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The New York Mets signed Japanese pitcher Satoru Komiyama, a seven-time All-Star in Japan, to a one-year, $500,000 contract. The 36-year-old right-hander went 12-9 with a 3.03 ERA last season for the Yokohama BayStars of the Japanese Professional Central League, and should fill the void left by veteran Rick Reed, who was traded to Minnesota last September for outfield help. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Komiyama, who is known as the “Japanese Greg Maddux” in Japan, had his best season in 1995, winning 11 games and posting a 2.60 ERA. The Mets are also ready to unleash outfielder Benny Agbayani to the Yomiuri Giants … Kristi Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic champion at Albertville, France, will join Ilia Kulik at the inaugural Hallmark Skaters Championship Dec. 7-8 at the MCI Center. Yamaguchi, who will skate against Nicole Bobek, Yuka Sato, Josee Chouinard and Lucinda Ruh, will also serve as goodwill ambassador for the Salt Lake City Olympics … Lindsey Yamasaki, a member of last summer’s World University squad, poured in 20 points last week against Pepperdine, as the No. 7 Stanford Cardinals rolled to a 75-63 win and kept their record unblemished at 7-0. The Cardinals have won all their games by at least 11 points … Yeh Wei-tze of Taiwan finished seventh in the Omega Hong Kong Open after shooting a 268, six shots behind tournament champion Jose Maria Olazabal. Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand finished eighth … A judge ruled last week that Barry Bonds’ 73rd home run ball should be locked up until after a trial, which shouldn’t start until the next baseball season. On videotape, the potential multimillion-dollar ball appeared to fall into Berkeley’s Alex Popov’s glove in the right field of Pac Bell Park, but after a skirmish, Patrick Hayashi said he found the ball loose in the chaos. Popov argued that the ball was stolen from him. The custody dispute is believed to be the first trial over fan ownership of a ball hit into the stands at a major-league stadium.
Reach Ethen Lieser at elieser@asianweek.com.
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