| Date | News |
| 1/27/04 | The Mariners have put Sasaki on irrevocable waivers, for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release. He is headed back to Japan. |
| 1/26/04 | Kazuhiro Sasaki was traveling Monday to Seattle, where he is expected to have the final year of his contract terminated. |
| 1/19/04 | Mariners closer Sasaki will not return in 2004. Choosing to stay in Japan due to a personal family situation. Sasaki, signed through 2004 with a club option for '05, will sacrifice $9.5 million by renouncing his contract. |
| 1/17/04 | With this off-season's acquisition of Eddie Guardado at almost $5 million per year, Sasaki has only a tentative hold on the closer job in Seattle. |
| 9/06/03 | Sasaki did his best relief work in three months, a solid 1-2/3-inning. He showed good velocity and a great splitter that may lead him closer to his old closer's role.
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| 9/05/03 | Cirillo and/or reliever Kazu Sasaki could be left out of Seattle's postseason plans.
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| 8/20/03 | Manager Melvin said Tuesday that he's like Sasaki to close games again this season. However, Melvin did not set a timetable for that to happen. |
| 8/14/03 | Sasaki allowed no runs, walks, or hits in what was his first major league inning since June 5. |
| 8/13/03 | He was activated on Tuesday. |
| 8/12/03 | Sasaki will be activated from the DL on Tuesday. |
| 8/09/03 | If all goes well in the rehab appearance Sasaki has scheduled for tomorrow, he could be activated soon after. Frankly, he has not been all that sharp since after last seasons All Star game. |
| 8/08/03 | Sasaki threw a bullpen session Thursday and will go to Triple-A Tacoma for another rehab assignment this weekend. "I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw today," manager Melvin said after watching Sasaki throw 71 pitches. "I would say he is real close to returning." |
| 8/07/03 | Sasaki rejoined the Mariners yesterday, but he's not ready to be activated. The acquisition of Armando Benitez will give Sasaki extra time to get up to full strength. "Right now he's not ready to come back," said GM Gillick. "He might be ready a week from now, two weeks. We hope sooner than later, but if he doesn't come back we have somebody that can fill that void." |
| 8/06/03 | Sasaki is expected to rejoin the Mariners on Wednesday. |
| 8/05/03 | Sasaki is due to finish a rehab assignment tonight in Everett and probably will rejoin the club in Cleveland.
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| 8/04/03 | The Mariners expect Sasaki to pitch in one more minor league rehab game on Tuesday before returning from the DL. |
| 8/01/03 | Mariners pitching coach Price said the club likely won't decide when Sasaki will come off the DL for another three or four days. |
| 7/31/03 | Sasaki threw 64 pitches in the bullpen on Wednesday as he inches closer to returning from the disabled list. Manager Melvin indicated that Sasaki could return after just one more minor league rehab outing. |
| 7/29/03 | Sasaki allowed four runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings in his rehab outing yesterday. The Mariners now must decide whether to activated him. |
| 7/27/03 | "We'll probably give him one or two outings to get his feet wet out there," Melvin said. "I wouldn't throw him right into it right away. Shiggy Hasegawa has done such a good job, there's really no urgency to do it. But after a couple of those outings, he's definitely going to be our closer." |
| 7/25/03 | Sasaki threw a 37-pitch simulated game on Thursday and reported no pain. Sasaki said that his splitter was sharp but not his fastball. He is slated to pitch for Triple-A Tacoma on Saturday and Monday and could return next week. |
| 7/19/03 | The Mariners most likely will plan a schedule soon that would have Sasaki wrapping up a rehab assignment in time to be activated around Aug. 1. |
| 7/12/03 | Sasaki threw yesterday for the first time in over a month. It was just a light session for about three or four minutes. "We're going to go slow and steady, and when he's done we hope he thinks he can do more," Mariners trainer Rick Griffin said. "At the end of the road trip (July 23), I think we'll set a timetable." |
| 7/03/03 | Sasaki underwent an MRI on Wednesday that showed his injured ribs are healing. Still, the club is not expecting him to return until August. |
| 7/02/03 | Sasaki still is unable to move without feeling pain in his ribcage. The Mariners do not expect him to be back until August at the earliest. |
| 6/19/03 | An MRI revealed that Sasaki has two fractured ribs and a slightly torn abdominal muscle. The Mariners are unable to determine how much more time he will miss. |
| 6/17/03 | Mariners manager Bob Melvin said it would be "virtually impossible" for Sasaki to be activated when eligible. Sasaki has seen little improvement in his bruised ribs. |
| 6/16/03 | Sasaki hasn't seen much improvement in his bruised ribs since being placed on the disabled list last week. |
| 6/11/03 | Sasaki was placed on the 15-day DL today, retroactive to June 6, with bruised ribs on his right side suffered while carrying his suitcase up a flight of stairs. |
| 6/03/03 | Sasaki has allowed just three hits and no runs in 8-2/3 innings since coming off the disabled list almost four weeks ago. |
| 5/14/03 | Mariners manager Melvin said Sasaki has resumed the closing job. |
| 5/10/03 | While he avoided working Sasaki three of four straight days the manager said, "Sasaki will be back in his closer's role Saturday."
