According to Sports Hochi, Alex Cabrera is hoping to return to the NPB next season.  He is currently working out in Fukuoka while his agent fields interest from teams in the MLB.

Said Cabrera, "I can still play.  If [a team is willing] to give me a chance, I am ready to return to Japan immediately. ... Physically, I have no problems. ... If I can get a deal in the US, I will finish out the season over there."

The Softbank Hawks announced today that they are parting ways with Alex Cabrera.

According to Daily Sports, Cabrera would like to play for another team.  Softbank will place Cabrera on waivers to see if there is any interest.

UPDATE @ 4:50pm - Cabrera cleaned out his locker at Yahoo Dome today.

Softbank director of player development, Shigeru Ishiwata, on Cabrera: "We can only provide a limited number of opportunities.  [Cabrera] also felt he would not receive many changes even when healthy.  We did speak to other teams about him...  He feels he can still play."

Source: Nikkan Sports 7/24/2012

The media learned on Tuesday that Alex Cabrera will be returning to Venezuela to in order to take care of his sick mother.  He is expected to be return to Japan some time early next month.

Cabrera has been working his way back from a right calf injury.  Whether he will be able to return before Inter-league play is unknown.

UPDATE @ 2:52pm - Cabrera is currently scheduled to return to Japan on May 29.

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The Hawks held a kick-off party at a restaurant on Wednesday.

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Alex Cabrera and Hitoshi Tamura were left off the 2012 Opening Day Roster because Cabrera is nursing a bad right hamstring and Tamura is having problems with his back.

Cabrera has started taking batting, but it still unable to run.

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The Hawks announced on Wednesday that the San-gun team will play eighteen games against Ni-gun KBO teams in April, May, and July.

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Images of ten players appeared on four boarding bridges at Fukuoka Airport on Wednesday.  The images will remain up for about two weeks.

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Wily Mo Pena on adjusting to Japanese pitchers, via Nikkan Sports: "I am not going to think about hitting home runs [right now].  I just want to make contact. ... I want to see as many pitches as possible from as many different pitchers."

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Koji Akiyama stood in the batter's box during 5th round draft pick Shinya Kayama's bullpen session today.

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Alex Cabrera did not play in today's intra-squad game because of tightness in his right leg and 4th round draft pick Naoki Shirane rejoined the team today.

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Juan Carlos Paniagua arrived in MIyazaki on Friday.  His tryouts will take place between February 18 and 26.

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Akiyama could be thinking about an outfield with Wily Mo Pena in left, Seiichi Uchikawa in center, with either Nobuhiko Matsunaka or Alex Cabrera as DH.

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5th round draft pick Kayama has about 200 relatives.  He would like to try and invite about 100 of them to an exhibition game against Hiroshima on February 25.

Special hitting instructor Futoshi Nakanishi spent about an hour giving Kenta Imamiya advice on hitting today.

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Alex Cabrera arrived at Miyazaki Airport today and will join the team for spring camp on Friday.

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Sadaharu Oh spent about two hours working with Yuki Yanagita on his hitting on Wednesday.

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Tadashi Settsu has tweaked his pitching mechanics a little -- he increased his stride by about ten centimeters.

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Kazuyuki Hoashi did not toss a bullpen session on the first day of spring camp.

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Imamiya, Keisuke Kaneko, and 3rd round draft pick Masayoshi Tsukada are potential starting shortstop candidates.

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Nobuhiko Matsunaka returned to Japan today from his training in Guam.  He also met the Hawks at Yahoo Dome and signed off on a deal worth 200M yen (no change).  Matsunaka is in the final year of a seven-year deal.

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1st round draft pick Shota Takeda tossed a bullpen session today (standing catcher), his third since moving into the player dorm.

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Ryuma Kidokoro and Kenji Akashi attended a fan event at Best Denki in Fukuoka today.

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There is a chance Alex Cabrera might not make it back to Japan in time for the start of spring camp because his winter ball team (Tiburones de La Guaira) is competing in the Venezuelan Winter League Championships.  The series is currently tied at two game a piece; if it goes to a game seven, the series will end on January 30.

Stats: 11 G, 18-for-39, 8 R, 4 HR, 14 RBI, 31 TB, 3 BB, 11 SO, .462/.500/.795

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The Hawks announced today that they extended their sponsorship deal with Show Construction -- a Showa patch will appear on the front right hip area of the team uniform (pant).

Seiichi Uchikawa also took part in a commercial shoot for Showa today.

A number of sources, including Nikkan Sports, Sanspo, and Sponichi, are reporting that D.J. Houlton will become a free agent.  The Softbank Hawks will continue to negotiate with Houlton but there is also a good chance that he will be approached by other teams.

As for the other foreign players: Alex Cabrera and Brian Falkenborg will remain with the team while Jose Ortiz and Yhency Brazoban move on.

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2011 Season - D.J. Houlton

D.J. Houlton (US), Brian Falkenborg (US), Jose Ortiz (US/Dominican Republic), Alex Cabrera (Venezuela), and Yhency Brazoban (Dominican Republic) all left for their respective homes today.

Before leaving, Houlton spoke to reporters and said, "If the terms are good, there is no doubt that this (Fukuoka) is where I want to return."

Falkenborg and Cabrera are expected to remain with the team; Ortiz and Brazoban are likely on their way out.