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Ichi-gun players had the day off today.

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Casey McGehee stayed back after general workouts on Wednesday and took about an hour of extra fielding practice with Toshihito Abe and Takumi Miyoshi.  McGehee did not stop there -- he also took additional batting practice.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/7/2013

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Yoshinao Kamata is learning how to throw a new kind of pitch, similar to a curve, from pitching coach Yoshinori Sato.

Source: Sponichi 2/27/2013

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The Eagles asked all players at Kumejima camp to stay in their hotel rooms from around 5:00pm on Wednesday because of the tsunami warnings.

Source: Daily Sports 2/7/2013

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Team pictures were taken at Kumejima Baseball Stadium before workouts.  Ni-gun manager Hiromoto Okubo turned forty-six today.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/1/2013

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Andruw Jones reportedly looked a little flat on the first day of camp.  He told reporters he would need at least three days to get used to how things are done in Japan.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/1/2013

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Samurai Japan Visit: Koji Yamamoto, general pitching coach Osamu Higashio, position player coach Masataka Nashida, batting coach Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, and INF/base-running coach Nobuhiro Takashiro visited Eagles' camp in Kumejima today.

Rakuten Samurai Japan Candidates: Masahiro Tanaka, Kazuo Matsui, Ryo Hijirisawa.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/1/2013

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About 1,500 fans showed up at Sendai Station on Thursday for send-off rally.

Source: Sanspo 2/1/2013

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Senichi Hoshino is planning to give Jones a look at all three outfield positions.  He also plans to give Jones and Casey McGehee the benefit of the doubt if they get off to slow starts.

Source: Sports Hochi 2/1/2013, Daily Sports 2/1/2013

The Rakuten Eagles officially announced that they sign Casey McGehee (30) to a contract for the 2013 season.  He has also been assigned the number three.

His one-year contract is reportedly worth about 100 million yen (total includes signing bonus).

Source: official announcement, Nikkan Sports 12/23/2012, Daily Sports 12/23/2012

See also:

Rakuten Eagles to sign Casey McGehee, pending physical

According to a number of reports, the Rakuten Eagles have agreed to terms with Casey McGehee (30) and are awaiting results for his physical before making it official.  According to unnamed MLB sources, his deal is likely worth around 1.5 million US dollars.

While the Yomiuri Giants were thought to be the front-runners, the Eagles may have been able to win McGehee over with more playing time and money.  Rakuten is most likely hoping he can fill their hole at first base and will probably bat him fifth, immediately behind Andruw Jones.

Source: Sanspo 12/21/2012, Nikkan Sports 12/21/2012, Sponichi 12/21/2012, Daily Sports 12/21/2012, Sports Hochi 12/21/2012

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UPDATE @ 8:10pm - According to Nikkan Sports, McGehee was literally a signature away from joining the Yomiuri Giants -- terms were agreed to and he had passed his physical.  In the end, it seems money was not the issue, since the Giants were also reportedly offering him more than the Eagles.  What the Giants could not promise that may have ultimately driven McGehee away to Rakuten, may have been their track-record of shuffling foreign players between Ichi-gun and Ni-gun fairly frequently.  Source: Nikkan Sports 12/21/2012

UPDATE 12/22 @ 2:20pm - According to at least two reports, McGehee will make an estimated 1.3 million US dollars next season, plus incentives.  Source: Sponichi 12/22/2012, Sports Hochi 12/22/2012

According to Nikkan Sports, the Yomiuri Giants are currently talking to Casey McGehee.  Other NPB teams are also reportedly interested, but the Giants appear to be in the lead and could land the thirty-year-old infielder some time before Christmas.

The Giants feel McGehee can fill their hole at first and provide the line-up with added pop.  Being a right-handed batter, he should also complement the right-handed hitting John Bowker.

Source: Nikkan Sports 12/20/2012

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