The Softbank Hawks announced today that Terry Doyle (26), Levi Romero (28), Renyel Pinto (30), Angel Castro (29), Brandon Allen (26), and Josh Short (25) will not be returning to the team next season.

Source: official annoucement, Nikkan Sports 10/25/2012

A Softbank Hawks official told reporters on Friday that the team planned to offer Brian Falkenborg a contract for the 2013 season.  The team will probably want Hideki Okajima to return next season as well, but he has expressed an interest in returning to the US.

Other players that will likely return next season: Wily Mo Pena, Terry Doyle, Brad Allen, Yao-Hsun Yang, and Ikusei pitcher Edison Barrios.

The Hawks are not expected to offer Renyel Pinto, Angel Castro, Levi Romero, and Ikusei outfielder Josh Short contracts for the 2013 season.

Source: Nikkan Sports 10/20/2012

Nagisa Arakaki is scheduled to relieve Tadashi Settsu and pitch three innings in relief during Saturday's exhibition game against the Chiba Lotte Marines.

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The Hawks are thinking about giving Angel Castro a look as a set-up man/closer.  Masahiko Morifuku and Takehito Kanazawa could also make it into the mix.  They may also see how pitchers like Yasushi Kamiuchi and 5th round draft pick Shinya Kayama handle pitching in spot situations.

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The Hawks made a couple of minor changes inside the first base dugout at Yahoo Dome: they raised the back row of seats about fifteen centimeters to give players/coaches sitting in the back row a better view of the field; and they replaced the old bullpen  monitor with a wall-mounted flat panel screen.

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Today was the last day of the third block of camp.  The team has the day off tomorrow.

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The Hawks drew 22,000 fans today.

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3rd round draft pick Masayoshi Tsukada was excused from practices today because he was not feeling well (he also missed practices on Saturday with a fever).  His test for the flu came back negative.  Soichiro Tateoka was called up from Ni-gun to take Tsuakada's spot.

1st round draft pick Shota Takeda worked out with the Ni-gun team today after missing practices yesterday because he was not feeling well.

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Angel Castro told reporters today that he threw his bullpen session at about 80-85%.

====== UPDATE 2/13 @ 1:37am

The Softbank Hawks Miyazaki Support Group presented the team 100 kabayaki eels on Sunday.

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About 18,500 fans showed up today.

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Tu-Hsuan Lee spent about thirty minutes in the batting cages during extra morning batting practice.  Batting coach Yoshiie Tachibana watched over the session.

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The Hawks held a press conference at Miyazaki Ivy Stadium for Angel Castro today.

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Hiroyuki Kawahara apparently sees the strikezone as two distinct areas: inside and outside.

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Brad Penny on pitching his first bullpen session in Japan on Friday: "The mound seemed a little softer [than what I am used to in the US].  The stitches on the baseball felt bigger and my off-speed pitches were fine."

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Akira Nakamura took about thirty minutes of morning batting practice today.

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Toru Hosokawa spent about two hours taking extra batting practice on Thursday.

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The Hawks announced on Thursday that Angel Castro was due to arrive in Japan on Friday.  They are also planning to hold a press conference for Castro on Saturday.

The Hawks announced today that their team slogan for 2012 will be "VV."

The two V's stand for:

- the players and fans coming together as one to win
- two Pacific League championships (2010 and 2011)
- the hope for two straight Nippon Series rings (2011 and 2012)

They also announced that "otosan" dog will continue on as the team's oen leader.  The dog has been leader since 2009.

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Nikkan Sports reports that Sadaharu Oh wants Angel Castro to learn on how to throw a change-up.  Sports Hochi has posted a slightly different report that has Oh calling for Castro to learn how to throw a curve

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Yuichi Honda returned from his training session in Saipan today.

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Hiroki Kokubo returned from his training session in Arizona today.  He also told reporters his rehab was going well (necks surgery in December) and that he started taking soft-toss BP on January 18.

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Nobuhiko Matsunaka is scheduled to return to Japan from his training in Guam on January 28.  According to a Nikkan Sports interview, he is prepared to call it quits whenever he feels he is no longer able to play well.  He also does have an interest in reaching the 2,000-hit mark (he is 269 hits away).

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1st round draft pick Shota Takeda threw 29 pitches (including off-speed pitches) in the bullpen (standing catcher) after practices on Thursday.  Takeda also threw 30 pitches in the bullpen the night before -- Ikusei 1st round draft pick Go Kamamoto "caught" him.

The Softbank Hawks announced today that they signed RHP Angel Castro (29) to a one-year deal worth 12M yen.  He was also assigned the number 64.

The Hawks will decide on how to use Castro after they see what he has during spring camp.

See also:

Softbank Hawks interested in 29-year-old Angel Castro (includes stats)

5th round draft pick Shinya Kayama, Ikusei 3rd round draft pick Shota Miura, and Ikusei 4th round draft pick Takashi Shimizu all tossed bullpen sessions on Saturday.

Miura thew 30 pitches in his second bullpen session in as many days.

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Yuki Yanagita is planning to use a Barry Bonds model bat in 2012, or at least something based on it, lengthwise.

Yanagita borrowed a Barry Bonds model bat while playing winter ball in Puerto Rico.  The bat was about five inches longer (34 inches) than the bat he normally uses and he liked how it helped him cover home plate (outside and inside corners) while standing further away from it.

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At least one Hawk is happy with the Angel Castro acquisition.  Kenji Otonari played winter ball with Castro this off-season and feels he can succeed in Japan.

"[Castro] is a good guy.  He studies batters.  I think his flexibility will translate well in Japan. ... He has a good fastball and his slider has a big break.  I think his pitches will be effective in Japan," said Otonari.

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Hiroki Kokubo is planning to hand out a Captain's Award at the end of the season.  The award will go to a young player Kokubo feels did their best to help the team win.

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The Hawks will be selling 490 yen tickets (infield reserved, regularly priced at 4,000 yen) to their ten exhibition games at Yahoo Dome via their mobile site.  There will be a limit of 1,000 tickets per game.

Nikkan Sports is reporting that the Softbank Hawks are interested in 29-year-old Angel Castro.  The Hawks are interested in Castro as a starter and feel that if he can pick up another off-speed pitch and learn how to change speeds, he could be an effective pitcher in Japan.

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Career Stats