With Brian Sikorski out an unkown amount of time (he recently had his right elbow cleaned out), the Seibu Lions have decided to check the foreign market for relievers.  The team has already sent their international scout to the US to check on a list of players they put together with the hopes of finding a match and signing a deal before the end of June.

Marc Kroon's name has been mentioned, but it seems unlikely that he'll agree to a return since he already told reporters a little over a week ago that he no longer wanted to play in Japan.

From games on the 20th:

Seattle Mariners 4 - San Diego Padres 1
Ichiro Suzuki start in right and batted first.  He went 0-for-4: strike out swinging, fly out to center, ground out to the pitcher, ground out to the pitcher.

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Salem Red Sox 7 - Winston-Salem Dash 4
Junichi Tazawa started the game and gave up 4 runs over 4 innings of work.  Final line: 4 IP, 18 BF, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR.  This was Tazawa's first official start since his right elbow surgery April 2010.

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Daisuke Matsuzaka told reporters on the 20th he was caught off-guard when he heard that Hideki Okajima was designated for assignment.

Matsuzaka: "He told me he was going to the minors. ... I only found out today that it was something worse. ... I know this kind of thing happens a lot in America, but it was just so sudden. ... We worked together as two Japanese people so I did feel a connection with him. ... I think there will be clubs that want Okajima and I hope things work out for him."

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Marc Kroon told reporters on the 19th that he decided he won't return to Japan, even if he gets released in the US and an NPB club comes knocking on his door.

Kroon: "I'm no longer thinking about trying to return to Japan. ... I really wanted to retire in Japan. ... I didn't receive a single offer from an NPB club during the off-season.  That was really upsetting. ... If an NPB team were to lose a player now to injury and came to me with an offer, I'd have to ask why they had to wait for an injury in order to offer me a deal."

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Akinori Otsuka and Trevor Hoffman signed autographs at Petco Park on the 20th in order to raise money for relief efforts in northern Japan (Hoffman's idea).  Otsuka also threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Seattle Mariners - San Diego Padres game.

Marc Kroon has apparently received 3 offers from MLB clubs and none from NPB clubs.

His latest post from his website:

Its been over one month since I left Japan. I am enjoying my time at home with my family and friends. I have not received any offers to go back and play next year in Japan.  I have had 3 offers to play in the major leagues. I would really love to play in Japan I have played there for 6 years and want to end my career there. I don't plan to retire I can still pitch and want to help a team out.  Its too bad the Giants did not feel that way about me. I wont give up hope to return back to Japan. I have so much to support in Japan. Thank you very much. You can also follow me on my twitter page. type in marckroon.  I will let everyone know if I will return next year.

(via Nikkan Sports)

According to Nikkan Sports, the Yomiuri Giants have more or less decided not to pursue an extension with Marc Kroon.  Kroon was hoping to stay with the club, but the Giants apparently don't feel confident enough in Kroon's ability to close out games.

If Kroon doesn't mind taking on another position other than closer, the Giants might be willing to bring him back next season.

In other team related news:

Tetsuya Utsumi, Shun Tono, and Tetsuya Yamaguchi were excused from the third block (11/16 - 11/19) of fall camp on Monday.

Marc Kroon left for the United States today via Narita Stadium.  Before boarding his plane, he told reporters that he wanted to finish out his career as a closer in Japan and has his eyes on reaching the 200 save mark (he's just 23 saves away).

According to a Sponichi report, Seung-Yeop Lee and Marc Kroon likely won't be returning to the Yomiuri Giants next season.  Both players have expressed that they'd like to stay with the club, but if they can't return to the Giants, they'll try to find employment with one of the other 11 NPB teams.

The Giants may also let Seth Greisinger walk as well.  As for the rest of their foreign players, the Giants may decide to get rid of all / some of them and start over from scratch.

Club chairman Tsuneo Watanabe told reporters yesterday that Marc Kroon should not be used during the Final Stage of the Climax Series.  Interestingly enough, Tatsunori Hara apparently plans on using Kroon in the 9th, although it seems he'll also be on a short leash.  Pitching coach Masaki Saito also shot down the possibility of using Kroon in the 7th or 8th innings.

Watanabe also told reporters that he wanted to see Hara manage the Giants for at least another 5 years.

Marc Kroon faced 5 batters in a simulated game on Thursday and gave up 3 walks.

Seung-Yeop Lee also took part in the simulated game and hit a homer of Daisuke Ochi.

Tatsunori Hara spent time working closely with Hisayoshi Chono, Hayato Sakamoto, and Ryota Wakiya during practice today at Giants Stadium.  Hara spent about 30 minutes tossing BP to Wakiya while giving him advice on everything from bunting to his batting stance.  After that, he hit baseballs to Chono, Sakamoto, and Wakiya in the outfield.

Some more details from Sanspo (10/12): seems Hara spent about 50 minutes working with Chono behind closed doors (hitting instruction).  He then had Sakamoto and Wakiya join in and spent another hour and a half working with all three players.  After full squad practice, Hara had the same three players stay after to flag down fly balls between left and right field (they each had to handle 6 fly balls).

In other team news:

It seems the Yomiuri Giants will be using a combination of Marc Kroon, Tetsuya Yamaguchi, Daisuke Ochi, and Yuya Kubo to close out games during the Climax Series.  In others words, the Giants won't live and die with Kroon as closer -- if he isn't pitching well, they'll quickly replace him with one of the other three and go from there.

Kroon's stock as a closer has been in gradual decline over the course of the current season.  And while it appeared as though he might be coming out of his funk in September (10 G, 1.64 ERA, 11 IP, 18 SO, 0.91 WHIP), things sort of blew up for him in October (3 G, 13.50 ERA, 2 IP, 4 SO, 3.50 WHIP).

Incidentally, Kroon told reporters that he wanted to continue playing next year, be it with the Giants, or with another team (although his first choice would be to return to Yomiouri).

The Giants were apparently a bit tense yesterday as pre-game practice ended at Nagoya Dome and Marc Kroon walked over to the stands to do is his meet and greet with fans and sign autographs.

The last time the Giants were at Nagoya Dome, Kroon got into it with a spectator in the stands and both sides had to be escorted away.  This time around, the Giants didn't want to take any chances and had a number of people on the field keeping an eye on Kroon.  Nagoya Dome was also concerned and had two security guards in the vicinity in case something broke out again.

Fortunately for everyone involved, there were no unexpected surprises this time around.