Masahiro Yamamoto (47), Takeshi Yamasaki (43), Hitoki Iwase (37), and Kenshin Kawakami (37) are all planning to continue their active careers next season.  The media learned on Monday that the Chunichi Dragons met all four and broached the topic of retirement.

Team president Katsuhiko Sakai, team rep Ryohei Sato, and chief of team developement Takashi Ide met each of the players at a hotel in Nagoya on October 31.  They pushed each to continue playing in 2013.  They also said they planned to approach each of them during the season next year to discuss their future plans.

Said Sato, "Retirement did come up.  We asked what they thought about it.  We want them to consider becoming coaches at some point."

Bottom line, it seems the Dragons do not want to dance around the issue and want to keep things open.

Yamamoto and Yamasaki were uncertain about their futures before they decided to commit to 2013.  The other two are still probably a couple years away from retirement: Iwase led the league in saves this year and Kawakami just finished year one of his NPB comeback.

Source: Sponichi 11/2/2012, Sports Hochi Osaka 11/2/2012

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UPDATE @ 10:15pm - Nikkan Sports has a quote from Sato that explains what the Dragons are trying to do.

"We cannot just think a player's career is over and assume they know what we are thinking.  It also is not good for the player to be in a situation where they might not know if it is ok for them to stick around or they are not sure about what to do.  I just said that beginning next year, we should speak openly about these things and not assume/suspect what the other is thinking."

Source: Nikkan Sports 11/2/2012

The Chunichi Dragons took Kenshin Kawakami off the active roster today with some pain in his left back.  Kawakami tweaked the back when he tried to field a grounder hit back to the mound during a game against the Yakult Swallows on Saturday.  Since the injury is not considered serious, Kawakami will remain with the Ichi-gun team as he recovers.

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Naoto Watanabe (Yokohama) was taken off the active roster today with inflammation in his lower back.  The team is hopeful he will be able to return after ten days.

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Yoshiyuki Kamei (Yomiuri) was hit by a pitch in the head in the 5th inning of today's game against the Hanshin Tigers.  Kamei was examined at the hospital and diagnosed with a broken nose.  He will be re-examined on Monday.

Tatsuya Kojima (Hanshin) was ejected from the game for throwing the pitch.

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Kenji Jojima (Hanshin) was taken out of today's game against the Yomiuri Giants on defense in the 3rd inning after he took a batted ball off the area near his left shoulder in the 2nd inning.  He was later diagnosed with a contusion near his left collarbone.  He is considered day-to-day.

The Dragons announced today that Kazuki Yoshimi will donate 10,000 yen for every inning he pitches this season to a foundation that helps kids that lost parents during the Tohoku Earthquake.  He also plans to raise money by holding a charity auction, via his official blog.

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Kenshin Kawakami will likely make his first regular season start on March 31 against the Hiroshima Carp (Nagoya Dome).

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Sanspo wonders what kind of car Takeshi Yamasaki might buy during the next off-season.  They also list out his past off-season purchases:

2006 - Ferrari 512M (~23M yen)
2007 - Lamborghini Murcielago (~35M yen)
2011 - Lamborghini Aventador (30M~40M yen)

And Sponichi notes that if Yamasaki finishes exhibition play leading the league in homers, he will be the first forty or over player to do so since Katsuya Nomura led the league with with five in 1975 at the age of forty.

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Daola successfully turned a back-flip, with a twist, after the 7th inning today.

Kenshin Kawakami is scheduled to toss five innings against the Rakuten Eagles (at Nagoya Dome) on March 23.

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Sponichi notes that the Dragons could go with Kazuki Yoshimi, Kawakami, and Masahiro Yamamoto for their first three games of the regular season.

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The Dragons decided today to give 1st round draft pick Shuhei Takahashi more playing time by temporarily dropping him to Ni-gun.  Takahashi looked over-matched his last two games: 0-for-9 with 5 strikeouts, two ground ball outs, two fly ball outs.

Nikkan Sports notes that the Dragons have dropped hints to reporters that Kazuki Yoshimi may be their opening day starter.

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Takeshi Yamasaki is looking forward to the chance of facing his former teammate Masahiro Tanaka when the Dragons play three exhibition games against the Rakuten Eagles at Nagoya Dome between March 23 and 25 at Nagoya Dome.

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Kenshin Kawakami and Kenichi Nakata will likely get starts during the second series of the season: vs Yokohama at Yokohama, April 3-5.

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While Kenichi Nakata topped out at 149km/h during his outing against the Hiroshima Carp on Sunday, his velocity dropped about 10km/h the moment runners got on base.

"I could not get my timing down from the set position.  And I was throwing from the side," said Nakata.

Nakata spent some time in the bullpen, after his outing, making adjustments to his mechanics.

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1st round draft pick Shuhei Takahashi attended his high school graduation on Saturday.

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Between pitching two innings against the LG Twins and tossing a bullpen session, Kazuki Yoshimi ended up throwing about 252 pitches on Friday.

Yoshimi's wife gave birth to the couple's second child, a boy weighing 3,194 grams, earlier today.

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Tony Blanco started taking soft-toss batting practice (about 30 minutes) on Friday after taking things easy the last few days due to lower bock stiffness.

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Masahiro Yamamoto, Kenshin Kawakami, and Yoshimi are scheduled to start three exhibition games beginning on March 2.  Each will toss two to three innings.  It is likely that the same three will be the ones to kick things off during the opening series.

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Through Friday, 1st round draft pick Shuhei Takahashi is 8-for-28 with one homer and five RBI over eight games.

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Kei Nomoto took things a little slow during practice today due to fasciitis in his right calf.  There are no plans to send Nomoto to a hospital at this stage but he will spend time away from Ichi-gun.

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Hitoki Iwase will likely get to start an exhibition game against Hiroshima on March 2.

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1st round draft pick Shuhei Takahashi spent some time signing autographs after practices on Thursday.

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Through Thursday, 1st round draft pick Takahashi is 7-for-24 with five extra base hits and four RBI over seven games.

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Kenshin Kawakami continued to work out under a separate training schedule today because of inflammation in his right hamstring.  His condition has improved and he plans to toss a bullpen session on Friday.

Kawakami also spent time looking over footage of him playing catch today.

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Two lucky fans got work the PA system and be a bat boy during the first and second inning of today's practice game against Samsung.

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The Dragons announced that their cheer-leading squad will hold a dance lesson for the 450 or so students at Kuwae Junior High School on Friday.  Doala is also expected to attend.

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While it is only ninety-eight meters out to left at Chatan Stadium, there is a fourteen meter high net near the left field foul pole.  Hitting one over the netting means the ball most likely traveled at least 140 meters.  Sosa hit one of his shots over this netting on Wednesday.  The only other player to do that was Joel Guzman last year.

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Kenshin Kawakami worked out under a different training schedule today because of inflammation in his right hamstring.  Kawakami's condition does not appear to be severe; his status for tomorrow's practice is still unknown.

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Katsuya Nomura visited Chatan camp today.

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Of the forty-six pitches Masahiro Yamamoto threw during batting practice on Tuesday, eleven went for balls.

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The Dragons announced today that softball pitcher Yukiko Ueno will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Thursday's practice game against the Samsung Lions.

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Daola will be making appearances at two schools Thursday morning -- Chatan Dai Ni Elementary and Chatan Dai Ni Kindergarten.

======= UPDATE 2/16 @ 12:06am

Kimiyasu Kudo visited Chatan camp on Wednesday.  He also spent some time watching Masahiro Yamamoto toss a bullpen session.