Sanspo reports that the Chiba Lotte Marines may be close to deals with both Josh Whitesell (29) and Seth Greisinger (36).  Assuming things go smoothly with Whitesell, a deal could be officially announced as early as today.  The Marines are also expected to make an announcement about Greisinger before the end of the year as well.

UPDATE @ 4:53pm - As Steve mentions below, the deal with Whitesell has been completed and the Marines have posted an official announcement at their website.

Sanspo notes that the deal is worth an estimated US$300,000 (or about 23.4M yen) plus incentives.  A uniform number has not yet been assigned.

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Josh Whitesell - 2011 Season

Sports Hochi reports that the Chiba Lotte Marines are looking into former Yakult Swallow Josh Whitesell (29).  The Marines see him as a potential candidate to bat clean-up for the team.

The Swallows announced today that Josh Whitesell has returned to the US.  As of now, it seems like he won't be returning with the team next season.

NPB Stats

The Yakult Swallows took Josh Whitesell off the active roster today because he was complaining of pain in his right flank area.

Whitesell suffered the injury during a game on the 8th.

Said Junji Ogawa, "I don't have the leeway to leave him on the active roster.  It's unfortunate and unavoidable."

Nikkan Sports is reporting that the Yakult Swallows have more or less decided they'd like to see Wladimir Balentien and Tony Barnette remain with the team in 2012.

The team is still undecided on Josh Whitesell -- how well he plays over the remaining stretch of games will likely determine his fate.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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Yetersday's practice game against the Samsung Lions:

Yoshinori Sato apparently topped out at 154km/h.  And of the 17 fastballs he threw, 6 were 150+km/h.  He also threw his two-seamer 11 times (all went for balls).  Yoshinori threw a total 48 pitches in his outing.

Masato Nakazawa entered the game in the 3rd inning and did not allow a run over 3 innings of work.  He did, however, allow 2 hits and 3 BBs+HBPs; he also struck out 1.

===== 2/18 @ 8:34pm

Junji Ogawa told reporters he was thinking about batting his trio of Waseda alums, Norichika Aoki, Hiroyasu Tanaka, and Shinichi Takeuchi, at the top of the line-up for Sunday's game against the Nippon Ham Fighters.

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Balentien swung the bat 70 times during lunchtime BP today.  And Josh Whitesell took 67 swings and hit 16 over the fence.

===== 2/18 @ 4:01pm

Wladimir Balentien hit 14 balls over the fence (including 2 that went out of the stadium completely) during lunchtime BP today.  He later told reporters that he felt he was 95% ready and that the remaining 5% was getting used to Japanese pitchers.

The Yakult Swallows announced today that signed Josh Whitesell to a 1-year contract extension worth 90M yen plus incentives.

NOTE: it should probably be mentioned that the Swallows actually held an option for the second year that they simply exercised.

The media has learned that the Yakult Swallows will not bring Jamie D'Antona back next season.  This was already rumored to be the case after the Swallows signed Wladimir Balentien earlier this month.  The Swallows could make a formal announcement of their decision as early as the 30th.

The Swallows will probably hold onto Josh Whitesell.

The Yakult Swallows announced earlier today that Josh Whitesell will be returning to the States tomorrow (10/6).  The Swallows are hoping to re-sign Whitesell to a contract for the 2011 season.

Josh Whitesell (YAK) left Saturday's game against the Yomiuri Giants early after he aggravated an old left arm injury while swinging the bat.  Whitesell was also held out of the starting line-up on Sunday.

On Monday, Whitesell was in the Jingu clubhouse and told reporters that he was fine and that he hoped to be back in the starting line-up on Tuesday, if not at least an appearance as a pinch-hitter.