The Softbank Hawks announced today that they re-signed Dennis Houlton to a 1-year extension worth 50M yen plus incentives.

12/23/2010 10:36am JST

Houlton gets a 1-year extension worth 50M yen plus incentives.

12/22/2010 10:53pm JST

The media learned today that the Softbank Hawks are closing in on a deal to bring Dennis Houlton back for his 4th year with the club.  No other details are known at this time.

Hiroki Kokubo was asked about what he thought of Seiichi Uchikawa joining the Softbank Hawks on Wednesday and apparently had this to say:

He's a player that has shown stability on offense over the last few years.  He'll be good for motivation. ... But we sort of do overlap on positions. ... He's obviously an upgrade.  And improving the team is a good thing, but if Cabrera also comes, where does that leave me and Matsunaka?  What about Ortiz?  I plan on bringing those things up, in addition to other things, when I speak to them about my salary."

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Kenta Imamiya plans on picking Uchikawa's mind when he has the chance.

Said Imamiya, "I'm normally not the type to seek help / advice from others.  But he's a right-handed batter that has put up impressive numbers.  He's my ideal type of batter.  I'd like to ask him some questions and absorb as much as I can."

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Hiroyuki Kawahara is planning on learning how to throw a change from Toshiya Sugiuchi during the off-season.  Seems the two might be working out together in January.

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Dennis Houlton was left off the Hawks' Holdover List and effectively became a free agent today.  It seems the Hawks are still on the fence with Houlton and may end up bringing him back next year, but it seems the club is also worried about their foreign player limit.  Regarding Alex Cabrera, chief of player development Itaru Kobayashi said that he never said the club was interested in him and that he had no comments to make about him.

According to Sport Hochi, contract talks between the Softbank Hawks and Dennis Houlton aren't going well and it now seems there's a chance he may walk away.

Even though Houlton struggled with injuries this season and ended with an ERA north of 5.00, the Hawks still wanted him back next season.  And since Houlton also enjoyed pitching for the club, the two sides began discussions.  Unfortunately, it seems there was a fairly wide gap between the salary amount the Hawks were offering and the amount Houlton wanted.

The Hawks do have until the 30th to negotiate with Houlton exclusively.  But after that, he becomes a free agent and can go anywhere he likes.

Bum-Ho Lee, Dennis Houlton, Brian Falkenborg, and Roberto Petagine all left Japan to return to their respective countries today via Fukuoka Airport.

It seems Dennis Houlton may end up starting game 3 of the Final Stage.  During full squad practice on Sunday at Yahoo Dome, Houlton tossed 54 pitches in the bullpen in an effort to show that his right adductor muscle was fine.  Assuming no setbacks, Houlton will probably start a Phoenix League game on the 9th against Seibu.  If he does fine there, Houlton will likely start game 3 of the Final Stage, behind Toshiya Sugiuchi and Tsuyoshi Wada.

Houlton was taken off the active roster on 9/1 with discomfort in his right adductor muscle.  He did manage to make another Ichi-gun start on 9/20 against Seibu, but lasted only 2 innings and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits (including 2 homers).

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Kazumi Saito started playing catch again earlier today (10/4).  It was his first game of catch since January this year.  Saito spent about 10 minutes throwing the ball 80 times at distance of about 15 meters.  Saito is hoping to be ready to pitch again next year.

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Hitoshi Tamura started working with weights again on Sunday.  He also took BP and told reporters that he wasn't feeling quite right at the plate, but also wasn't worried because he didn't want to peak too soon before the start of the Climax Series.

Dennis Houlton (SOF) was added to the active roster today and started today's game against the Seibu Lions but didn't have a very good start, giving up 3 runs in 2 innings of work.  Seems Houlton's right adductor muscle still isn't quite right yet either.

In any case, both Houlton and Hiroki Yamada (SOF) will likely be taken off the active roster tomorrow since the Hawks don't have any plans to use either pitcher over the team's remaining 3 games.  The Hawks will likely fill the two open roster spots with Yoshiaki Fujioka and a position player.

Dennis Houlton (SOF) was taken off the active roster today with tightness in his right adductor muscle.  Houlton apparently suffered the injury while fielding a ground ball off the mound during his last start last night.