go through Sasaki and his agent, the commissioner’s office and the players association before the situation is finalized. He said that could happen in a week to 10 days.
Until then, Bavasi is saying little about how the Mariners will replace Sasaki and use the $9.5 million the team would have paid him, calling any such scenario hypothetical until the split is complete.
On Thursday at the Mariners’ annual preseason media briefing, he dropped a few hints.
Asked if he was interested in unsigned free agent catcher Ivan Rodriguez, who could cost about $10 million per year, Bavasi turned the question around.
“I’ll let you say that. I’m not going to comment on which players we’re steering toward,” he said. “But I wouldn’t tell you not to say that.”
He wouldn’t reveal that much about another glamour free agent who still hasn’t signed, pitcher Greg Maddux.
“I’m not going to (discuss) any operating capital that’s loosened up because of Kaz leaving,” Bavasi said. “We’re trying to help him attain his goal and we’ll cooperate as best we can on that. To talk about a Maddux or anybody else, that’s way too hypothetical.”
Coming attractions: Here are some dates for Mariners fans to remember:
FanFest this weekend: Several players and front-office personnel will appear at the Mariners’ sixth annual FanFest on Saturday and Sunday at Safeco Field.
Jamie Moyer, Dan Wilson, Bret Boone, Scott Spiezio, Joel Pineiro, Julio Mateo, manager Bob Melvin, pitching coach Bryan Price, CEO Howard Lincoln, team president Chuck Armstrong and former Mariners Jay Buhner and Norm Charlton will appear Saturday.
General manager Bill Bavasi will appear Sunday, along with Spiezio, Price, Boone, Charlton, Melvin, Lincoln, Armstrong, Pineiro and Mateo.
FanFest runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day and includes tours of the Mariners’ clubhouse, the opportunity to pitch from the bullpen mound, run around the bases and catch a pop fly in left field and free autographs from M’s players.
The admission charge is $10 for adults (15 and older) and $5 for kids 6-14. Parking in the Safeco Field garage costs $5.
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