It appears as though the Giants might be thinking about moving Alex Ramirez over to first.

"I'm thinking about practicing at first base starting in December.  I think it'll be good for me.  I'm just going to take this challenge in stride," said Ramirez.

The move to first was apparently considered earlier this past season.

The only thing is, the move doesn't address the issue of the potential logjam at first.

Seung-Yeop Lee is a first baseman by trade.  Yoshinobu Takahashi is being converted to first because of his bad back.  Michihiro Ogasawara and Shinnosuke Abe are also two players that could use a break from their demanding positions with spells at first.

So why not leave Ramirez out in left?

Because Hisayoshi Chono will likely join the outfield fray next season.  And both Tetsuya Matsumoto (CF) and Yoshiyuki Kamei (RF) have basically secured their spots in the outfield.

Plus, Ramirez will be a year older and is likely the worst outfielder (defensively) the team has on the roster.

It'll be interesting to see how the Giants juggle first base and left field next season.  If Chono's abilities translate well in the NPB, the Giants would be foolish to start anyone in left field other than him.  But with Ramirez fresh off of signing a 2-year extension and an MVP season, the Giants obviously can't afford to sit him either.  That could mean a change of scenery for either Lee and / or Takahashi.

The best the Giants can hope for next season is that Chono isn't ready to play full-time yet and everyone ends up rotating around.

The Yomiuri Giants signed Alex Ramirez to a 2-year extension worth 1B yen plus bonuses on Thursday.

Said Ramirez, "I'm happy that I can now play in the Nippon Series without having to worry about the extension anymore.  I really wanted to continue playing for the Giants so I'm grateful to the club."

Chiba Lotte Marines

...The Marines announced that they will not offer contract extensions to the following Ni-gun coaches:

Hideaki Takazawa - batting coach / outfield coach
Katsuo So - pitching coach
Masahiko Jozume - battery coach
Takashi Wada - assistant pitching coach
Ken Yamasaki - assistant pitching coach

Both Takazawa and So will, however, return as staff members for the club.

...Shoitsu Ohmatsu extended his hitting streak to 20 games after going 2-for-5 against the Seibu Lions on Wendesday night.

Chunichi Dragons

...The Dragons held a post-game retirement ceremony for Kazuyoshi Tatsunami after Wednesday's game.  Both Kazuhiro Kiyohara and Masumi Kuwata were at the ceremony and presented Tatsunami with flowers.

Tatsunami went 3-for-4 in the game and in his last at bat, hit his 487th double of his career, tops on the all-time list.

...129,400 fewer fans attended Dragons' games this year over a span of 72 home games (including 5 home games at other regions).  The Dragons drew a total 2,298,405 fans this season.

Orix Buffaloes

...The Buffaloes announced that today was Katsuhiro Nakamura last day as general manager.  He will be replaced by the team's manager director, Murayama.

...Today was also the last day for club president, Yoshinori Matsuoka.  Matsuoka also officially announced that Daijiro Ohishi would not be offered a contract extension for the 2010 season.

Rakuten Eagles

...For the first time in club history, the Eagles are guaranteed an above .500 season.

The Eagles are 72-62-1 on the year with 9 games left on the schedule.

Softbank Hawks

...The Softbank Hawks clinched a Climax Series spot on Wednesday, this despite losing to the Rakuten Eagles.  The reason: The Lions lost to the Chiba Lotte Marines, 9-2.

Yomiuri Giants

...Alex Ramirez drove in his 99th, 100th, and 101st RBIs (2-run homer in the first and an RBI double in the second) on Wednesday night against the Chunichi Dragons and has now tied Sadaharu Oh's record of 7 consecutive seasons of at least 100 RBIs.

Other

...The NPB is currently working on trying to figure out whether or not they will become a public corporation, a general corporation, or a publicly traded company.  The 12 NPB teams and Masaru Anzai (NPB lawyer) will try to come up with a plan for which direction they will head in in time for the November Owner Meetings.

They were just showing an interview with Alex Ramirez on Get Sports (Sunday night sports show on TV Asahi) and I think it actually helps explain a lot of how baseball in Japan works.

For a while, Ramirez had a fair tough time with pitches outside. But over the last couple of years, he's been studying video of his past ABs and has found that he can rely on the movements of the catcher behind him to help him guess locations of pitches.

Unlike the Majors, where pitchers usually have more control over the flow of the game, catchers do most of the leading. So when a pitcher gets rocked over here, it isn't always the pitcher that gets the blame.

Ramirez has also changed his batting stance this season, going from one that had his hands out in front of his head, to one that has his hands further back, which gets rid of some extra motion and allows him to come down harder on inside pitches. In the past, Ramirez did struggle with pitches on the inner portion of the plate, but the new stance allows him better overall plate coverage and a quicker stride through the zone.

I actually managed to record the last few minutes of the interview and will post it up when I have some time. The interview is in English so you'll at least be able to understand what he says. The rest is basically just some Japanese explaining what's actually going on.

UPDATE: You can now see the video over at YouTube.