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Today's Kyoiku League game against Rakuten at Kamagaya: Brian Wolfe started the game and allowed one run (unearned) on two hits over five innings of work. [Nikkan Sports]

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4th round draft pick Kensuke Kondo could make it into the starting line-up at catcher for some exhibition games during the team's road trip to the Kanto region (beginning on March 16).

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Tomohiro Nioka could play in Friday's (March 16) exhibition game against the Yokohama Bay Stars depending on how things go over the next couple of days.  Nioka has been practicing at Kamagaya since March 8 and is working his way back from right calf problems.

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Toshimasa Konta is working his way back from right shoulder surgery in December.  He has already logged some playing time as a DH and took fielding practice for the first time on Sunday.

"Rehab is moving quicker than originally planned," said Konta. "All that is left is throwing.  It is ultimately up to the manager and coaches to decide on how they want to use me.  I will continue to do my best so that I am prepared to go whenever they need me."

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima took batting practice on Monday by standing over home plate against a pitching machine that throws curves -- swinging and missing means getting hit by the baseball.

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Sapporo's Toho subway line will be running a Fighters subway for three years, beginning March 19, 2012.

Toshimasa Konta had his right rotator cuff cleaned out at a hospital in Tokyo earlier today.  He should be able to start throwing again in about two months.

The Nippon Ham Fighters announced today that they signed Toshimasa Konta (31) to a contract worth an estimated 8.4M yen.  They also assigned him the number 67.

Konta was originally draft by the Fighters in the 6th round of the 2002 draft.  He was then shuttled off, in addition to Hideki Sunaga, to the Yomiuri Giants in November 2010 for Wirfin Obispo.

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2011 Stats

The media learned on Friday that Toshimasa Konta (31) will be returning to the Nippon Ham Fighters after spending the last season with the Yomiuri Giants.

Konta was traded to the Giants last winter and never really got a chance to play.  He was informed on the 15th that he would not be offered a contract for the 2012 season.  Konta will also be undergoing to

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2011 Stats

The Giants announced today that they won't be offering Micheal Nakamura (35), Atsushi Nakazato (29), Takahisa Ueno (28), and Toshimasa Konta (31) contract for the 2012 season.

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Micheal Nakamura 2011 Season

Atsushi Nakazato 2011 Season

Takahisa Ueno 2011 Season

Toshimasa Konta 2011 Season

A complete list of Yomiuri Giants senryokugai players can be found here.

11/9/2010 10:48pm JST

The Giants held a press conference for Sunaga and Konta on Monday and assigned them the numbers 37 and 44, respectively.  As of yesterday, they were scheduled to join the rest of the Giants at Fall camp today.

The Fighters held their press conference for Obispo today.  No decision yet on what number he will be wearing.

11/6/2010 2:33pm JST

This is just the 6th time a foreign player was traded in the NPB and the first in 8 years.

The Giants are hoping Sunaga can compete for a job in the starting rotation.  As for Konta, it seems they wanted him for his speed and glove.

11/5/2010 5:14pm JST

The Yomiuri Giants and the Nippon Ham Fighters have apparently agreed on a trade that will send Wirfin Obispo to the Nippon Ham Fighters for Hideki Sunaga and Toshimasa Konta.

Wirfin Obispo

Hideki Sunaga

Toshimasa Konta