Masahiko Morifuku was presented with the 2011 Yanase Fukuoka Softbank Hawks MVP Award today.  He was also given a Mercedes Benz E250.

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The Hawks announced that Taka no Saiten 2012 will take place on the following dates:

July 2 vs Seibu Lions at Tokyo Dome
July 15 vs Chiba Lotte Marines at Yahoo Dome
July 16 - 18 vs Orix Buffaloes at Yahoo Dome

This will be the first time the event has taken place in a stadium other than their own.

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The Hawks are thinking about making Seiichi Uchikawa their everyday left fielder this season (LF: 55 starts, CF: 10 starts, RF: 23 starts, DH: 19 starts).

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Nobuhiro Matsuda has managed to maintain his weight at 86kg.

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Keiji Nakahara promised Matsuda that if he does not hit at least one homer at Ichi-gun this season, he will shave his hair down.

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The Hawks announced today that they will allow Hanwha Eagles' batting coach, Jong-Hun Jang, to spend time at Ni-gun and San-gun as a batting coach (from February 1 until September).

The Hawks held a press conference for Keisuke Kaneko at Yahoo Dome today.  He was also assigned the number four.

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Nobuhiro Matsuda worked out at the Saitozaki training facilities today.  Matsuda is aiming for 30 homers and 30 stolen bases this year.

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Pitching coach Ikuo Takayama told reporters on Monday that there was a good chance that the opening day start would come down to either Tadashi Settsu or Kazuyuki Hoashi.

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Ayatsugu Yamashita worked out with Tsuyoshi Wada this winter and managed to raise his weight from 79kg to about 86kg.

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Koji Akiyama could have 1st round draft pick Shota Takeda start things off at Ichi-gun spring camp.  Takeda has yet to toss a bullpen session and told reporters that he needed a little more time to stretch his body out before he does.

Hisayoshi Chono (YOM) knocked out a pinch-hit walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 9th against the Yokohama Bay Stars.  Not only was it the first pinch-hit walk-off grand slam since Isao Hirono in 1971, it was also the Central League's 1,000th grand slam -- a Satoshi Sugiyama recorded the first CL grand slam on 4/9/2005; the PL is currently on 1,006; including the 82 grand slams during the one-league format, a total 2,088 grand slams have been hit in pro yakyu history.

Hirokazu Sawamura (YOM) became the first rookie pitcher in the CL to record 200 innings since Yutaka Enatsu tossed 230.1 innings in 1967.  Sawamura missed out on being the first rookie to record an ERA under 2 since Tsuneo Horiuchi registered a 1.39 ERA in 1966.

Shuichi Murata (YOK) became the 57th player in NPB history to reach the 250 homer milestone -- the homer came in the top of the 2nd off Sawamura (YOM).  Murata hit a second homer in his second at bat of the game for 20 on the year.

Shinji Ohara (YOK) appeared in his 71st game of the year and set a new record for appearances by a rookie (since the two league format began in 1950).

The Yokohama Bay Stars finished their 4th straight season with a winning percentage under .400.  The last team to do that: Kintetsu between 1057 and 1961.

Seiichi Uchikawa (SOF) became just the second player in NPB history win batting titles in both the CL and PL.

The Hawks became the first team in NPB history (since the two league format began in 1950) to have three players that played in every inning of every game: Munenori Kawasaki, Yuichi Honda, and Nobuhiro Matsuda.

Soichi Fujita (SOF) became the 36th player in NPB history to appear in 600 games over his career.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/10 @ 11:13pm

Yuichi Honda took extra fielding practice today at second to work on his footwork and on his throws.

===== 2/10 @ 9:15pm

Shota Oba had his right shoulder (tightness) examined during his day off yesterday and the results can back negative.  Oba was back at practice today and is expected to toss a bullpen session at some point in the near future.

Hiroyuki Kawahara, hit in the head by a thrown baseball during practice on the 8th, will likely be able to return to general practice on the 11th.  He spent the day today doing light workouts.

