Masao Kida (44) topped out at 133km/h during his Twelve-Team Tryout outing on Friday.  He is open to signing with any of the twelve NPB teams and will consider going overseas if he gets an offer.  Source: Sports Hochi 11/10/2012

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Kyohei Odachi topped out at 144km/h hour and struck out two of the four batters he faced.  The Softbank Hawks could be interested.  Source: Sponichi 11/10/2012

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Tomoki Hoshino got all four batters he faced to hit into ground outs.  The Rakuten Eagles are looking for left-handed pitchers and are interested in Hoshino.  They are also looking into two players that did not attend the tryouts: Makoto Moriyama and Hiroyuki Fukuyama.  Both players will be given tryouts during fall camp.  Source: Nikkan Sports 11/10/2012

The Nippon Ham Fighters announced today that Masao Kida (44) will not be returning next season.  They provided the following comment from Kida:

It has been decided that there will be no contract with the Fighters for next year.  I am grateful to all the fans that supported me over the last three years.  I have not pitched in a lot of Ichi-gun games the last two seasons and feel disappointed that I could not contribute.  I will attend the twelve team tryouts and will attempt [to make it back to Ichi-gun] one more time.  Please continue to support me.

Source: official announcement

And Nikkan Sports reports that Hideki Kuriyama informed Kida on Saturday that he no longer fit into their plans for the 2013 season (they are going with youth).  Source: Nikkan Sports 11/4/2012

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UPDATE @ 5:36pm - Kida was offered a coaching job but turned it down because he wanted to continue playing.  Source: Sanspo 11/4/2012

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Sho Nakata's right knee appeared to be ok on Wednesday -- while he did not take part in general warm-ups, he did participate in situational fielding practice, infield drills, and batting practice.

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Masao Kida will begin the year at Ichi-gun as a reliever.  If he ends up playing in the opening day game, he will become the first 40+ year old pitcher in franchise history to do so.  The last 40+ year old player in franchise history to play on opening day: Hiromitsu Ochiai in 1998.

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1st round draft pick Toshiharu Moriuchi is the only member of the 2011 draft class that made the opening day roster.

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The Nippon Ham Fighters open the season with a three-game series against the Seibu Lions.  Hideki Kuriyama told reporters on Wednesday that he was going to keep his eye on Esteban German.

"This is about who we need to be careful of.  Seems [German] can run pretty well.  It can be a pain if a speedy runner gets on base," said Kuriyama.

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The new cheer-leading uniforms were unveiled to the press on Tuesday.

Masao Kida returned from his training in Los Angeles today and immediately headed to Kamagaya to continue his workouts (running, throwing into a net) -- he arrived at Haneda Airport at 4:49am and was at Kamagaya by around 8:00am.

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Kenji Tsuchiya and Masaru Nakamura worked out with Yu Darvish in Miyazaki this month (January 6 - January 20).  Both are hoping to step things up and fill the hole left by Darvish's departure.

Tsuchiya worked on a two-seamer, for use against left-handed batters, and how to use his back foot more efficiently; he went from 84kg to 89kg and is now working on losing some weight.  Nakamura learned how to use his back leg and his left hand; he went from 81kg to 84kg.

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima caught a bullpen session in full catcher's gear for the first time on Sunday -- he caught 5th round draft pick Toshiharu Moriuchi for the third time.   It was a 30-pitch session (squatting).  The helmet was a little big for Oshima because he had his head measured before getting his hair cut.

2nd round draft pick Go Matsumoto and 6th round draft pick Naoyuki Uwasawa moved into the player dorm on Sunday.  Matsumoto was the first to show up (around 2pm) and moved in with a 32-inch TV and a humidifier; he also spent time signing about ten autographs.  Uwasawa showed up around 5pm and told reporters he was familiar with the area because he grew up nearby.

7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima moved into the player dorm today.  He told reporters he did not bring any of his softball equipment because it was no longer needed.

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The Fighters announced today that 5th round draft pick Toshiharu Moriuchi (27) filed marriage papers with Shino Sasaki (32) on 1/6.

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Atsunori Inaba took part in a baseball clinic for about 300 elementary and junior high baseball players in Saga City today.

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Makoto Kaneko is currently working out with Takayuki Kanamori, Yusuke Uemura, and Rakuten Eagle Naoto Inada.

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Masao Kida (43) made an appearance at party held at Meguro Gajoen today and told fans that he was most likely going to be used in short relief this season.  He also said that he would like to try and hit 150km/h this year -- he last hit 150km/h in August 2008, one month before turning 40, and topped out at 146km/h last year.