The Rakuten Eagles announced today that they signed Darrell Rasner, Jim Heuser, and Brandon Duckworth to contracts for the 2013 season.

Rasner: 60 million yen
Heuser: 17 million yen
Duckworth: 30 million yen

Source: official announcement, Sponichi 12/11/2012

According to Sponichi, there is a very good chance Jose Fernandez, Luis Garcia, Brett Harper, Luis Terrero, and Kelvin Jimenez will not return to the Rakuten Eagles next season.  Further, it seems the Eagles have put together a list of about twenty foreign players they are interested in.

The only foreign players from this year that will probably return next year are Jim Heuser and Brandon Duckworth.

Source: Sponichi 10/31/2012

According to Sponichi, the Rakuten Eagles may only bring back Jim Heuser back next season.  They do have some concerns about his slide-step and his off-speed pitches, but feel that he will be able to help the team out in 2013.

Darrell Rasner, Kelvin Jimenez, and Brandon Duckworth have had respectable seasons and may still return, but the team will most likely wait until after the season to decide on their fates.

Luis Terrero and Brett Harper most likely will not return.  Jose Fernandez and Luis Garcia are also questionable.  An unnamed team source told reporters that some in the organization felt that if the foreign position players had done better this year, the team would have gone much farther.

Source: Sponichi 10/1/2012

Shintaro Masuda knocked out a three-run homer against the Ni-gun Chiba Lotte Marines on Thursday.  Masuda was promoted to Ichi-gun on March 16 and demoted on March 20 for more work at Ni-gun.

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Pitching coach Yoshinori Sato told reporters that the team will probably add Jim Heuser to the 70-man roster because they will most likely need another left-handed option out of the bullpen.

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The Eagles announced on Thursday that actress Hikaru Asami will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch on April 5.

If Masahiro Tanaka is not ready to pitch on opening day, Takahiro Shiomi could get the start.

Shiomi is currently scheduled to make his next appearance on March 25 against the Ni-gun Seibu Lions at Seibu 2 Stadium.

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Tanaka played catch at Yokohama Stadium today and is continuing to show signs of improvement.  The team plans to play it safe and will not have him pitch in any more exhibition games (he will be allowed to toss bullpen sessions).

FWIW: Tanaka (23) filed marriage papers with Mai Satoda (27) today.

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Ikusei pitcher Jim Heuser (27) has until the end of March to prove that he belongs on the seventy-man roster (foreign Ikusei players twenty-six years or older can only be added to the seventy-man roster up through the end of March).

Masahiro Tanaka had his back examined at a hospital in Chiba today and found that he was experiencing pain (inflammation) in his right back muscles.  Tanaka is feeling better today and will try to play some catch on Tuesday -- what comes next will depend on how things go.

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Jim Heuser joined the Ichi-gun team at their hotel in Yokohama today.

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The Eagles announced today that Kyoka Suzuki (actress) will throw out the ceremonial first pitch on March 30.