[tehsuigi]

2036-37 Offseason
* The Shizuoka Arrows had previously announced some uniform adjustments for their 15th anniversary, and made them public during the championship parade; lime green accents have been reintroduced to the road jersey, and the Shizuoka city logo has been added to the right shoulder.
* The Shizuoka Arrows have also announced that their first-ever number retirement ceremory will take place during Opening Weekend, honouring #18 for Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Awards Season
* Catcher Yasutoki Kato, second baseman Keiichi Sugiyama, and shortstop Yui Nakamura were awarded Mitsui Golden Gloves for their efforts. Yes, that's eight straight for Kato.
* The Shizuoka Arrows had four members of the Best Nine squad this year, with Kato, Sugiyama, 3B Koji Kashima, and DH Masuho Aoyama all getting the award.
* The consensus Rookie of the Year was Arrows starter Atsumori Maeda, courtesy of his 18-4 record, 188 strikeouts in 171 2/3 IP, and 2.62 ERA. The kid is going to be a stud for years to come.
* Arrows manager Paul Paez took home Manager of the Year in his second year with the club.
* Three Shizuoka starters earned Sawamura votes - Shigejiro Matsumoto (2nd), Maeda (3rd), and Alex Gallardo (5th). Orix leftie Katzumi Morita picked up the win on the strength of his lower ERA and more innings pitched.
* Kashima (4th), Alejandrez (6th), Matsumoto (9th), LF Brad Chapman (10th), Maeda (12th) all got MVP votes, but it was Chiba Lotte left fielder Satoshi Teramoto with the unanimous MVP award. His 57 HRs paced the PL, making him the 4th player in *** history to pass Oh's old record (Balentien, Yamakawa, and Lions LF Shigeo Tanigawa preceded him).

Arbitration and Free Agency
* "Believe it or not, Shigejiro Matsumoto came to me with the contract structure. It was hard to say no, so we bargained and landed on this deal." That was Arrows GM tehsuigi explaining how Shizuoka's ace got inked to a 10-year, 30.725M contract extension. This buys out 5 arbitration years, gives Matsumoto an opt-out after year 6, and includes two team options.
* Also getting a longer-term contract extension is LHP Isamu Hiratsuka, inking a 4-year, 4.36M deal with an opt-out half-way through.
* The Orix Buffaloes acquired CF Takatoshi Wakabayashi and 3B Ryouhei Tanaka from the Shizuoka Arrows in exchange for RF Kazuhito Onishi.
* The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters acquired SS Tadasu Shimizu and RHP Sachiko Hoshino from the Shizuoka Arrows in exchange for 3B Mitsunobu Suzuki.
* The Hanshin Tigers traded CF Yoshihisa Fukuda to the Shizuoka Arrows for RF Yoshiaki Nishimura and RHP Yuifumi Nishimura.
* The following players have been declined arbitration and will become free agents: RHP Tsuyoshi Saito, RHP Osami Higashi, C Takakazu Nakamura, 1B Asakichi Kawada.
* The following players have left in free agency: CF Yukichi Hayashi, RHP Isamu Ochi.

2036 First Year Draft
The Japan Series champion Shizuoka Arrows are drafting last in the order.
1. Katsushi Sato, college RHP starter. I can't believe this kid fell to me. His pitches are already major-league grade, especially his changeup, and he could already start in AAA off the hop.
2. Takao Koike, high school LHP. Only three pitches and likely bullpen bound, but what he's got looks fantastic. Again, can't believe he fell to me.
3. Kinya Yamamoto, switch-hitting shortstop from high school. Could do well at either side of the keystone.
4. Shunzo Oshta, maybe the most talented catcher I've seen behind the dish. He'll make my pitchers look good. Same college as Sato too!
5. Masari Kikuchi, another shortstop, this one out of college. Probably a better fielder, but a worse bat.
6. Osamu Takeuchi, big bopper out of high school. Fielding is blah, but his bat is just line drive city and has a good personality makeup.
7. Masami Ogawa, switch-hitter RF from high school who also hits piss missiles.
8. Yoshimi Hirayama, college RHP reliever. If he can find the plate, he'll be an effective groundballer reliever.
9. Tetsuzo Muranaka, switch-hitter RF who probably fits better at CF.
10. Kenjiro Yamashta, second-baseman from high school. Lottery ticket.

Winter Meetings and After
* The Shizuoka Arrows added a new reliever in right-hander Etsuro Fukuda on a 1yr/290K deal. Last year for Niigata Komatsu, he made 24 starts with an 8.1 K/9 and 1.48 WHIP.
* Not too many other deals on the list for the Winter Meetings for major leaguers. The Arrows swapped around a bunch of minor leaguers.