The Marines announced today that they upgraded Ikusei player Koshiro Yamamuro's contract.  Yamamuro gets a contract worth 3M yen and a signing bonus of 4.4M yen.  He was also assigned the number 57 (from the number 121).

It seems the Chiba Lotte Marines decided yesterday to forego Keiichi Yabu in favor of giving 23-year-old Ikusei pitcher Koshiro Yamamuro a shot.  Seems the club decided that they wanted to continue giving their youngsters a shot to contribute to the team's success.  The Marines are expected to make an official announcement of their decision today.

With the addition of Hayden Penn and Yamamuro, Lotte will max out their 70-man rosters.