According to a report by Daily Sports, Yokohama has announced that they agreed to a trade with the Softank Hawks that will see Shintaro Ejiri (35), Shogo Yamamoto (34), and Yuki Yoshimura (28) head to Fukuoka in return for Hitoshi Tamura (35), Teruaki Yoshikawa (30), and Yasushi Kamiuchi (29).

Source: Daily Sports 11/5/2012

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UPDATE @ 10:01pm - Both teams have posted announcements at their respective sites: Softbank, Yokohama

UPDATE @ 10:20pm - Tamura may not be particularly happy with the trade, since his family made the move out to Fukuoka this year and was just getting settled in.  Source: Sponichi 11/5/2012

Softbank Hawks

Hitoshi Tamura sprained his right pinky finger when he slide back into second (on a pick-off) in the bottom of the 4th inning of today's game against the Seibu Lions (he was removed on defense before the top of the 5th).  He will most likely be taken off the active roster on Monday.  Source: Sponichi 8/5/2012

Rakuten Eagles

Akinori Iwamura was taken off the active roster today with pain/discomfort in his left hamstring.  He suffered the injury during Friday's game against the Nippon Ham Fighters.  Source: Sponichi 8/5/2012

Chunichi Dragons

The Dragons announced today that MRIs on Hitoki Iwase's left shoulder and elbow came back negative.  Source: Sponichi 8/5/2012

UPDATE: Iwase will begin Ni-gun workouts at Nagoya Stadium on August 7.  Source: Nikkan Sports 8/5/2012

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The Hawks held a kick-off party at a restaurant on Wednesday.

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Alex Cabrera and Hitoshi Tamura were left off the 2012 Opening Day Roster because Cabrera is nursing a bad right hamstring and Tamura is having problems with his back.

Cabrera has started taking batting, but it still unable to run.

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The Hawks announced on Wednesday that the San-gun team will play eighteen games against Ni-gun KBO teams in April, May, and July.

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Images of ten players appeared on four boarding bridges at Fukuoka Airport on Wednesday.  The images will remain up for about two weeks.

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Hitoshi Tamura did not play in today's intra-squad game because of tightness in his left elbow.

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Ikusei pitcher Kodai Senga is scheduled to pitch in an exhibition game on February 26.  He was promoted to Group A (Ichi-gun) today.

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The Hawks announced today that singer Kana Uemura will perform the Japanese National Anthem on opening day.  This is a part of the Asahi Super Dry Live Pop Hawks project.

====== UPDATE 2/24 @ 2:39am

Brad Penny will most likely pitch in a practice game against the Doosan Bears on February 28.

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The team had the day off today.

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Four members of the 2011 draft class, including 1st round draft pick Shota Takeda, participated in an eel grab and cooking event on their day off today.

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Hitoshi Tamura and Kenji Akashi worked out on their day off today.  Both players are working through shoulder problems.

Regarding their shoulders:

Tamura- "I added too much muscle to my shoulder and now I am having a hard time rotating it. ... I do not think I will be able to participate in any situational fielding practice for a little while."

Akashi- "This is no time to rest. ... It is not like I can not throw the ball, but I am still a little worried."

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Special hitting instructor Futoshi Nakanishi spent some time working with Seiichi Uchikawa on Friday.  Nakanishi also coached Uchikawa in the spring of 2008.

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Sadaharu Oh told reporters on Friday that Alex Cabrera could help make Wily Mo Pena's transition easier.

Hitoshi Tamura became the 267th player in NPB history to record 1,000th career hits in today's game against the Seibu Lions.

Coming into today's game, Tamura had 998 hits and picked up the 2 hits he needed for 1,000 in his first two at bats of the game -- his 999th was a single to left off Kazuhisa Ishii in the 2nd inning and his 1,000th hit was an RBI single to right off Kazuhisa Ishii in the 3rd inning.

The Hawks are already planning on selling t-shirts, face towels, and autographed photos, uniforms, and baseballs to commemorate the milestone.

Tsuyoshi Wada and Hitoshi Tamura both left tonight's game against the Chunichi Dragons early with bumps and bruises.

Tamura fouled a ball off his inner left ankle during his at bat in the 2nd inning and was taken out of the game on defense in the 4th.

Wada took a batted ball (hit by Hirokazu Ibata) off his right ankle in the 6th inning and was removed from the game.

Neither player is scheduled to go to the hospital.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/20 @ 11:34pm

Munenori Kawasaki got some one-on-one fielding instruction from INF / base-running coach Yusuke Torigoe in the morning (he wanted to work on his footwork while fielding the ball) and then worked on his swing with some took soft-toss BP in the afternoon.

The fans also gave Kawasaki a nice round of applause after his morning fielding session, which led to him taking a bow and thanking everyone.

The Hawks drew about 22,000 fans today.

===== 2/20 @ 8:42pm

Hitoshi Tamura worked out under a different practice schedule today due to some pain in his left shoulder.  Tamura didn't seem to worried about the condition and said that everything would be back to normal again tomorrow.

===== 2/20 @ 2:48pm

Alex Cabrera took some indoor BP today.  Cabrera (lower back tightness) is still working out under a different training program (he's working apart from the rest of the team).

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A Softbank Hawks' 2010 PL Championship Commemorative Plate (for finishing in first) was installed near the third base entrance at Miyazaki Ikime-no Mori Ivy Stadium.

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Yuki Yanagita (2nd round) is now 4-for-5 in 3 intra-squad games so far.

Hitoshi Tamura agreed to a 1-year deal worth 180M yen (up 80M yen) plus incentives today.

The Hawks reportedly offered Tamura a multi-year deal, but he turned it down because he feels one year deals lead to better performances.

UPDATE 1/29 @ 2:10pm - According to Nikkan Sports, the Hawks offered Tamura a 1-year deal and a 4-year deal and the 1-year deal apparently had a higher base salary.

Hitoshi Tamura plans on working out in Hawaii in January (for about 10 days beginning on 1/13).  Until then, he'll return to his home in Yokohama and workout at a nearby gym.

FYI: the Hawks and Tamura are still in the process of finalizing a deal.

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Seiichi Uchikawa plans on approaching the 2011 season with a goal of batting 1.000.

It seems Uchikawa is also thinking about training on his own this year and added that he'd be more than happy to help Kenta Imamiya out.

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Toru Hosokawa visited Seibu Dome on Thursday to clean out his locker.  Hosokawa noticed how the Lions were treating their 2010 draft picks and reflected on how he doesn't remember things being quite as extravagant when he was drafted.  He then switched gears and said he was really looking forward to the events he'll be attending as a member of the Hawks.

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Koji Akiyama told reporters on Wednesday that he plans on using Tadashi Settsu as a set-up man and not as a starter.

"I've never said one thing about converting him to a starter," said Akiyama.  "I'll continue to use him [as we've been using him].  It's possible things could change based on changes to the roster though."

Settsu appeared reserved to the decision and said, "I do like being a set-up man, and I find pride in doing it.  I was told [I would be used in relief] and there is the team situation [to think about].  They can't just listen to what I want."