Takashi Ogino is coming back from right knee surgery and Tatsuya Uchi is coming back from right elbow surgery. Ogino played in his first rehab game on Saturday: Ni-gun vs Seibu, 0-for-2, 2 R.  Uchi pitched in his first rehab game on Sunday: Ni-gun vs Seibu, 1 IP, 3 BF, 14 NP, 0 H, 1 SO, 0 BB/HBP, 0 R, 0 ER.

Norifumi Nishimura on when they expect Ogino and Uchi to return to the active roster, via Nikkan Sports: "We were first thinking mid-May, but there is no need to rush their returns.  Uchi needs more innings and Ogino needs more at bats.  It would hurt them, and the team, if [we rushed their returns and] they got hurt again."

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Tomoya Satozaki could return to the starting line-up as early as Tuesday, dependent on how he is feeling in the morning.

Satozaki took a foul ball off his right arm on April 13.  He played a full game the following day, but has not played in any games since because the team felt he needed some rest.

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Takahiro Fujioka's next start could come against the Softbank Hawks on April 30 at QVC Marine.

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Seth Greisinger has not allowed a run in either of his two starts this season:

4/10 vs Orix: 8 IP, 113 NP, 28 BF, 2 H, 6 SO, 2 BB, 0 R, 0 ER
4/4 vs Seibu: 7 IP, 94 NP, 23 BF, 4 H, 9 SO, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER 

He is slated to start Tuesday's game against the Nippon Ham Fighters.

Seth Greisinger did some running and pitched in the bullpen on his day off today.  He is scheduled to start tomorrow's game against the Softbank Hawks.

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According to Nikkan Sports: Yoshihisa Naruse will likely make his next start against the Seibu Lions on March 22; Yuki Karakawa on March 24 against the Nippon Ham Fighters; and 1st round draft pick Takahiro Fujioka on March 25 against the Nippon Ham Fighters.

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The Marines announced today that they will distribute around 52,000 copies of their Marines Math Drills to 119 elementary schools in Chiba.  They will also give away 1,000 randoseru (back-pack) covers to the first 1,000 elementary school kids bring in the drills fully answered.

The Marines will also give away around 3,000 randoseru covers to first year elementary school kids at thirty-six schools in Chiba on March 26.

Norifumi Nishimura told reporters on Thursday that he will start the season off with a five-man rotation because of the odd schedule -- they open the season with a three game series against the Rakuten (March 30 - April 1) and then play a two game series against Seibu (April 3 - 4) and a three game series against Nippon Ham (April 6 - 8).  They finally play a full six-game week beginning on April 10 -- three game against Orix and three games against Softbank.

And as of now, the first five spots of the starting rotation could include Yoshihisa Naruse, Yuki Karakawa, 1st round draft pick Takahiro Fujioka, Seth Greisinger, and Shunsuke Watanabe.

Seth Greisinger worked out in Sapporo today.  He is scheduled to pitch against the Nippon Ham Fighters on March 7.

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Norifumi Nishimura told reporters after Sunday's game that he might give Shunichi Nemoto a look as a lead-off batter based on how well he has been doing lately.

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1st round draft pick Takahiro Fujioka threw fastballs and sliders during his outing against the Softbank Hawks on Sunday.  And of the eighteen pitches he threw, fourteen were fastballs.

Fujioka is scheduled to start a an exhibition game against the Rakuten Eagles on March 10.

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The Marines canceled morning walks on Monday in order to give players a little break.

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Carlos Rosa's wife is pregnant with the couple's first child.  She is due to delivery some time next month.

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The Marines will be playing four of their six intra-squad games on weekends (February 11, 12, 18, 19).  They scheduled the intra-squad games on the weekend because they know that is when most fans will be visiting the stadium.

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1st round draft pick Takahiro Fujioka will likely make an intra-squad start on February 11.

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2nd round draft pick Yuhei Nakaushiro will begin testing two types of sliders (horizontal and vertical break).

He also told reporters on Saturday that he did not want people calling him Yu-chan because there is already another pitcher in the league going by the nickname (Yuki Saito, Nippon Ham).

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When special instructor Norihiro Komada was asked which player caught his eye so far during spring camp, he said Shunichi Nemoto.

The Chiba Lotte Marines announced today that they signed Seth Greisinger (36).  Various reports (like Sports Hochi, Nikkan Sports) are reporting that he signed a one-year deal worth an estimated  US$400,000 (around 30M yen) plus incentives.  A uniform number has not yet been assigned.

Sanspo reports that the Chiba Lotte Marines may be close to deals with both Josh Whitesell (29) and Seth Greisinger (36).  Assuming things go smoothly with Whitesell, a deal could be officially announced as early as today.  The Marines are also expected to make an announcement about Greisinger before the end of the year as well.

UPDATE @ 4:53pm - As Steve mentions below, the deal with Whitesell has been completed and the Marines have posted an official announcement at their website.

Sanspo notes that the deal is worth an estimated US$300,000 (or about 23.4M yen) plus incentives.  A uniform number has not yet been assigned.

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Josh Whitesell - 2011 Season

The media learned on Friday that the Chiba Lotte Marines agreed to terms with Seth Greisinger (36) and will make an announcement of the deal within the next couple of days.

Sponichi is reporting that the Chiba Lotte Marines are interested in 36-year-old RHP Seth Greisinger.

Greisinger was a stable presence in the starting rotation for his first three seasons in the NPB, but he hurt his right elbow after the 2009 season and went under the knife in March 2010.  While he did manage to pitch in six games in 2010 (August, September), he continued to have problems this season and was limited just nine Ichi-gun games before a demotion to Ni-gun on 7/13.

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2011 Season