The Orix Buffaloes announced that 37-year-old Masahide Kobayashi was retiring after the season and that he accepted a coaching job with the team.

Career Stats

In addition to So Taguchi (42), a number of other veteran players, including Masayuki Hasegawa (34), Masahide Kobayashi (37), and Tomochika Tsuboi (37), were also apparently given senryokugai notices.  The team could make a formal announcement as early as the 9th.

Masayuki Hasegawa - 2011 Season

Masahide Kobayashi - 2011 Season

Tomochika Tsuboi - 2011 Season

The Orix Buffaloes announced today that they agreed to terms with 36-year-old Masahide Kobayashi.

Said Kobayashi, "I'm fortunate to get an offer like this from Orix.  In order to play for as long as possible, for the team, for my family, and for myself, I'd like to do my best."

Kobayashi's new uniform number will likely be 34.

The Orix Buffaloes are apparently looking into signing Masahide Kobayashi after seeing his outing at the 12-team tryouts on the 10th.  The Buffaloes are looking to strengthen their bullpen and Kobayashi can do both that and also help out some of the younger players with advice.

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With fall camp ending on the 20th, Akinobu Okada told reporters on Saturday that he was probably going to start judging players to see whether or not they'll be at Ichi-gun spring camp next year.  Said Okada, "When we decide which players go where next year [for camp], we probably won't have a chance to see what they're doing, so we probably need to think about this now."

With a good chance that Alex Cabrera won't be returning next year, Okada also said that the team was in the process of looking into foreign players with MLB experience that could hit 30+ homers.  When asked about the FA market, he said that they'd have to look at who was available before deciding whether or not they'd try to sign a free agent.

It seems Masahide Kobayashi is planning to go to the 12-team tryouts on the 10th.  Kobayashi was released by the Giants on 10/29 and would like to continue playing next season.  Kobayashi told reporters yesterday that he hasn't been contacted by any clubs and was training for the upcoming tryouts.

The Yomiuri Giants announced on Friday that they released Soichi Fujita and Masahide Kobayashi.

Masahide Kobayashi 2010 Stats

Soichi Fujita 2010 Stats

The Giants also released the following three Ikusei players on Friday:

20-year-old catcher, Atsushi Yachida

25-year-old infielder, Yukinori Momiyama

22-year-old infielder, Takahiro Ijuin

It seems the Giants are still interested in the three and will re-offer them Ikusei contracts.

The Yomiuri Giants announced on Tuesday (12/1) that they signed Masahide Kobayashi to a 1-year deal worth 100M yen plus incentives and a 50M yen signing bonus. He was also assigned the number 30.

NPB Career

MLB Career

Sanspo is carrying an article that points to the possibility that the Yomiuri Giants will sign Masahide Kobayashi to a 1-year deal as early as tomorrow (12/1).

"This is really great news for me.  But nothing has been decided.  All I know is that I'm ready to play some baseball," said Kobayashi.

Whichever team signs Kobyashi will likely be his last.

The Yomiuri Giants will be going strong after Masahide Kobayashi.  The two sides will likely meet some time in December.

The Giants are said to be looking at Kobayashi as an option out of the pen and could be willing to pay him about 60M yen a year with incentives, along with the uniform number 30.

"If I don't get a serious offer [from an MLB team], I'd love to play in Japan," said Kobayashi.  "I'll continue to work out until about December 10th.  I think I'll know where I'll be playing next year by then.  I have a lot of things I need to do, so I just want to focus on that right now."

=== UPDATE 111/28/2009 7:23am JST

Kobayashi apparently told reporters that he isn't stuck on the idea of closing.

"Closing?  I don't really care.  If I did, I wouldn't have gone over to the US," said Kobayashi.

And brief Q&A via Sponichi:

What are you doing for practice right now?

I'm pushing my body by doing a lot of long distance running.  I'm trying some new things out.  I'm also trying to work in some things I've wanted to, but haven't had a chance to.

You've been away from games for a little while now...

I'm not worried about that.  It isn't like I was injured or anything.  As soon as my game mentality returns, I'll be ready to play.

If you play in Japan, it'll be the first time in 3 years.  If you join the Giants, it'll be your first time in the CL...

That's the way it was in the Majors, all new batters.  I'm also not the type of pitcher that adjust to the opponent.  Regardless of who is batting, I usually throw my pitches.

It would appear as though the Yomiuri Giants are showing interest in Masahide Kobayashi.

With Kiyoshi Toyada turning 39 next season and Micheal Nakamura struggling for most of the 2009 season, the Giants are looking for some help in the bullpen.

And if the team converts Tetsuya Yamaguchi to a starting pitcher next season, there will be an even bigger hole in the pen that needs to be filled.