Chris Gissell signed with Uni-President (Unity) 7-Eleven Lions after the 2008 major/minor league season. He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1996 and pitched seven seasons in their system. Gissell joined the Colorado Rockies the following year and made his major league debut in 2004. In 2005 he signed on with the St. Louis Cardinals and pitched at Triple-A Memphis for the season before heading to the Nippon Professional Baseball League where he hurled two season with the Seibu Lions. In 2008 he made another attempt at getting back to the major leagues, this time with the Oakland Athletics, but never did and spent the season at Triple-A.
Gissell made 25 appearances (12 starts) posting a 7-3 record, 3.43 ERA, and earned one save for the Sacramento River Cats in 2008. He allowed 79 hits, 33 runs (31 earned), ten home runs, 19 walks, hit three batters, and struck out 67 over 81.1 innings.
Rico Washington also signed a contract to play for the Lions for the 2009 season. He spent the last three years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. Washington finally made his major league debut in 2008, after hopping around in four (Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, & Cardinals) different farm systems spanning a 12-year minor league career. Over the winter off season he played a short time with Caribes de Anzoategui before being released for lack of performance.
Washington played in 92 games batting .254 with a .392 OBP, .468 SLG, and .860 OPS for the Memphis Redbirds in 2008. He had 15 doubles, 13 home runs, 40 RBIs, scored 54 runs, walked 52 times, and had 49 strikeouts. In St.Louis, he played in 14 games going 3-for-19 (.158) with two doubles, three RBIs, two runs, three walks, and six strikeouts.
CPBL opened their season up on March 13, 2009: Official Site
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