Takahiro Okada had his left leg examined at a hospital in Kobe today and was diagnosed with a hamstring strain.  Okada suffered the injury during his last at bat during Thursday's game against the Rakuten Eagles.  The Buffaloes will decide what course of action to take after they have a chance to confirm the severity of his injury during practices on Saturday.

Shinji Takahashi was taken off the active roster today with a tired back.

Shinji Takahashi is ready to catch (or at the very least open to catching), if needed.  Akinobu Okada also appears to like the added flexibility with Takahashi and said to reporters, "We might be able to get away with two catchers.  If necessary, we can always turn to players like Shinji [Takahashi] and [Hirotoshi] Kitagawa.

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Daily Sports is reporting that Yuki Nishi is scheduled to pitch in Wednesday's exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants.

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Sanspo notes that Chihiro Kaneko was scratched from an exhibition game start against the Yomiuri Giants on Wednesday due to fatigue.

Players gathered at Hotto Motto Kobe on Tuesday (minus foreign players) for team photos.

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The Buffaloes announced on Tuesday that 31 players will be attending a player training camp in Miyakojima, Okinawa between January 27 and January 30.

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Shunta, Shohei Tsukahara, Taiki Mitsumata, Masato Fukae, and Yuki Miyazaki took part in a ceremony at Osaka Tenmangu Shrine on Tuesday.

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Shinji Takahashi told reporters he does not want to be a full-time DH because it will make him age quicker.  He also plans to take his catcher's mitt to spring camp in case he needs it.  That means he could spend time working out as a catcher, first baseman, and outfielder.

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Hayato Terahara visited Hotto Motto Kobe on Monday for the first time this year.  His goals for the 2012: at least 15 victories, losses in the single-digits, and set a new career high in innings pitched (current high is 184.2 innings).

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Akinobu Okada told reporters that he planned to have borderline pitchers toss BP during the second block of spring camp.  He also plans to push everyone hard, beginning on the first day of camp.  Intra-squad games will begin during the third block of camp.

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Takahiro Okada ended up doing kendama training (good for balance and keeping the legs free and easy) with Shunta while they were in Los Angeles because Shunta needed some help with it.

Shinji Takahashi and Hirotoshi Kitagawa worked out in Kobe today.

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Takahiro Okada apparently got Shigetoshi Hasegawa to be a BP pitcher for his group during their workouts in Los Angeles.

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Before leaving for Los Angeles on Thursday, Shunta told reporters he packed a kendama for his overseas workouts.

Shunta saw a TV program during the New Year holiday that mentioned kendama training could help improve focus and usage of the lower body and decided he wanted to give it a try.

Incidentally, Softbank Hawk players Nobuhiro Matsuda and Yuichi Honda appeared in the program as "test subjects."

Sponichi is reporting that the Orix Buffaloes and Shinji Takahashi (33) have agreed to a deal and that an announcement will be made by the team today.

UPDATE @ 6:05pm - The Buffaloes announced today that they signed Takahashi today.  He was also assigned the number 6.

UPDATE @ 6:40pm - Sanspo is reporting that Takahashi's salary will be an estimated 35M yen.

Sponichi is reporting that Shinji Takahashi received calls from a number of teams and may have already narrowed his options down to the Orix Buffaloes.

Sources close to Takahashi are quoted as saying, "Orix was the first team to contact him after he was released.  He could also feel their enthusiasm [the most].  He has interest in playing baseball under Okada-san."

The Buffaloes are expected to make Takahashi an offer as soon he is taken off the Yomiuri Giants' reserve list on 12/2.

UPDATE @ 10:36pm - GM Yoshio Murayama told reporters today that he felt Takahashi was a solid player and was interested in him.

The Yomiuri Giants announced today that they will be releasing the following seven players: Yuki Furukawa (26), Kyohei Tsuchimoto (26), Keisuke Saito (21), Ryota Wakiya (30), Hidetoshi Tsuburaya (27), Kazunao Yamamoto (25), and Shinji Takahashi (33).

UPDATE @ 7:45pm - Wakiya is expected to return to the Giants under an Ikusei contract.

UPDATE 11/22 @ 11:21pm - On why Wakiya was released in order to sign an Ikusei deal: he suffered a ligament injury in his right elbow that will most likely require surgery and a significant amount of time for a full recovery.

The other players (not including Takahashi and Wakiya) could also return to the team under Ikusei deals.

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Yuki Furukawa - 2011 Season

Kyohei Tsuchimoto - 2011 Season

Did not pitch in any games

Keisuke Saito - 2011 Season

Did not pitch in any games

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Ryota Wakiya - 2011 Season

Hidetoshi Tsuburaya - 2011 Season

Kazunao Yamamoto - 2011 Season

Shinji Takahashi - 2011 Season

33-year-old Shinji Takahashi submitted a request to the Yomiuri Giants asking for his release today and the team has since decided to approve the request.  Takashi also told reporters that he was prepared to retire if he did not receive any offers.

"I am thankful that [the Giants] agreed to accept my silly request," said Takahashi.  "I will have to quit if I do not get any offers.  I will not have any regrets."

Yomiuri Giants' rep Atsushi Harasawa told reporters on Sunday that he reached out players that have FA options and asked them to remain with the team.

Said Harasawa, "[It made sense to reach out to them again because] the person in charge of negotiations changed.  [Asking them to remain] is what the team wants.  I also told them it was something I felt as well."

The media also learned that Shinji Takahashi is thinking about asking the clubs to release him (he doesn't want to exercise his option).  And while it is rumored that the Giants offered Takahashi a substantial pay cut, he told reporters it had nothing to do with the amount of money, but rather the amount of playing time.

Kazunari Tsuruoka had met with GM Hidetoshi Kiyotake and Operations Director Shinji Sasamoto for about 30 minutes on Wednesday before telling reporters that he was planning on exercising his FA option.  The Yokohama Bay Stars and Rakuten Eagle are said to be interested in Tsuruoka if he becomes a free agent.

Shinji Takahashi also met with the Giants yesterday and placed their offer on hold.  While he didn't meet with reporters after his talks with the team, someone close to him told reporters that while he did enjoy playing for the Giants, he also wanted more playing time.

Saburo Omura is also a question mark.

Sponichi notes that the Giants have only lost 5 players to free agency (since 1993), two if you don't consider players going overseas.  Those two players: Norihiro Komada to the Yokohama Bay Stars after the 1993 and Hiroki Kokubo to the Softbank Hawks after the 2006.  Of those two, Komada was "home-grown" talent.