Kei Igawa spent about three hours working on his upper body today.  When he spoke to reporters, he hinted that the tightness that developed in his right hamstring during his start on Wednesday may have been because he forgot to bring a sports drink with him.

"I messed up yesterday.  I usually carry water and a sports drink with me, but I forgot the sports drink. ... When I make my next appearance, I want to do better than I did yesterday.  I do not feel any pain now.  It feels more like discomfort," said Igawa.

Pitching coach Motoyuki Akahori added, "I do not think [the injury] is serious.  We will monitor how he does over the next two to three days and go from there."

Via Daily Sports

UPDATE @ 8:24pm - A slightly different Igawa quote from Nikkan Sports: "I still feel a little discomfort, but there is no pain.  Now that I think of it, I usually have a sports drink and water, but yesterday, I just had water.  Maybe that was the problem."

Kei Igawa started tonight's game against the Softbank Hawks, his first in Japan since October 16, 2006, and left early after feeling pain/discomfort in his right hamstring.

Igawa gave up a run in the 3rd inning after retiring the first six batters he faced in a row.  He retired the first two batters he faced in the 4th inning before grabbing his right hamstring.  Igawa was removed from the game at that point and treated in the clubhouse.

UPDATE @ 11:19pm - Igawa will likely be sent down to Ni-gun to get in a little more work.  He told reporters he may have rushed things a bit.  At this point, it seems Igawa just developed some tightness, but the team will not know for sure until they re-evaluate him again on Thursday or Friday.

Nikkan Sports reports that Kei Igawa could make his first Ichi-gun start of the year during the upcoming Softbank Hawks series (May 8-10).

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Minor League Starts

Akinobu Okada told reporters after Friday's season opener that he was okay with Alfredo Figaro's performance (loss, three runs over five innings) and that it would have been far worse if the team lost with Chihiro Kaneko on the mound.

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Dae-Ho Lee flied out to third in foul territory in his first official NPB at bat.  He recorded a walk in his second at bat and picked up his first career NPB hit and RBI with an RBI single to center in the 6th inning.  Lee struck out swinging in his final at bat in the 9th.

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Kei Igawa will join and workout with a portion of the Ni-gun team on March 31 and join the main Ni-gun squad on April 3.  Okada told reporters that Igawa will likely have to pitch in at least one Ni-gun game before getting a call-up to the active roster.

Nikkan Sports posted the following Q&A taken during Kei Igawa's press conference on March 28:

Why did you pick Orix?

[Akinobu] Okada was the manager that saw me off when I left for the US.  A part of me wanted to continue my career in the US, but I thought it best to play under Okada, my mentor/coach.

It has been a while since you last pitched in Japan...

I have not watched any Japanese baseball games so I am a little worried, but the basics are the same.

What are your thoughts on the five years you spent in the US?

I did not have many chances to pitch at the top, but I did experience a lot of things in the [minors].  I feel I was able to improve [my game].

What specifically changed?

Over there, there were times when you are told to start games an hour before first pitch.  Being able to pitch well in those kinds of circumstances is big.

What about your feel for the game?

I have not faced any batters this year.  I think I can at least toss some batting practice at this stage.  The rest my take a little more time.

What about personal goals [for the season]?

I have not set any.  I just want to make it to the active roster as soon as possible and help the team win.

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Tuesday's Ni-gun game against the Hanshin Tigers (Buffaloes 5 - Tigers 0): Hayato Terahara started the game and did not allow a run or a hit over two innings of work.  He also topped out at 145km/h. [Sponichi]

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Akinobu Okada does not plan on having Kei Igawa pitch right away and will instead have him continue his workouts until he is ready.

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Chihiro Kaneko was left off the 2012 Opening Day Roster.  Alfredo Figaro and Hayato Terahara are possible candidates to start on opening day.

As mentioned by Carter in a comment posted earlier this morning, and now confirmed by multiple additional online sources (like Sanspo, Sponichi, Nikkan Sports, and Daily Sports), the Orix Buffaloes are expected to make an announcement later today that they managed to sign Kei Igawa.

The Sponichi report adds that Igawa's agent, Toru Mihara, arrived in Japan on March 23 and has been conducting negotiations with a team (or teams) in Japan.

UPDATE @ 2:36pm - Via Daily Sports, Igawa posted an update to his blog from Osaka that mentions how Akinobu Okada played a large part in his decision to sign with the Orix Buffaloes.

UPDATE @ 4:05pm - The Buffaloes held a press conference to announce the addition of Igawa.  He was also assigned the number 29.

UPDATE 3/29 @ 4:38am - Igawa got a two year deal worth a total 200M yen plus incentives.