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Hiroki Kokubo has been using two types of bats during spring camp BP this year.  One is a Jose Ortiz model bat that he managed to get a hold of last year and a Roberto Petagine bat.  And the new bat he's having Mizuno create for him to use during the regular season this year could be a mix of the two bats -- Ortiz bat head with a Petagine bat handle.

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Despite already have perfect vision without glasses (1.0 in Japan; 20/20 in the US), Nobuhiro Matsuda is thinking about adding contacts to give him better than perfect vision.

Said Matsuda, "I've been thinking about wearing contact this season.  I thought it might help me see the ball better.  I'll discuss this with my eye doctor and then make a final decision."

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/8 @ 3:18am

The Hawks apparently informed Tadashi Settsu that he could be used as a starter this season.

===== 2/8 @ 2:28am

Shota Oba felt tightness in his right shoulder today and will begin to take things slow.  Oba has been pushing himself pretty hard during camp but will now have to take things down a notch.

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Nagisa Arakaki faced two batters during BP and threw 50 pitches while giving up 11 could-be hits.

===== 2/7 @ 11:30pm

Munenori Kawasaki and Yuichi Honda took extra field practice together today.

===== 2/7 @ 5:24pm

Hiroki Kokubo sat down with Yuki Yanagita (2nd round) yesterday to tell him that he had potential and the ability to hit the ball far, and that he should put a lot of work into his timing.

Said Yanagita, "He told me how important it was to get my timing down.  That pro [pitchers] worked on breaking batters down.  He also said it would be very important to learn how to deal all sorts of pitches, like off-speed pitches."

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Seiichi Uchikawa spent extra time on his base-running skills yesterday.  During BP, Uchikawa became the runner at second and worked on his timing for when to run on contact.

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Nobuhiro Matsuda told reporters yesterday that the coaches told him to try using some of the batting exercises Uchikawa relies on.

Said Matsuda, "Since we're both right-handed batters, the coaches said I should look to [Uchikawa] for ideas.  Like making sure I'm centered properly and hitting the ball in front of me."

Hiroki Kokubo's training in Arizona will likely begin at 7am in the morning and last about 5 hours.  In the afternoon, he'll get massages and various other things to help keep his body loose.  Seems Kokubo is also thinking about swinging at the first pitch more often this year.

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Nobuhiro Matsuda worked out for about 3 hours at Yahoo Dome on Tuesday.  He also told reporters that promise for 2011 was to avoid injuries, play a full 144-game schedule, hit 30 homers, and win the starting third base job.  He also added he planned on doing lots of running this month to strengthen his lower body (his focus in December was weight training).

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Nobuhiko Matsunaka did some running at Yahoo Dome on Tuesday.  He headed out to Guam today, with Yusuke Kosai, to begin his "real" training.

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Keisuke Katto and Takahiro Mahara also worked out at Yahoo Dome on Tuesday.  They both worked out for about 3.5 hours.  Katto will continue to train the Fukuoka area while Mahara will join Tadashi Settsu and Yasushi Kamiuchi for training in Saga beginning on the 9th.

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Sadaharu Oh wants the team to aim for at least 90 wins next season.

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According to Nishinippon Shimbun, the "San-gun" Hawks will be playing games against all 5 teams in the Island League.  The details are still a bit unclear.

Nobuhiro Matsuda is apparently done with his attempt to learn the OF position as Nikkan Sports reports that he'll focus solely on playing third base next season.

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Seiichi Uchikawa will be ready to play anywhere the team wants him to -- in addition to his OF glove and first baseman's glove, Uchikawa also apparently has his infielder's glove with him as well.

Over his career: 240 games at first; 183 games at second; 12 games at third; 31 games at short; and 363 games in the outfield.

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While on the team's victory trip to Hawii: Tsuyoshi Wada spent about an hour (from 7:30am) running around in parks and on the beach on the 17th.

Tsuyoshi Wada is trying to push his weight up to 82kg during the winter.  He has managed to raise it up to 80kg so far (his initial goal was 77 and his career high up to now was 79; he apparently gained 3kg in about 2 weeks during the current off-season).  Wada told reporters that he wanted to go after the Sawamura Award again next season, but with more power.

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Jose Ortiz doesn't seem to concerned about where he'll be playing next season, so long as he gets a chance to play on a regular basis.

