According to a report by Sanspo, the Rakuten Eagles may be one of three NPB teams interested in Manny Ramirez.  The Eagles are looking for a power bat from the right-side that can hit in the middle of their line-up.  Blanco was a possibility, but Ramirez's name has recently resurfaced.

"There are no problems in terms of he his achievements and his popularity.  But we we're still looking into things like his current condition and his personality," said a team official.

Rakuten is aware of his past problems and do not plan to rush into things.  If he is healthy and is serious about playing in Japan, he could end up giving the organization the exact kind of boost they have been looking for.

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The Eagles are also interested in Ryota Igarashi and may be willing to offer him a multi-year deal worth over 100M yen.

Source: Sanspo 11/3/2012

According to a report by the New York Post's George A. King (via Nikkan Sports), three Japanese teams are interested in forty-year-old Manny Ramirez.  A snip from the report:

Manny Ramirez is headed for the Dominican Republic to restart a baseball career that could continue in Japan, The Post has learned.

According to a person with knowledge of the situation, three Japanese teams want to see the 40-year-old Ramirez play in games for Las Aguilas in order to gauge if he is worth signing.

The mercurial former Red Sox star is slated to leave Florida tomorrow and travel to his native Dominican, where the winter league is under way.

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UPDATE @ 10:20pm -

The Bay Stars do not appear to be one of the three teams interested.

Said GM Shigeru Takada, "We do not need two Ramirez's.  He is forty?  He would probably cost a lot too."

Source: Nikkan Sports 10/29/2012

UPDATE 10/30 @ 4:55pm -

The Softbank Hawks are reportedly one of the three teams interested in Ramirez, but in a more general sense.

Softbank official: "We are looking into [Ramirez] as we are looking into a wide number of possibilities.  But we realistically can not sign him.  He also has that image [of using banned substances]."

Source: Nikkan Sports 10/30/2012

According to Nikkan Sports, the Softbank Hawks may be planning to keep an eye on Manny Ramirez until at least around July 2012.  The team likes what Ramirez can bring to the line-up offensively (as well as his potential marketability) and they think he might only cost them around 400M yen.  Whether or not they actually go after him will likely depend on how players like Hiroki Kokubo (40), Nobuhiko Matsunaka (37), and Alex Cabrera (39) do.  Wily Mo Pena's performance will also factor into their decision.

Games from the 22nd:

Minnesota Twins 3 - Seattle Mariners 2
Ichiro Suzuki started in right and batted first.  He went 1-for-4: single to right (run scored), sac fly to right, ground out to third, fly out to right, ground out to the pitcher.  Ichiro currently has 179 hits and needs 21 in 6 games for 200.

Oakland A's 4 - Texas Rangers 3
Hideki Matsui was the starting DH and batted third.  He went 0-for-4: strikeout swinging, strikeout swinging, fly out to left, strikeout swinging.

Koji Uehara entered the game in the bottom of the 8th (runner on third, 2 out, and the scored tied at 3) and retired the one batter he faced to get out of the inning without allowing the inherited runner to score.  Final line: 0.1 IP, 1 BF, 5-4 NP-S, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR.

Cleveland Indians 11 - Chicago White Sox 2
Kosuke Fukudome started in right and batted first.  He went 2-for-4: solo homer (8) to right-center, strikeout swinging, 2-run single to left, walk, strikeout swinging.

Toronto Blue Jays 4 - LA Angels 3
Hisanori Takahashi entered the game in the bottom of the 7th (runner on 2nd, 1 out, and the score tied at 3) and retired the two batters he faced to get out of the inning without allowing the inherited runner to score.  Final line: 0.2 IP, 2 BF, 11-6 NP-S, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR.

Los Angeles Dodgers 8 - San Francisco Giants 2
Hiroki Kuroda started the game and gave up 2 runs over 7 innings of work.  He also got the win and is now 13-16.  Final line: 7 IP, 26 BF, 92-62 NP-S, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO, 2 HR.

New York Mets 8 - St. Louis Cardinals 6
Ryota Igarashi entered the game in the bottom of the 5th (runners on second and third, 2 out, and the Mets down 4-1) and needed just 2 pitches to get out of the inning.  Igarashi also tossed a shutout 6th.  Final line: 1.1 IP, 6 BF, 19-10 NP-S, 1 H, 0 R,  ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR.

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The Japanese media has picked up on Manny Ramirez's quote about the possibility of playing in Japan (amongst other countries), if no one in US is interested.  A snip:

"I would comply with my pending sanction and I would be available for any major league team," Ramirez told ESPNdeportes.com's Enrique Rojas via telephone from Miami. "I already informed (agent) Scott Boras of my decision to return and begin the process.

"If any team wants to sign me, I would play. If no one does, I would look to play in Japan or any other place. I was not prepared for retirement."

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A team of MLB players will be heading to Taiwan in November.  A snip from an MLB.com article:

A team of Major Leaguers will visit Taiwan this November to play against the Chinese Taipei national team in the 2011 Taiwan All-Star Series, Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association announced Thursday.

The 2011 Taiwan All-Star Series will feature five games from Nov. 2-6 in three different cities. The teams will play in New Taipei City (Nov. 2), Taichung (Nov. 3-4) and Kaohsiung (Nov. 5-6).

MLB and the MLBPA will select the roster and coaching staff, which will be announced in October.