Uniqlo Comes to Seattle

Uniqlo, the Japanese clothing company, opened it's first store in the Northwest (U.S.) earlier this month.  The store is located in Bellevue at the Bellevue Square Mall across Lake Washington from Seattle.
We went down there the first weekend it opened to check it out.  There was actually a line to get into the store, but it moved quickly as did the long line to the register.  We didn't try the line to the fitting room, that one didn't appear to be moving much at all.  Other than that it seemed pretty similar to the locations I've been to in Japan.
Certainly, the store made a ton of money that first weekend and I'm sure it will do well in Seattle, with the area's large Asian population and Seattle's style in general.
Their Heattech shirts do make good baseball undershirts.

Free Agents of Interest

NPB free agency is now open, and as usual only a handful of players filed.  The few free agents available are supplemented though by a number of guys who have been let go by their former teams.
Here are a few guys of interest:

Bryan Bullington - Was with Orix last year and Hiroshima previously.  Has been consistently solid and Chunichi needs rotation depth.  He's 34, I would think he could be had for a reasonable price.

Matt Murton - The price would have to be right, but he could help in replacing some of what Chunichi lost in Wada.  Defense and speed is not great and coming off a subpar year, but he's been solid performer in the NPB.  Would be worth it in a buy-low opportunity.

Jason Standridge - 36 but eats innings, been dependable for 6 years in Japan.  Again, Dragons need depth.

Tomotaka Sakaguchi - Hasn't produced much in the last several years, but may do well in fresh situation.  Dragons need outfielders, but unfortunately Yakult looks like they've already scooped him up.  I haven't seen yet what they signed him too.

Andrew Brown - This guy was recently released from Korea's SK Wyverns.  The former Nebraska Cornhusker and MLB player hit 28 home runs in the KBO last year and could maybe add some pop to Chunichi's outfield situation.