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

Wily Mo Pena and Brian Falkenborg were scheduled to arrive in Fukuoka today.  Their flight arrived at 8:30pm but only Falkenborg stepped off the plane.  Pena ended up arriving about two and a half hours later -- he missed his connecting flight to Fukuoka because his plane arrived at Narita (out of Chicago) about 50 minutes behind schedule.

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Training camp for the 2011 draft class at the Saitozaki training facilities ended today.

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Seiichi Uchikawa (29) made an appearance on FBS' Yumekukan Sports today and was asked if he wanted to play in the Majors.  His reply: "The moment I joined the Hawks, I decided I would finish things out here."

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Edison Barrios arrived at Fukuoka Airport today (Venezuela > Narita > Fukuoka) and told reporters that he has been tossing bullpen sessions on a regular basis after two months of winter ball in Venezuela.

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Rehab coach Kazumi Saito (34) will attend spring camp in Miyazaki for the first time in three years.

Saito extended his coaching contract with the team on Saturday.

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Nobuhiko Matsunaka (38) on his role with the team:

I used to think about winning a championship while batting clean-up, but my view of the game starting changing last year.  [Yuichi] Honda, [Nobuhiro] Matsuda, [Seiichi] Uchikawa.  I will let them take care of the team.  I just want to play well over the remaining time I have left [in my career].  I think that will help the team.  I will play [with the excitement] as if I were a kid.

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Bullpen sessions:

Sunday

Nagisa Arakaki threw about 40 pitches to a standing catcher.  He told reporters he plans to throw about 100 pitches a session during spring camp.

1st round draft pick Shota Takeda tossed a bullpen session with a squatting catcher.

The Hawks announced today that they [re]signed Edison Barrios to an Ikusei deal and assigned him the number 142.

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Hiroki Yamada worked out for about two hours with group of players in Miyazaki on today. The group included players like Shota Oba and Ayatsugu Yamashita.

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Nobuhiko Matsunaka has been running four to five kilometers every day since beginning his workouts in Guam on 1/6.  He also plans to add dashes to his workouts, beginning on 1/20.  He told reporters he is aiming to be at around 80% for the start of spring camp.

Matsunaka is scheduled to return to Japan on 1/28.

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2nd round draft pick Shoji Yoshimoto has gained one kilogram since moving to the player dorm and currently weighs 82 kilograms.  He hopes to push that to 88kg some time this year.

The Softbank Hawks held a press conference today at Yahoo Dome to introduce their two newest additions, 30-year-old pitcher Yhency Brazoban and 22-year-old Edison Barrios.

Brazoban was assigned the number 93 and signed a deal reportedly worth 30M yen.  Barrios got the number 69 and a salary worth 8M yen.

The Softbank Hawks announced today that they agreed to terms with 22-year-old Edison Barrios.

Regarding Yhency Brazoban, Koji Akiyama told reporters today that he'll spend some time (about 10 days) at Ni-gun before making it to the active roster.

"He'll pitch at Ni-gun first," said Akiyama.  "I'm sure he doesn't know what Japanese baseball is about and he'll probably need some time to get rid of the jet lag."

Brazoban has more or less agreed to terms with the team and could arrive in Japan on the 31st.

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See also:

Softbank Hawks looking to sign Kobe Suns’ 22-year-old pitcher Edison Barrios

Softbank Hawks looking to acquire Yhency Brazoban

The Softbank Hawks are in the process of negotiating a deal with Kobe Suns' (Kansai Independent League) 22-year-old pitcher Edison Barrios.  If everything goes well, he could join the Hawks before the end of the month.

2011 Stats