2009 Free Agents
by Gen on Oct.27, 2009 @ 12:15 am, under NPB
87 total players have either earned their FA options this past season (italics) or are carrying their FA options over from prior years (regular text).
These players will have 7 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays) after the last day of the Nippon Series to decide whether or not they will exercise their FA options. A list of all players that have opted for free agency will be release a day after the closing period and players are then free to begin talking to any of the 12 teams of the NPB (international FA players will be able to negotiate with teams both inside Japan and out).
This list is provided as is from the NPB official site.
Nippon Ham Fighters
National
Fujii, Shugo P (declared - 11/9 Sponichi)
Morimoto, Hichori OF (stay - 11/8 Nikkan Sports; stay - 11/12 Nikkan Sports)
International
Tsuboi, Tomochika OF
Tateyama, Yoshinori P
Inaba, Atsunori OF
Kaneko, Makoto INF (likely stay - 11/8 Nikkan Sports)
Nakajima, Satoshi C
Nioka, Tomohiro INF (stay - 11/8 Nikkan Sports)
Rakuten Eagles
National
Fujii, Akihito C
Takasu, Yosuke INF
International
Isobe, Koichi OF (retired - 10/27 Jiji Press)
Kawaguchi, Kenshi OF
Kosaka, Makoto INF
Yamasaki, Takeshi INF (wants 2 year deal - 11/7 Nikkan Sports)
Softbank Hawks
National
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International
Tamura, Hitoshi OF (stay - 10/26 Personal Blog)
Honma, Mitsuru INF
Matsunaka, Nobuhiko OF
Muramatsu, Arihito OF
Shibahara, Hiroshi OF
Seibu Lions
National
Ishii, Yoshihito INF (stay - 11/15 Sanspo)
Doi, Yoshihiro P (stay - 10/27 Sanspo)
International
Eto, Akira INF (retired - 10/2 Mainichi)
Hirao, Hiroshi INF (stay - 10/27 Sanspo)
Nishiguchi Fumiya P (stay - 10/28 Sponichi)
Chiba Lotte Marines
National
Iguchi, Tadahito INF
Kobayashi, Hiroyuki P (likely stay - 11/15 Sponichi)
Otsuka, Akira OF
International
Hashimoto, Tasuku C (go - 11/8 Sports Hochi)
Ono, Shingo P
Shimizu, Naoyuki P (trade - 11/5 Sanspo)
Fukuura, Kazuya INF
Hori, Koichi INF
Komiyama, Satoru P (retired - 10/6 Nikkan Sports)
Ohmura, Saburo OF
Takagi, Koji P
Orix Buffaloes
National
Kikuchihara, Tsuyoshi P (stay - 11/10 Sanspo)
Hamanaka, Osamu OF (stay - 10/18 Nikkan Sports; stay - 11/10 Sanspo)
Cabrera, Alex INF
International
Kawagoe, Hidetaka P
Kitagawa, Hirotoshi INF (stay - 11/10 Sanspo)
Ohmura, Naoyuki OF (stay - 11/10 Sanspo)
Rhodes, Tuffy OF
Takanami, Fumikazu OF
Yomiuri Giants
National
Abe, Shinnosuke C (likely stay - 11/16 Sanspo; stay - 11/16 Giants' website)
International
Furuki, Shigeyuki INF
Ramirez, Alex OF
Takahashi, Hisanori P (stay, but open to Majors - 11/8 Sponichi; likely stay - 11/15 Sanspo)
Toyoda, Kiyoshi P
Fujita, Soichi P
Kimura, Takuya INF (retired, 11/7 Daily Sports)
Ohmichi, Noriyoshi INF
Takahashi, Yoshinobu OF
Tani, Yoshitomo OF
Chunichi Dragons
National
Kuramoto, Hidenori OF (likely stay - 11/10 Sanspo)
Shimizu, Masaumi C
International
Morino, Masahiko INF
Tanishige, Motonobu C (likely stay - 11/10 Sanspo; stay - 11/11 Sponichi)
Araki, Masahiro INF
Hirai, Masafumi P
Ibata, Hirokazu INF
Inoue, Kazuki OF (retired - 9/25 Daily Sports)
Iwase, Hitoki P
Tatsunami, Kazuyoshi INF (retired - 9/30 Mainichi)
Yamamoto, Masahiro P
Yakult Swallows
National
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International
Fukuchi, Kazuki OF
Igarashi, Ryota P (try for the Majors - 11/7 Sponichi; declared - 11/9 Sponichi)
Kida, Masao P (released - Sanspo)
Miyamoto, Shinya INF
Shiroishi, Noriyuki INF (retired - 10/3 Sponichi)
Hanshin Tigers
National
Akahoshi, Norihiro OF (likely stay - 11/10 Sanspo)
Fujimoto, Atsushi INF (declared - 11/16 Sanspo)
Fukuhara, Shinobu P
International
Hiyama, Shinjiro OF
Imaoka, Makoto INF (released - Sanspo)
Kanemura, Satoru P (stay - 10/28 Sanspo)
Hiroshima Carp
National
Kura, Yoshikazu C (stay - 10/25 Chugoku Shimbun)
Yokoyama, Ryuji P (stay - 11/13 Chugoku Shimbun)
International
Higashide, Akihiro INF
Ishii, Takuro INF
Maeda, Tomonori OF
Ogata, Koichi OF (retired - 10/1 Sanspo)
Yokohama Bay Stars
National
Kizuka, Atsushi P
International
Morikasa, Shigeru OF
Nishi, Toshihisa INF (released - Sponichi)
Kudo, Kimiyasu P (released - NipponTV News)
Saeki, Takahiro INF
Kinjo, Tatsuhiko OF
Might want to add a note that the italics are guys who just got it this year and plaintext are the ones who still have it from before…
Also, Hiroyuki Kobayashi (not Horiyuki, for a second I almost thought that was a typo for ikusei 123-man Noriyuki, heh)
A lot of the guys on this list have already retired, too… Tatsunami, Shiroishi, Inoue, Ogata, Komiyama, Etoh… and I wondered about Isobe and Maeda as well.
Also, Hiroyuki Kobayashi (not Horiyuki)
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Fixed. Also added text to indicate what the two font styles mean.
BTW: like I noted, I’m providing this information as is from the NPB site and that site doesn’t really make any notes on retired players. Seems a bit weird to me to.