Exhibition games from March 18:

Seattle Mariners vs Colorado Rockies - Canceled due to rain
Ichiro Suzuki (SEA) was the starting DH and batted third.  He had gone 1-for-2: single to right, line out to second.  Munenori Kawasaki (SEA) started at second and batted second.  He had gone 0-for-2: ground out to first, walk, fly out to left.  The game was called during the 5th inning.  [Daily Sports]

Chicago White Sox 7 - Chicago Cubs 5
Kosuke Fukudome (CWS) started in right and batted fifth. He went 1-for-2: fly out to center, single to left.  Fukudome was replaced by a pinch-hitter after his single in the 4th inning.  [Daily Sports]

Baltimore Orioles 2 - Atlanta Braves 2
Tsuyoshi Wada (BAL) entered the game in the 6th inning and allowed a run on one hit over two innings of work. Final line: 2 IP, 7 BF, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR, 1 WP. [Daily Sports]

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Practice game: Pittsburgh Pirates vs Minnesota Twins
Tsuyoshi Nishioka (MIN) started at short and batted second.  He went 1-for-4 (infield single). [Sanspo]

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Hiroki Kuroda (NYY) is scheduled to toss a bullpen session on Tuesday before his start against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday.

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Toru Mihara told reporters that a number of teams, from both the US and Japan, have contacted him about his client, Kei Igawa's (FA).  When asked if there was a chance he might have to skip out a year, Mihara said no.

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Hisanori Takahashi (LAA) was about to enter the game in relief in the 5th inning when time was called due to the rain.  The game was ultimately canceled.

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Ryota Igarashi's (PIT) next outing will likely come against the New York Yankees on March 20.

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Yu Darvish's (TEX) workouts on Sunday included playing catch and some short distance running.

Nikkan Sports notes that Darvish may have been told to pitch out of the set position for his two exhibition games after he started Spring Training by pitching out of the wind.  The Rangers may have then asked him to go back to pitching out of the wind again for his last two bullpen sessions.

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Hirotoshi Onaka (TEX) collected two hits in a Single-A intra-squad game on Sunday.

Exhibition games from March 16:

Arizona Diamondbacks 4 - Chicago White Sox 2
Takashi Saito (ARI) entered the game in the 6th, with the Diamondbacks up 4-2, and tossed a shutout inning in relief.  Final line: 1 IP, 4 BF, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR. [Sanspo]

LA Dodgers 5 - Texas Rangers 2
Yoshinori Tateyama (TEX) entered the game in the 7th, with the Rangers down 5-2, and tossed two shutout innings in relief.  Final line: 2 IP, 8 BF, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR. [Daily Sports]

Baltimore Orioles 3 - Minnesota Twins 1
Tsuyoshi Nishioka (MIN) started the game at short and batted second.  He went 0-for-1: sac bunt, walk (caught stealing second), pop out to second.  Nishioka was replaced on defense in the 7th. [Daily Sports]

Kansas City 9 - Milwaukee Brewers 4
Norichika Aoki (MIL) started in right and batted first.  He went 1-for-3: reached on E3, strikeout swinging, single to center.  Aoki was replaced on defense in the 7th inning. [Daily Sports]

Oakland A's 6 - Seattle Mariners 1
Hisashi Iwakuma (SEA) started the game and gave up five runs (three earned) over four innings of work.  FInal line: 4 IP, 20 BF, 7 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR. [Nikkan Sports]

Ichiro Suzuki (SEA) started in right and batted third.  He went 3-for-4: RBI single to right, ground out to first, double to right, single to center. [Nikkan Sports]

Seattle Mariners 6 - Milwaukee Brewers 1
Munenori Kawasaki (SEA) started the game at short and batted second.  He went 0-for-2: sac bunt, pop out to short, sac bunt, ground out to short.  Kawasaki was replaced on defense in the 8th. [Daily Sports]

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Ichiro Suzuki hit nine over the fence during batting practice on Thursday.

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Hiroki Kuroda got some pointers on how to throw the cutter from Mariano Rivera before practices on Friday. Kuroda is slated to pitch four innings against the Houston Astros on Saturday.

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Daisuke Matsuzaka threw twenty-eight pitches, including some off-speed stuff, to two minor league hitters during batting practice on Friday.

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Koji Uehara threw forty-three pitches to three minor league hitters during batting practice on Thursday and allowed four could-be hits.

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Tsuyoshi Wada threw twenty-seven pitches in the bullpen on Friday.  He also checked on his two-seamer.  Wada is scheduled to pitch against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday; he is expected to pitch around two innings.

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Yu Darvish was scheduled to pitch batting practice on Friday but instead tossed sixteen pitches (from the wind) in the bullpen under the watchful eye of pitching coach Mike Maddux.

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Via Nikkan Sports, Kei Igawa has been hitting the arcade center after practices and told fans through his blog that he recently participated in a 128-team championship tournament for World Club Champion Football (soccer) and won the Kanto Regionals.

With regards to his training, he wrote that he started pitching on April 4 and was able to throw thirty pitches.  His workouts have also included playing catch, running, and weights.

As for his status for the 2012 season, he is still not sure where he will be playing next year and is leaving everything up to his agent.

The Buffaloes plan to approach Kei Igawa if things do not work out for him in the States.

"I think [Igawa] might know how difficult it is be to play in the US right now," said Akinobu Okada. "I think he is just looking for an opportunity.  If he decides to return to Japan because he cannot play in the US, then I will of course contact him.  We have left the number 29 open [for him]."

It could end up becoming a battle between two former Hanshin managers as Senichi Hoshino (Rakuten Eagles) has also expressed an interest in Igawa.