Chunichi Dragons

Masahiro Yamamoto was taken off the active roster today with a bruise on his left shin -- he took a batted ball off his left leg during his start against Nippon Ham on Wednesday.  The injury is not considered serious.  There were already plans to give him an extended rest.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/16/2013, Sports Hochi 5/16/2013

Yakult Swallows

Masahiko Tanaka has decided not to go under the knife after suffering a fracture in his left collarbone during a game against Hanshin on the 12th.  He will likely require two to three months for a full recovery.

Source: Sanspo 5/16/2013

Hanshin Tigers

Kentaro Sekimoto was taken off the active roster today with pain in his left calf.  He reportedly suffered the injury during a game on the 12th.

Source: Sports Hochi 5/16/2013

Rakuten Eagles

Brandon Duckworth hurt his left hamstring during his start against Yokohama on Wednesday and was taken off the active roster today.  The injury does not appear to be severe.

Source: Sponichi 5/16/2013

2nd round draft pick Takahiro Norimoto, Brandon Duckworth, and Manabu Mima, will likely start the opening series (vs Softbank at YafuOku Dome, March 29-31).  They will probably be followed by Masahiro Tanaka, Kenji Tomura, and Yoshinao Kamata in the second series (vs Orix at Kleenex Stadium, April 2-4).

Source: Sponichi 3/27/2013

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Tanaka is slated to start the home opener on April 2 against Orix.

Source: Sanspo 3/27/2013

Tanaka signed a spokesmodel agreement with bedding company Tokyo Nishikawa.

Source: Sports Hochi 3/27/2013

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Mima threw about eighty pitches in the bullpen today.  His first regular season start will likely come on the 31st against Softbank at YafuOku Dome.

Source: Sanspo 3/27/2013

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Ichi-gun pitching coach Ryoji Moriyama was diagnosed with the flu.  Ni-gun chief pitching coach Tsutomu Sakai will take over as Ichi-gun pitching coach until Moriyama is ready to return.

Source: Nikkan Sports 3/27/2013

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The Eagles will be teaching a course on Practical Theory in Sports Management at Tohoku University, beginning in April.

Source: Sanspo 3/27/2013

The Rakuten Eagles announced today that they signed Darrell Rasner, Jim Heuser, and Brandon Duckworth to contracts for the 2013 season.

Rasner: 60 million yen
Heuser: 17 million yen
Duckworth: 30 million yen

Source: official announcement, Sponichi 12/11/2012

According to Sponichi, there is a very good chance Jose Fernandez, Luis Garcia, Brett Harper, Luis Terrero, and Kelvin Jimenez will not return to the Rakuten Eagles next season.  Further, it seems the Eagles have put together a list of about twenty foreign players they are interested in.

The only foreign players from this year that will probably return next year are Jim Heuser and Brandon Duckworth.

Source: Sponichi 10/31/2012

According to Sponichi, the Rakuten Eagles may only bring back Jim Heuser back next season.  They do have some concerns about his slide-step and his off-speed pitches, but feel that he will be able to help the team out in 2013.

Darrell Rasner, Kelvin Jimenez, and Brandon Duckworth have had respectable seasons and may still return, but the team will most likely wait until after the season to decide on their fates.

Luis Terrero and Brett Harper most likely will not return.  Jose Fernandez and Luis Garcia are also questionable.  An unnamed team source told reporters that some in the organization felt that if the foreign position players had done better this year, the team would have gone much farther.

Source: Sponichi 10/1/2012

The Eagles announced today that they signed RHP Brandon Duckworth (36).  He has been assigned the number thirty-six and his contract will be worth an estimated 15M yen.

Duckworth also reported to the Ni-gun facilities on Sunday for his first day of workouts.  The Eagles held a press conference for him at Kleenex Stadium earlier today.

If things go well, Duckworth could make it to the active roster some time in mid-August.

Source: Sports Hochi 7/30/2012, Official team announcement, Sponichi 7/30/2012

Nikkan Sports reports that the Rakuten Eagles will finalize a contract with thirty-six-year-old RHP Brandon Duckworth if his he clears his physical exam.

The Eagles see Duckworth as a starter.  The fact that he was teammates with Junichi Tazawa and Daisuke Matsuzaka may have gone into the team's decision to sign him.

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