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The Hawks held a kick-off party at a restaurant on Wednesday.

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Alex Cabrera and Hitoshi Tamura were left off the 2012 Opening Day Roster because Cabrera is nursing a bad right hamstring and Tamura is having problems with his back.

Cabrera has started taking batting, but it still unable to run.

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The Hawks announced on Wednesday that the San-gun team will play eighteen games against Ni-gun KBO teams in April, May, and July.

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Images of ten players appeared on four boarding bridges at Fukuoka Airport on Wednesday.  The images will remain up for about two weeks.

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Tadashi Settsu (lower back stiffness) worked out at Yahoo Dome on Monday and told reporters that his job was to pitch where ever/when ever he is told to.  When asked how his right arm was feeling, he said it felt fine.

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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.

Tadashi Settsu was scratched from his start against the Hiroshima Carp on Friday (Yahoo Dome) because of tightness in his lower back.  Pitching coach Ikuo Takayama told reporters it was not serious and that at worst, he would miss another start.

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The San-gun Softbank Hawks play Kyushu Kokusai University and Nippon Bunri University on March 28.  Brad Penny will most likely pitch in one of the two games.

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The Hawks announced on Thursday that they will play with the roof open at Yahoo Dome on April 26 (vs Seibu) and May 23 (vs Hiroshima).

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Via Sanspo, The Hawks will be holding a public viewing of their game on March 31 at Opsia Misumi in Kagoshima.

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The Hawks announced today that Hiroki Kokubo will collect donations for northern Japan before their exhibition game on March 11.

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1st round draft pick Shota Takeda attended his high school graduation today.  Takeda will return to Fukuoka on Friday and begin workouts at Saitozaki on Saturday.

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The Hawks announced today that they will hold a pep rally after their exhibition game against Hiroshima on March 24.

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New sections at Yahoo Dome were revealed to the public today.  Seating capacity at the stadium has also increased from 37,025 to 38,561.

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Tadashi Settsu may have accidentally told reporters on Wednesday that he was going to be the opening day pitcher when he said, "I have never done it before so I can not really imagine what it is like."

Settsu is slated to start an exhibition game against Lotte on March 3 and go about three innings.

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The Hawks plan to start playing their veterans, like Kokubo, Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Hitoshi Tamura, and Alex Cabrera, during exhibition games, beginning with the Chiba Lotte Marines on March 3.

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Koji Akiyama will likely opt to carry an extra position player instead of an extra pitcher on opening day.

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Nikkan Sports notes a number of things to keep an eye on:

• Starting Pitchers - Settsu, Kazuyuki Hoashi, and Brad Penny have pitched well, but there is some concern surrounding Sho Iwasaki.  Renyel Pinto has also pitched well.
• Designated Hitter - Matsunaka and Wily Mo Pena will compete for DH.  At first, Hiroki Kokubo is the front-runner, but Cabrera could change that.  Two of these players will likely end up on the bench.
• Shortstop - Kenji Akashi is the leading choice, but Kenta Imamiya is not too far behind, if he can get his bat going.
• Relievers - Takahiro Mahara is out.  Brian Falkenborg will likely take over as closer.  Masahiko Morifuku and Takehito Kanazawa as set-up men.  More than likely, the Hawks will try a number of possibilities out before making any hard-set decisions.

The Softbank Hawks announced that Takahiro Mahara successfully had his right shoulder (rotator cuff, glenoid labrum) cleaned out today.  A Hawks' trainer told reporters that Mahara will not be able to do anything throwing for two to three months and may ultimately miss up to six months.

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In addition to an exhibition game start against Lotte on March 3, Tadashi Settsu will probably get four starts before opening day.

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Sho Iwasaki spent some time shadow pitching with his left arm on Friday after Koji Akiyama suggested he give it a try as a way to improve his balance, like Yu Darvish.  Akiyama had Iwasaki use a training bat for weight (kind of swinging it like a tennis racket).

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The Softbank Hawks may be leaning towards signing Juan Carlos Paniagua, not as an Ikusei player, but as a regular 70-man roster player -- he pitched well during a practice game against Doosan (KBO) on Friday.  The Hawks also like Wanel Mesa, but at twenty-five years of age, they appear to be a little concerned about his ceiling.

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Nikkan Sports mentions that Brad Penny's girlfriend, Rachelle Leah, is in Japan.

Penny's personal trainer, Matt Klein (sp?), told reporters on Friday that Penny wakes up at 5am everyday and workouts for about an hour, beginning at 5:30am.  He also spends time training in the evenings after returning to the player hotel.

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

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Brad Penny wanted to pitch on four days of rest instead of six days of rest.

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Koji Akiyama spent over an hour giving Kenta Imamiya hitting advice on Wednesday -- forty minutes on how to use his lower body while hitting off a tee and about another thirty minutes after full squad bunt practices.

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Takehito Kanazawa canceled his bullpen session on Wednesday because he was feeling tightness in his lower back.  He also did not participate in fielding practice and instead focused on stretches and getting massages.  He is basically day-to-day.

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Toru Hosokawa caught Hiroyuki Kawahara's bullpen session on Wednesday and later advised the 20-year-old to make adjustments to how he throws the curve because he might be tipping the pitch to batters.

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Rehab coach Kazumi Saito played catch in the bullpen today.

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The Hawks held a ceremony to unveil their Nippon Series commemorative plaque today.

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Wanel Mesa arrived in Miyazaki on Monday.  His tryouts began today.

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Tadashi Settsu will be using a 600 gram (up 30 grams from last season) glove this season.  Seems his glove last season was too light and threw off his balance.

====== UPDATE 2/15 @ 2:03am

The Hawks worked out indoors today because of the rainy weather.

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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.