The Seibu Lions announced today that they filed the necessary paperwork to place Brian Sikorski on waivers.  According to the reports, Sikorski had been providing the club with updates on his rehab (right elbow cleaning / surgery) and based on those updates, the team decided it would be very difficult for him to return before the end of the current season.

With Brian Sikorski out an unkown amount of time (he recently had his right elbow cleaned out), the Seibu Lions have decided to check the foreign market for relievers.  The team has already sent their international scout to the US to check on a list of players they put together with the hopes of finding a match and signing a deal before the end of June.

Marc Kroon's name has been mentioned, but it seems unlikely that he'll agree to a return since he already told reporters a little over a week ago that he no longer wanted to play in Japan.

The Seibu Lions announced on Saturday that Brian Sikorski, currently in the US, had surgery to clean out his right elbow on the 23rd (24th in Japan).  There is currently no set  timetable for his return (that's something the team doctor and Sikorski will discuss at some point soon).

The Lions announced today that Brian Sikorski will be returning to the US on the 6th in order to get his right elbow examined.  GM Yasuo Maeda told reporters that there was a possibility Sikorski could require surgery.  Hisanobu Watanabe added that if Sikorski does undergo surgery, he could be out for 2 months.

UPDATE 5/6 @ 10:43am - Seems Sikorski may require arthroscopic surgery to remove some loose bodies in his elbow.

Brian Sikorski will be taken off the active roster tomorrow due to right elbow pains.  Sikorski took part in pre-game practices today, but was not available to pitch during today's game.  Hisanobu Watanabe told reporters there was a chance Sikorski could end up being out longer than 10 days.

The Lions will also probably send down Taiyo Fujita and call up Tetsuya Iwasaki and Ryohei Fujiwara.

The Lions announced today that Brian Sikorski returned to Japan.  All of Seibu's foreign players have now returned to Japan.

Without knowing when or if players Brian Sikorski, Jose Fernandez, Alex Graman, and Dee Brown will return, the Seibu Lions might begin taking a look at other foreign players.  The team is still hopeful that the four will return sometime before the end of the month, but there's no guarantee.  Because of this, there's a chance the four won't be a part of the opening day roster.

It seems the Lions also think Tatsuya Oishi (1st round) and Yusei Kikuchi need a little more seasoning and may try to pick-up an arm for the starting rotation.

It appears Brian Sikorski, Jose Fernandez, Alex Graman, and Dee Brown left Japan yesterday without the team's permission.  The official line from the front office yesterday was that the players left because their families were concerned about them, but Hisanobu Watanabe told reporters that the club never agreed to let the players leave and that they did so on their own.  And it seems the team isn't even certain if (or when) they'll return.

Brian Sikorski, Alex Graman, Jose Fernandez, and Dee Brown were given permission to leave the team to return to their homes today because their families were concerned for their safety.  The four are expected to return some time before the start of the season.

The Seibu Lions announced today that they signed Brian Sikorski and Alex Graman to 1-year extensions; Sikorski will make 90M yen (up 27M yen) next season and Graman 50M yen (down 100M yen).

The Lions are still negotiation deals with Jose Fernandez and Dee Brown.