[tehsuigi]

2030-31 Offseason Summary

Arbitration Period
* The Shizuoka Arrows sent RHP Konyo Nakayama and LHP Hideo Matsumoto to the Orix Buffaloes for SS Chris Bowling
* The Niigata Komatsu Bears acquired RHP Eric Pardinho from the Shizuoka Arrows for 2B Teruhito Okumura.
* The Yokohama DeNA BayStars acquired 3B Yoshuke Matsumoto and RF Kuemon Kamimura from the Shizuoka Arrows for SS Yukio Arita and RHP Giichiro Kaji.
* LF Ryosuke Tatsumi was released from Shinano Grandserows (AAA)
* The Shizuoka Arrows have avoided arbitration with all remaining players
* The Arrows extended pending free agent RHP Kodai Umetsu for 2 years at 310K per.
* The following players left the Shizuoka Arrows as free agents: SS Hayato Sakamoto, 2B Meiji Onishi, LF Seisaku Ishikawa, RHP Jon Duplantier

Award Winners
* Three Golden Glove Award winners on the Arrows roster - catcher Yasutoki Kato, second baseman Meiji Onishi, and left fielder Seisaku Ishikawa (the latter two pending FAs)
* Kikuo Kawamoto's .305/.424/.673 slash line, 37 HRs, and 5.4 WAR earned him Best Nine honours at DH
* CF Eric Santana earned third place in PL Rookie of the Year voting, with Okinaka Kirin's first baseman Tamuramaro Tanaka taking the award
* Manager Andre Ethier won Manager of the Year for the third time during his tenure at Shizuoka.
* LHP Kikuo Aoki's 18-3 record, 177 strikeouts, and 2.01 ERA in 165 1/3 IP earned him a unanimous selection as the PL's Eiji Sawamura Award winner. RHP Ethan Smith, LHP Tetsuya Yoshimoto, and RHP Daichi Ishii placed 3rd, 4th, and 6th in voting, respectively.
* DH Kikuo Kawamoto has become the first Arrow to win MVP, taking 12 of 16 first place votes. Other Arrows in the voting included Kikuo Aoki (5th), RF Shizue Uchino (9th), Ethan Smith (11th), Tetsuya Yoshimoto (13th), Daichi Ishii, and Eric Santana.

2030 First-Year Draft Summary
1. Masari Miyamoto, a college second baseman who hasn't batted below .359 in three college seasons. Good intangibles too.
2. Masao Yamamoto, college third baseman who seems like a well-rounded player
3. Matsuyo Sugiyama, a center fielder/pitcher out of high school who is likely best in the outfield, but has decent stuff and five pitches.
4. Tadasu Shimizu, high school shortstop with a noodle bat but maybe the best hands I've seen in years
5. Yukitsura Kimata, high school left fielder who has a DH bat and fielding
6. Yuya Harada, high school reliever with a solid three-pitch mix; if his stuff develops, he'll fit right into a bullpen
7. Masataka Funaki, college reliever who could turn into a decent groundballer
8. Yasuyuki Nakano, high school second baseman who probably fares better on the other side of the diamond
9. Noriyoshi Ito, college catcher with high ability, as tradition
10. Ryuzo Kimura, high school outfielder with decent range. Bat is meh.
(I clearly missed the boat on the good pitchers)

Winter Meetings and Adjacent
* The Shizuoka Arrows added two players on minor league deals - RF Bobby Ochampaugh and LHP Hidenori Kawasaki. Both will report to AAA Shinano.
* At the winter meetings, the Chunichi Dragons and Shizuoka Arrows made a swap of minor leaguers, with C Tokita Yamano and 2B Shigeru Nakashima heading to Nagoya and 2B GG Yuasa coming back the other way. Arrows GM tehsuigi did comment that Yuasa likely plays better at 3B.
* The Shizuoka Arrows announced the signing of LHP CC Mercedes for 1 year at 345K. CC earned his domestic free agency status, and will not consume a foreign player slot. Mercedes spent parts of 2025 and 2026 as an Arrow, and returns to them after four successful seasons in the Swallows rotation.
* RHP Eric Pardinho returned to the Arrows organization on a minor league deal.
* RHP Akira Yamane joins the Arrows organization on a minor league deal, and will report to AAA Shinano. Yamane was rushed to the Fighters rotation the last two years, and struggled; this is a chance at redemption.

What's a Puikkonen? Arrows Sign Finnish Phenom
SHIZUOKA - December 18, 2030

No, it's not the latest Pokemon in Gen XV. Aatu Puikkonen is the Shizuoka Arrows' latest foreign signing, a right-handed starter on a one-year deal worth 3.13M.

Finland isn't exactly known as a baseball powerhouse; they prefer a domestic/mutated version called pesapallo. So it came as a bit of a shock when the Shizuoka Arrows announced the signing of Puikkonen.
Hopes are high the 25-year-old Puikkonen can build on his 3.1 WAR performance over 27 starts at AAA Memphis in the Raleigh Capitals system. As a groundballer with three plus pitches, he'll fit right in with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ethan Smith, and Kikuo Aoki.