Naoto Watanabe was removed from today's game against the Chunichi Dragons after injuring his left shoulder while going after a ball hit by Hirokazu Ibata (CHU) in the 6th inning.  Watanabe was examined at a hospital in Yokohama and diagnosed with a dislocated left shoulder.  There is currently no timetable on his return.

The Chunichi Dragons took Kenshin Kawakami off the active roster today with some pain in his left back.  Kawakami tweaked the back when he tried to field a grounder hit back to the mound during a game against the Yakult Swallows on Saturday.  Since the injury is not considered serious, Kawakami will remain with the Ichi-gun team as he recovers.

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Naoto Watanabe (Yokohama) was taken off the active roster today with inflammation in his lower back.  The team is hopeful he will be able to return after ten days.

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Yoshiyuki Kamei (Yomiuri) was hit by a pitch in the head in the 5th inning of today's game against the Hanshin Tigers.  Kamei was examined at the hospital and diagnosed with a broken nose.  He will be re-examined on Monday.

Tatsuya Kojima (Hanshin) was ejected from the game for throwing the pitch.

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Kenji Jojima (Hanshin) was taken out of today's game against the Yomiuri Giants on defense in the 3rd inning after he took a batted ball off the area near his left shoulder in the 2nd inning.  He was later diagnosed with a contusion near his left collarbone.  He is considered day-to-day.

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The Bay Stars held a press conference at Ginowan Stadium for Oscar Salazar today.

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Naoto Watanabe returned to full-squad workouts today and is expected to play in Saturday's game against Rakuten (off the bench).  Watanabe suffered a contusion on his left flank during practice on Tuesday and was working out separately from the rest of the team.

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Yoshitomo Tsutsugo was hit by a pitch on his left ankle during batting practice today.  He was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a contusion; there was no structural damage to the bone.  His status for Saturday's game against Rakuten is unknown (day-to-day).

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Alex Ramirez spent about twenty minutes asking Kiyoshi Nakahata for permission to become Yuki Yoshimura's sole coach today.  Ramirez wants to make things easier for Yoshimura by limiting the number of coaches giving him advice.  Nakahata apparently agreed to the request.

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Even though the Bay Stars lost their practice game against the Nippon Ham Fighters on Thursday, Nakahata was satisfied with overall team performance -- they managed to score four runs off Yuki Saito, they were vocal on the field until the very end, and they played with a lot of excitement.

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The city of Ginowan presented the Bay Stars with local food items today.  They city appears open to the idea of throwing the team a victory parade if they win a championship.

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Baseball analyst Suguru Egawa visited Ginowan camp today.

Ginowan mayor Atsushi Sakima also visited Ginowan camp today.  Kiyoshi Nakahata met with Sakima and asked about getting a new indoor training facility.

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Noriharu Yamazaaki, Yuki Takamori, 4th round draft pick Masayuki Kuwahara, 5th round draft pick Tomo Otosaka, and 7th round draft pick Hyuma Matsui had a chance to workout at Ichi-gun camp today.

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The entire team (players, coaches, staff) reported to practice on Tuesday for the first time during spring camp.  But it was not meant to be as Naoto Watanabe suffered a contusion to his left flank and will be working under a different training schedule for the next couple days.

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Nakahata received a team high, thirty-seven Valentine's presents on Tuesday.

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Wrestlers Super Delfin and Menso-re Oyaji visited Ginowan camp on Tuesday.

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Naoto Watanabe suffered a contusion on his left flank when he ran into a base-runner during run-down practices today.  He is essentially day-to-day.

Taketoshi Goto started working out again today after missing time with the flu.

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Yuki Kuniyoshi will get Thursday's practice game start against the Nippon Ham Fighters.

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Ikki Shimamura spent about an hour taking batting practice on his day off on Monday.

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Mobage's commercial shoot on Monday with Kiyoshi Nakahata started at 9am and lasted about three hours.  Nakahata ended up swinging the bat about 200 times just to get one of the scenes right.

The Bay Stars announced today that Shintaro Ejiri will donate six AED devices to youth sports organizations in northern Japan.  Eijiri promised to donate one AED device for every ten games he appeared in last year (65 games).

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The Bay Stars may have Daisuke Miura (38) workout under a different program during the first half of spring camp in order to give younger players a shot.  That could also include other veterans like Norihiro Nakamura (38).

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Naoto Watanabe wants to show that he has decent speed on the base paths this year.  Watanabe was averaged a little under 25 stolen bases a year when he played for the Rakuten Eagles.  He experienced a drop-off last season with just 7 stolen bases.

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Some notes on the spring camp schedule: Ichi-gun camp will most likely be made up of 20 pitchers and 20 position players; Ni-gun camp around 30 players; intra-squad games could begin as early as around 2/11; five practice games are planned; the first block will last five days after which each additional block will last six days (each block will be followed by one day off).

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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The Bay Stars have the day off today.

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Naoyuki Shimizu worked out on his day off today -- he took about a 20 minute walk and spent about 15 minutes playing catch.  Takao Obana played some golf on his day off today.

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Naoto Watanabe worked out at second base during situational fielding practice yesterday; Takehiro Ishikawa was at short.

Watanabe has spent most of his pro career playing at short and played at second only 5 times with the Eagles during the 2009 season.

Ishikawa took extra fielding practice (for the second straight day) to work on his footwork while fielding the ball (for about 35 minutes).

12/21/2010 5:11pm JST

The Bay Stars held a press conference today to introduce Watanabe.   They also assigned him the number 2 (Seiichi Uchikawa's old number).

12/9/2010 12:10pm JST

The media learned yesterday that the Rakuten Eagles will be sending Naoto Watanabe to the Yokohama Bay Stars for cash considerations.  Both clubs are expected to make formal announcements about the trade today.

Career Stats

The Yokohama Bay Stars are looking for a pesky hitting middle infielder with speed and are apparently interested in Rakuten Eagle Naoto Watanabe.  And since the Eagles may be looking to clear some room on their roster, the two sides might be able to agree on some sort of a money for player swap.

The Bay Stars are also rumored to be interested Rakuten Eagle Kanehisa Arime as well.

Naoto Watanabe (RAK) was taken out of the game last night in the 5th inning after he was hit by a pitch on his left foot.  He was later diagnosed with contusions on his second and third toes.  The Eagles will see how he's doing on Sunday before deciding what to do with him.