Masahiro Tanaka is scheduled to join the Ichi-gun players for workouts on Friday.  That could mean he gets an Ichi-gun start on May 30 against the Yomiuri Giants (at Tokyo Dome).

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Motohiro Shima was taken off the active roster today after he was diagnosed with a fracture in his right thumb (metacarpal).  He will likely require about a month for a full recovery (he will have pins inserted within the next day or so).

Shima suffered the injury when he took a foul tip off his thumb during a game against the Orix Buffaloes on May 13.

2012 Stats

Masahiro Tanaka was taken off the active roster today with tightness in his lower back.  Tanaka was examined at a hospital in Sendai, but nothing was found.  Not wanting to push the twenty-three year old ace too hard, the Eagles decided to skip Tanaka's next start.

Tanaka first started feeling discomfort in his back after his start against Lotte on April 19.

Team vice president Atsushi Ikeda attended a solar power system presentation ceremony at Kleenex Stadium and told reporters that earthquake damage repair work (191 sections) was completed on March 20.

Regarding solar power, a portion of the energy used at the stadium, beginning this year, will be from the newly installed solar power system.  Lights at the stadium are also being switched over to LED.

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The Eagles will be holding events for the entire family during a three game series against the Softbank Hawks that begins on April 3.

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Could be cause for concern...  One of the team trainers said the following to reporters, with regards to Masahiro Tanaka: "Even if [Tanaka] injures a muscle, he has enough to where other muscle can make up for it. ... There are some pitchers that get messed up when they try to throw using other muscles.  This does not happen to Tanaka and he will probably maintain his spot in the rotation. ... He will get better as he pitches."

I really do hope Tanaka is fine right now and is not pitching while hurt.  He was recently quoted as saying that he was the type of player that did not feel pain once he was in game mode and the adrenaline was flowing.  He also admitted that that could also be dangerous.

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Nikkkan Sports mentions that the Eagles are currently carrying three catchers: Motohiro Shima, Tadashi Ishimine, and Keiji Oyama.  As of now, there does not appear to be a clear-cut number two catcher.

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The Eagles are taking it easy with Kazuo Matsui and may decide to leave him off the opening day roster if he lower back is still giving him problems.

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Masahiro Tanaka could end up pitching against the Chunichi Dragons on Saturday.

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Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi likely secured a spot in the starting rotation with his outing against the Chiba Lotte Marines today: 6 IP, 19 BF, 71 NP, 1 H, 1 HR, 1 SO, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 ER.

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On Tuesday, Masahiro Tanaka started with a game of catch where the distance was incrementally increased to about sixty meters (eighty-five throws).  After ending the session and discussing things with the conditioning director, Tanaka headed to the bullpen to toss a session.

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Daisuke Kato could end up finding himself in the starting rotation depending how things work out with the other starters.

If Masahiro Tanaka is not ready to pitch on opening day, Takahiro Shiomi could get the start.

Shiomi is currently scheduled to make his next appearance on March 25 against the Ni-gun Seibu Lions at Seibu 2 Stadium.

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Tanaka played catch at Yokohama Stadium today and is continuing to show signs of improvement.  The team plans to play it safe and will not have him pitch in any more exhibition games (he will be allowed to toss bullpen sessions).

FWIW: Tanaka (23) filed marriage papers with Mai Satoda (27) today.

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Ikusei pitcher Jim Heuser (27) has until the end of March to prove that he belongs on the seventy-man roster (foreign Ikusei players twenty-six years or older can only be added to the seventy-man roster up through the end of March).

Masahiro Tanaka had his back examined at a hospital in Chiba today and found that he was experiencing pain (inflammation) in his right back muscles.  Tanaka is feeling better today and will try to play some catch on Tuesday -- what comes next will depend on how things go.

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Jim Heuser joined the Ichi-gun team at their hotel in Yokohama today.

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The Eagles announced today that Kyoka Suzuki (actress) will throw out the ceremonial first pitch on March 30.

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Today's practice game against the Orix Buffaloes (at Shizuoka Kusanagi Baseball Stadium): Masahiro Tanaka started the game and left after tossing just one shutout inning because of tightness in his back. [Sanspo] ... 1st round draft pick Yoshitaka Muto relieved Tanaka and gave up a run on two hits over two innings of work. [Nikkan Sports]

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Tanaka's back tightness does not appear to be serious (the team wanted to play it safe and took him out early) but it did prompt Senichi Hoshino to tell reporters that it would ultimately be up to Tanaka to decide if he was ok to pitch on opening day (he does not want to force the start on him if his back is going to be a problem).

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Kazuo Matsui took the day off from practices on Saturday to get treatment for back pain.

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Fourteen of twenty-one position players showed up for early morning (7:30am) practices on Saturday.

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The Eagles have the fewest number of exhibition games on the schedule (thirteen games) and two of them have been canceled due to weather.

Teppei worked out for about an hour at Hotto Motto Kobe on his day off today.  He and the team traveled from Nagasaki to Kobe after Sunday's game against the Yokohama Bay Stars.

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The Eagles announced today that they will be giving away 60,000 team mufflers (scarves) during their home opener (March 30 - April 1 vs Lotte; to the first 20,000 fans each day).

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Akinori Iwamura's homer during Sunday's exhibition games against the Yokohama Bay Stars was his first in Japan since 10/10/2006 (vs Hiroshima).

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Masahiro Tanaka's next outing will be as a member of Samurai Japan on March 10.

Masahiro Tanaka is scheduled to start Saturday's game against the Yokohama Bay Stars.

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The Eagles worked out at Nagasaki Big N Stadium for the second straight day.  Early practices began at 7:00am and took place indoors due to rain.  Workouts moved outdoors at around 10am after the rain stopped.

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Takahiro Shiomi is scheduled to pitch in Sunday's exhibition game against the Yokohama Bay Stars.

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Senichi Hoshino apparently issued a month-long ban on pachinko and movies after Fuminori Yokogawa caught a cold (as in, he does not want players visiting areas where they might catch something, avoid large crowds).

Hoshino also plans on taking groups of players out to eat in order to create a space where he can speak to them more freely.  He took the first group out for yaki niku in Nagasaki on Thursday.  The group was made up of seven Japanese infielders including Kazuo Matsui and Akinori Iwamura.

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2nd round draft pick Yoshinao Kamata was presented with a special merit award by his high school on Thursday.  He also attended his high school graduation today.

Kamata is scheduled to participate in the Kyouki League and will likely start things off with one to two inning outings.