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Tadashi Settsu is apparently starting to ramp up his workouts -- he spent over 4 hours practicing at Yahoo Dome on Friday.

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Nobuhiro Matsuda will be working out at his Alma mater, Asia University, in January.  Asia University is known for it's fairly tough practices and it seems Matsuda will take advantage of that as he hopes to return to square by doing some of the same things he did back when he was a student there (practices from hell).  Matsuda's theme for the winter is to create a body that's more resistant to injury.

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Nobuhiko Matsunaka apparently suffered a bout of heat sickness while he was training in Guam (he left on the 12th and returned today).  Seems like he's also happy with the progress he's making with his running program.

"I was planning on running 50 100m dashes, but I started feeling sick after the 38th time," said Matsunaka.  "In any case, things are different compared to last year at this time when I couldn't do much of any running.  The tightness I feel in my legs is completely different."

He added, "I'd also like to do some running during my training in January.  I can't say it's the same as before my injury.  And it isn't like things are back to the way they were before, but just that it's different than last year.  I'm really enjoying it.  I'd like to keep pushing myself while everyone else is still resting."

Now that he's back in Japan, Matsunaka will continue with his training; he plans to start taking BP on the 22nd; and will return to Guam in January.

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The Meikyukai met for a general meeting in Honolulu on the 15th (Japan time 16th).  30 members of the club attended the meeting.

Sadaharu Oh (chairman of the club) told reporters that he hoped the younger members of the Meikyukai, like Hideo Nomo and Kazuhiro Kiyohara, would step up and start pulling the club forward.

Oh is also hoping that current Hawks' Matsunaka and Hiroki Kokubo reach the 2,000-hit mark before they step away from the game.

Said Oh, "Kokubo needs 130 hits?  That an attainable figure in one season.  And if Matsunaka can stay healthy, he should be able [to pick up the 351 hits he needs] in two years.  When you get this close, it's like you have to reach [the milestone].  The Meikyukai blazer?  I'd like to help them put it.  I'll be there for that."

Takahiro Mahara met with the Softbank Hawks earlier today for their first round of negotiations.  With his lawyer by his side, Mahara received an explanation of the new salary assessment system the Hawks implemented before for the start of the current off-season.  It appears the Hawks did not make a firm offer to Mahara today.

"I agreed with parts of their new system, but there were parts that I also couldn't understand.  It's too complicated," said Mahara.

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Toru Hosokawa wants to try and play a full season and will be looking to strengthen his body with the help of Olympic swimmer Kosuke Kitajima's trainer, Hideo Sasaki, during the winter.

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Kenji Otonari will take a page out of Tsuyoshi Wada's training book by doing more long distance running (instead of short sprints) during the winter in order to strengthen his lower body and improve his stamina.

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Nagisa Arakaki is thinking about moving his winter training destination from Okinawa to Hawaii (he apparently wants to train in a locale that's warmer than Okinawa).  And it seems Arakaki is focusing on throwing as much as he can this off-season.

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Nobuhiro Matsuda will be training in three different locales in January: Asia University, Hawaii, and Fukuoka.

Nagisa Arakaki tossed about 100 pitches in the bullpen on Monday.  Seems Arakaki's right shoulder is doing better now.  He's also apparently working on a two-seamer (to go with his slider, curve, and fork).

Seems Kenji Otonari is also working on a two-seamer and the two are getting help on how to throw the pitch from temporary pitching coach Kazuhiro Takeda.  The reason for picking up the new pitch: the Hawks want the two to learn a pitch they can turn use to induce grounders.

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Nobuhiro Matsuda took an extra hour's worth of fielding practice at third on Monday.

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Kenta Imamiya is planning on strengthening his legs this off-season by climbing Mt. Ohira (aka Mt. Ogi) in Oita.

Said Imamiya, "Mt. Ogi is close to my old high school Meiho and takes about 40 minutes to climb.  I want to run everyday and strengthen my lower body."

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Koji Akiyama, batting coach Yasuo Fujii, and Ni-gun batting coach Hiroshi Fujimoto spent about 45 minutes working with Koji Toyofuku on his hitting on Monday.