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| 5/08/03 | The Mariners activated Sasaki from the DL today. |
| 5/07/03 | Sasaki likely will not be used in closing situations immediately after being activated. He will be examined today and could be activated as soon as tomorrow. |
| 5/02/03 | A's scout Bob Johnson said he thinks Kazuhiro Sasaki has more problems than just a sore back. "But in watching him, I think his shoulder is giving him problems," said Johnson. "He is trying to find arm slots where he doesn't have to pitch in pain. He may not be hurt bad, but enough." The Mariners deny that Sasaki has any other problems and Sasaki said he still plans to be ready when eligible on May 8. |
| 4/30/03 | "If there are no setbacks, I think I will be ready to go when I'm scheduled to come off the disabled list (May 8)," Sasaki said. |
| 4/23/03 | The Mariners placed Sasaki on the 15-day DL tonight with a tight lower back. He also has four bone chips in his elbow which has not helped his performance so far this season. |
| 4/23/03 | Sasaki blew his fifth save of the year. He left the game with tightness in his lower back. Manager Bob Melvin is not sure how long Sasaki will be sidelined, but he did state that Sasaki's role as the club's closer is not in danger. Sasaki has a 9.00 ERA in 9 IP this year. |
| 4/02/03 | Sasaki is fine to pitch on back-to-back days. |
| 4/01/03 | He reported no problems with his shoulder after Sunday's pitching session. |
| 3/28/03 | The Mariners are confident that Kazuhiro Sasaki will be ready to start the season. |
| 3/26/03 | Sasaki, threw ten pitches in one inning of a minor league game .. got three outs. Looks healthy. |
| 3/24/03 | Closer Sasaki, with soreness behind his right shoulder for the past week, threw a second straight day in the bullpen. He threw 41 pitches, all fastballs.
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| 3/22/03 | Sasaki has a sore shoulder and hasn't pitched in a week, but it nothing the Mariners are concerned about. "He did throw three bullpens in a row. He threw 100 pitches in a row. That might have something to do with it," manager Bob Melvin said. |
| 2/12/03 | Sasaki reported a minor setback after experiencing a problem with his elbow after throwing for a second straight day. Sasaki says that he feels more like a rash on top of his elbow rather than pain in his elbow. So far, this doesn't look too serious, but keep an eye on this situation throughout the spring. |
| 2/11/03 | Sasaki was able to throw yesterday without pain. He is expected to throw again today and abide by a normal spring training schedule. |
| 1/31/03 | The latest word on Sasaki's rehab is that he is working out without any problems. |
| 1/28/03 | Sasaki is rehabbing his elbow injury in Japan and there is a lot of mystery surrounding his rehab and current condition. Tread carefully here. |
| 10/17/02 | Sasaki will undergo surgery in Japan this week to remove floating bone chips from his elbow. |
| 10/11/02 | The Mariners have suggested that Sasaki undergo elbow surgery to relieve the pain the he experienced during the final month of the season. He will have a second opinion next week. |
| 9/28/02 | Sasaki could have surgery after the season to remove at least one bone chip from his right elbow.
