The Softbank Hawks announced today that Terry Doyle (26), Levi Romero (28), Renyel Pinto (30), Angel Castro (29), Brandon Allen (26), and Josh Short (25) will not be returning to the team next season.

Source: official annoucement, Nikkan Sports 10/25/2012

A Softbank Hawks official told reporters on Friday that the team planned to offer Brian Falkenborg a contract for the 2013 season.  The team will probably want Hideki Okajima to return next season as well, but he has expressed an interest in returning to the US.

Other players that will likely return next season: Wily Mo Pena, Terry Doyle, Brad Allen, Yao-Hsun Yang, and Ikusei pitcher Edison Barrios.

The Hawks are not expected to offer Renyel Pinto, Angel Castro, Levi Romero, and Ikusei outfielder Josh Short contracts for the 2013 season.

Source: Nikkan Sports 10/20/2012

Thursday's San-gun game against Kyushu Kyoritsu University: Renyel Pinto started the game and tossed six shutout innings while allowing three hits.  He also struck out ten. [Nikkan Sports]

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Akira Nakamura, Tomoaki Egawa, and Yasushi Kamiuchi made the Opening Day roster in place of players Alex Cabrera (right hamstring), Hitoshi Tamura (back), and Takehito Kanazawa (fever).

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Pitching coach Ikuo Takayama on Tadashi Settsu's stiff back: "It seemed like his back stiffness was not giving him any problems [during his bullpen session]. ... If he feels even a small amount of discomfort, we will not push him.  Right now, we still do not know what is going to happen."

If Settsu is not able to go on opening day, the Hawks may turn to other options like Kenji Otonari, Nagisa Arakaki, or Sho Iwasaki.  Arakaki may be the front-runner.

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Renyel Pinto had a rough outing on Thursday (4 IP, 22 BF, 91 NP, 5 H, 3 SO, 5 BB, 4 R, 4 ER).  The Hawks may be wavering a bit on Pinto as a member of the starting rotation.

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The Hawks announced today that SMAP's Masahiro Nakai will throw out the ceremonial first pitch on March 30.  Kana Uemura is also scheduled to sing the National Anthem and play a mini-concert before the game.

The Hawks held a pep rally at Softbank HQ in Shiodome, Tokyo today.  Team owner Masayoshi Son promised to provide players with the new iPad3.  About 500 Softbank employees attended the event.

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Brad Penny and Renyel Pinto rejoined the Ichi-gun team today and worked out at QVC Marine.  Penny is scheduled to pitch on Wednesday and Pinto on Thursday, both games against the Nippon Ham Fighters at Sapporo Dome.

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Hiroki Kokubo worked out at the indoor training facilities at QVC Marine on his day-off today.  Kokubo wanted to get in some extra work because he missed some time after hurting his left calf during a game against the Yokohama Bay Stars on March 13.

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If Shingo Tatsumi makes the opening day roster, it will likely be as a reliever.

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Kazuyuki Hoashi's first regular season start could come on April 1 against the Orix Buffaloes at Yahoo Dome.

Hiroki Kokubo left today's game before taking the field on defense in the 1st inning due to tightness in his left calf.  The injury does not appear to be serious and the team expects Kokubo to be in the line-up on Thursday against the Rakuten Eagles.

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Nikkan Sports notes that Yuichi Honda and Kenji Akashi could take the top two spots in the batting order.

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Kazuyuki Hoashi is scheduled to start a Kyoiku League game against Hanshin (at Naruohama) on Sunday, March 18.

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According to Sanspo, the Hawks will most likely open the season with the following starting rotation:

March 30 - April 1 (vs Orix): Tadashi Settsu, Nagisa Arakaki, Hoashi

April 3 - April 5 (vs Rakuten): Hiroki Yamada, Brad Penny, Renyel Pinto

Sho Iwasaki and Kenji Otonari are also still in the running.

====== UPDATE 3/14 @ 12:45am

The Hawks will avoid starting Penny and Pinto against the Rakuten Eagles before the start of the regular season and will instead have them make Kyoiku League starts: Penny against Hiroshima on Wednesday and Pinto against Orix on Thursday.

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The Hawks announced today that Mu-Young Kim's wife gave birth to the couple's second child, a boy weighing 3,298 grams.

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Renyel Pinto is scheduled to pitch in an intra-squad game on February 23.

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Pitching coach Ikuo Takayama apparently feels starters should be able to throw about 120 pitches on six days of rest.

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As of Saturday, Whily Mo Pena was 0-for-7 with four strikeouts over two intra-squad games.

The Hawks had the day off today.

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Renyel Pinto worked out on his day off today.  Workouts included: playing catch and running.

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Kenta Imamiya spent time taking soft-toss batting practice on his day off today.  He has been told that he is using too much upper body when hitting the ball and is trying to make better use of his lower body.

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5th round draft pick Shinya Kayama threw both his change (that moves like a knuckle curve, according to pitching coach Ikuo Takayama) and curve during his intra-squad outing on Thursday.

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The Hawks had the day off today.

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Takahiro Mahara played a light game of catch on Sunday for the first time during spring camp.

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Renyel Pinto's wife is currently in Japan and was at spring camp on Sunday.

====== UPDATE 2/14 @ 12:15am

Tadashi Settsu participated in a photo shoot for ZETT's equipment catalog on Monday.

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Members for the 2012 cheer-leading squad were decided on Monday.

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Today was the last day of the third block of camp.  The team has the day off tomorrow.

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The Hawks drew 22,000 fans today.

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3rd round draft pick Masayoshi Tsukada was excused from practices today because he was not feeling well (he also missed practices on Saturday with a fever).  His test for the flu came back negative.  Soichiro Tateoka was called up from Ni-gun to take Tsuakada's spot.

1st round draft pick Shota Takeda worked out with the Ni-gun team today after missing practices yesterday because he was not feeling well.

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Angel Castro told reporters today that he threw his bullpen session at about 80-85%.

====== UPDATE 2/13 @ 1:37am

The Softbank Hawks Miyazaki Support Group presented the team 100 kabayaki eels on Sunday.