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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

It appears 36-year-old Seth Greisinger won't be returning to the Yomiuri Giants in 2012. On Tuesday, Greisinger dropped by Giants Stadium to gather his things together and told reporters that he wanted to continue pitching in Japan, for any of the 12 NPB teams.

Micheal Nakamura and Carlos Torres also appear to be on they way out.

Jonathan Albaladejo wants to pitch in Japan next year as well and still has a chance to remain a Giant.

UPDATE @ 10:32pm - Albaladejo left Japan today.  Before leaving, he told that he already told the club he wanted to return next year.  His agent is also scheduled to get in touch with the team within the next 2-3 days to see where they stand.

Torres left Japan today as well.  He told reporters that he hasn't heard anything from his agent and that he didn't think he'd be playing with the Giants next year.

Josh Field also left Japan today.

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Seth Greisinger 2011 Season

Micheal Nakamura 2011 Season

Carlos Torres 2011 Season

Jonathan Albaladejo 2011 Season

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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Today's intra-squad game:

The reds beat the whites, 5-0 (7 innings).

Takahiko Nomaguchi started the game for the reds and did not allow a run over 2 innings of work.  He also gave up 2 hits and struck out 2.

Jumpei Ono entered the game in the 3rd and tossed 3 perfect innings in relief for the reds.

Tetsuya Matsumoto started in center and batted 1st for the whites.  He went 1-for-3.

Yoshiyuki Kamei started at third and batted 4th for the whites.  He went 0-for-4.

Yesterday's Ni-gun intra-squad game:

The reds beat the whites, 2-0 (6 innings).

Taishi Ota was a starting third baseman and batted 4th for the red team; he went 2-for-3 with a stolen base.

Atsushi Nakazato tossed an inning of relief (4th inning) for the whites and struck out the side.

===== 2/13 @ 9:21pm

The Giants drew over 30,000 fans today.

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Seth Greisinger faced Ryuichi Kajimae, Itaru Hashimoto, and Taishi Ota during BP today and threw 38 pitches while giving in 2 could-be hits.  This was Greisinger's first appearance as a BP pitcher this spring.

===== 2/13 @ 4:16pm

Carlos Torres faced Rusty Ryal, Yoshiyuki Kamei, and Shigeyuki Furuki during BP today and threw 48 pitches while giving 8 could-be hits.  This was Torres' second BP outing since the start of spring camp.

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Brian Bannister faced Takahito Kudo, Toshimasa Konta, and Kenji Yano during BP today and threw 41 pitches while giving up 1 could-be hit.

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Shun Tono threw 91 pitches in the bullpen today.  He also mixed in his fork.

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Hirokazu Sawamura (1st round) threw 37 pitches in the bullpen today, including 4 forkballs.  This was Swamura's 5th bullpen this spring.

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General pitching coach Kazuhisa Kawaguchi told reporters that Shinnosuke Abe will be Sawamura's catcher during his intra-squad appearance on the 15th.

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Tetsuya Utsumi apparently got some ideas on how to tweak his delivery by watching ice skaters doing jumps.

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Taichi Tanaka (3rd round) has not tossed a bullpen session yet, but told reporters today that he was thinking about throwing one soon.

===== 2/13 @ 7:03am

Ota is scheduled to start at third and bat 4th during today's Ichi-gun intra-squad game.

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Jonathan Albaladejo faced Takahito Kudo and Rusty Ryal during BP yesterday and threw 32 pitches while giving up 2 could-be hits.  19 of the 32 pitches Albaladejo threw were called balls and both could-be hits came of Kudo's bat.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

=== 1/4 @ 1:50am

Taishi Ota is scheduled to rejoin the Ichi-gun roster beginning on the first day of the second block of spring camp (2/5).

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Tetsuya Utsumi threw his fourth bullpen session today in as many days under the watchful eye of Tatsunori Hara.

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Jonathan Albaladejo threw 44 pitches (including his off-speed pitches) in the bullpen today.

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Hara stood in the batter's box during Brian Bannister's bullpen session today.

Said Hara, "I wanted to see what he could throw.  When you stand in the batter's box yourself, it makes it easier to explain yourself, to say something good.  It puts you on the same page.  He showed good control."

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Hoshino tossed BP today.

=== 7:48pm

The six foreign Giants took part in a bean throwing ceremony today, as part of Setsubun.

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Seth Greisinger tossed his first bullpen session during spring camp today; he threw a total 51 pitches (fastballs and change-ups).  Greisinger plans on throwing at least three more sessions for a scheduled outing during an intra-squad game on the 17th.

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Seven Ni-gun Giants spent about an hour in the batting cages during early morning practice today (8:20am).  Genki Kawano was apparently one of them and took a slider that didn't slide off his back.  He later told reporters that he was fine.

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Despite all the hard training (there was an evening practice session on the first day of camp and yesterday's session lasted close to 7 hours), Takanori Hoshi told reporters today that he has managed to gain weight since the start of camp (from 81kg to 82kg).

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Masumi Hoshino tossed 136 pitches in the bullpen yesterday.  It was his second bullpen session in as many days (he threw 100 the day before).  The Giants are currently thinking of Hoshino as a potential starter.

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General pitching coach Kazuhisa Kawaguchi advised Hirokazu Sawamura (1st round) to slow down and take things easy yesterday.  He also old Sawamura that it wasn't the number of pitches he threw, but rather the quality of the pitches he threw.

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Rusty Ryal and Yoshiyuki Kamei took grounders at third during situational fielding practice yesterday.  And Hayato Sakamoto was at short and Ryota Wakiya at second.  The session lasted about an hour and 15 minutes.  Kamei also spent about 40 minutes working on back-handing the ball.

According to Sponichi, 35-year-old Seth Greisinger agreed to an 180M yen pay cut (from 260M yen to 80M yen)  in order to return to the Yomiuri Giants in 2011.  Greisinger's goal moving forward will be to regain the confidence of the team and secure a spot in the starting rotation.

It appears the Yomiuri Giants are adding Seth Greisinger to their holdover list (次年度契約保留選手名簿). That essentially means the team will continue to negotiate with Greisnger past the 11/30 deadline with the hopes of coming to an agreement.