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| 9/25/02 | Several scouts have become skeptical about his chances of maintaining the standards he set his first two years with Seattle when he went from a 1.36 ERA into the All-Star break and 3.81 since. |
| 9/17/02 | Texas scored two in the ninth off Sasaki, who has not been sharp over the past three weeks. That is right from a local newspaper. Three weeks ago the team mentioned that he was not sharp for 5 weeks. That totals to 8 weeks and has a great deal to do with the location Seattle finds itself today. It is not reflected in numbers when Seattle felt uncomfortable about using him and therefore he sat .. and the Mariner's fell out of first. |
| 9/10/02 | The ongoing question for each day is, is Sasaki injured or not? Seems he has a 'forked-tongue' because he tells the manager, the trainer and the pitching coach one tale and the news media another. Either way he has become inconsistant at the end of each of the past 3 years and he is certainly not the pitcher he was 3 years ago. |
| 9/09/02 | In the ninth inning he gave up a single, then a pinch-hit home run to catcher Brent Mayne. Worse, Sasaki gave up a double and then wild-pitched home the tying run - on an 0-2 forkball.
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| 9/06/02 | Sasaki has been bothered by elbow tenderness. |
| 8/08/02 | "Sasaki hasn't been throwing the ball too well recently," said M's Manager Lou Piniella, noting that Sasaki has complained of a sore back before the game. "It was a struggle for him tonight, has been the last few times."
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| 7/04/02 | Sasaki rediscovered his dominance in the ninth. He struck out Guiel, induced Carlos Febles to hit a comebacker, then struck out Brandon Berger to end it.
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| 7/03/02 | Last night, Sasaki entered the game with the score tied 5-5 and failed again, this time giving up his first two homers of the season. Sasaki's fastball was up in the red zone and out over the plate to both Sweeney, who had two hits to reach .363, and Ibanez, who had the first two-homer game of his career.
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| 6/21/02 | Sasaki's 17th save was made more tense by Todd Walker's two-out single, but Davis pounced on Russ Branyon's swinging bunt for the final out, giving Sasaki the club record. |
| 6/20/02 | He has saved 16 of 19 this year with a spectacular 0.36 earned-run average.
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| 6/09/02 | Sasaki has a 0.40 earned-run average to go with 14 saves. |
| 6/01/02 | Sasaki (2-0, 2.22 earned-run average, 12 saves in 14 chances) is pitching as well as ever, he doesn't have the save totals one might otherwise expect. Sasaki saved games Wednesday and Thursday. Those were the first saves on back-to-back days for Sasaki this year, and the first saves of any kind since May 17.
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| 5/31/02 | Seattle handed a one-run lead to closer Kazuhiro Sasaki, who put the Orioles down 1-2-3, striking out two batters and running his own streak of innings without allowing an earned run to 20 2/3. Sasaki earned his 12th save.
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| 5/16/02 | Having worked himself into trouble, Sasaki worked himself out of trouble. He speared Jose Cruz Jr.'s grounder and got the force out to end the game. But to heighten the suspense, Sasaki threw to the plate instead of to first base, as is customary.
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| 5/12/02 | Kazuhiro Sasaki, back after a trip to Japan to tend to his ill wife, pitched the ninth for his eighth save. Sasaki signed a two-year contract extension earlier Saturday.
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| 5/10/02 | Relief pitcher Kazuhiro Sasaki (personal reasons) is to miss Friday's game against Boston. |
| 5/09/02 | Sasaki has left the Mariners to go to Japan to attend to a personal matter. Seattle does not know when he will return. |
| 4/15/02 | Sasaki retired all four batters he faced in last nights game. In six games, he has three saves and hasn't allowed a run or a walk.
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| 4/03/02 | Sasaki, displaying more of his new curve than American League batters have ever seen, saved his first game of the year for Rhodes.
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| 3/31/02 | His curve has been highly efficient during spring. It will be new to all hitters and will set up his fastball and hard slider. |
| 3/30/02 | Ranked second in AL with 45 saves, although just seventh in save percentage and went 0-4. Control improved significantly last year (11 walks in 66.2 IP) from rookie season.
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| 3/18/02 | Has added a new pitch, from two angles, a sharp curve. He is seeking to be able to effectively use it with men on base. |
| 8/27/01 | The Mariners expect Sasaki to be available again tomorrow after suffering a bruised thigh. |
| 8/25/01 | Sasaki has a bruised thigh and may not be available for action today. |
| 2000 | Sasaki was a big-time closer in Japan for the last decade. He signed with the Mariners as a free agent in December. He was given the closer's job at the end of spring training, but struggled. Lou Piniella decided to go with a bullpen by committee in mid-May. |
Kazuhiro Sasaki
