[tehsuigi]

2041-42 Offseason Summary

Awards Season
* Four Arrows earned Golden Gloves this season - catcher Kawanari Kondo, third baseman Koji Kashima, shortstop Yui Nakamura, and right fielder Luis Alejandrez.
* No Best Nine nominations, though.
* Yoshikuni Yokota, Takao Koike, and Jon Lutz all got Rookie of the Year votes, but the unanimous choice was Tomohiro Iwahashi, the new centre fielder for Orix.
* Paul Paez had his Manager of the Year award streak end at 5. Michael Collins wins the award for his pennant-winning work with Tohoku Rakuten.
* Kim Chae-bong has finally arrived; he was the unanimous Eiji Sawamura Award winner this year. 12-10 isn't that good of a record, but 218 Ks and a 2.82 ERA over 165 2/3 IP? And a .170 oAVG? He's earned it. Matsumoto finished 2nd.
* Kim was also the highest vote-getter for Shizuoka in the MVP race at 6th, with Matsumoto 8th, Alejandrez 13th, and Yokota and Kashima getting a few votes. Satoshi Teramoto won his 5th MVP in 6 seasons (and 4th in a row), but the Marines still can't get him to the postseason.

Arbitration and Early Free Agency
* One player was declined arbitration: 1B/3B Ayumu Imakake. As helpful he's been to the Arrows' last two championships, it comes at too high of a price tag.
* Heading to free agency are RHP Akira Wada, LHP Tetsuya Yoshimoto, LHP Rintaro Takashima, and C Kawanari Kondo
* The Hiroshima Toyo Carp acquired RHP Juan Birriel and LF Akihisa Katayama for RF Hiromi Ishimaru. The #79 rated prospect is expected to add some much-needed pop in AAA Shinano.
* The Saitama Seibu Lions added RHP Seishiro Nakatani and C Yoshtomo Nakatani from the Shizuoka Arrows in exchange for C Eizo Osaki. Osaki's expected to tandem behind the dish with Nakashima and give Koji Kashima a new assistant captain.

2041 First Year Draft
It's the first time in a long while the Arrows have picked before the last two. At 14th overall, they select right-handed starter Yuuichi Hayashi from Kansai University. Intriguingly, we've heard they haven't offered a contract...
2. Mamoru Iguchi, a left-handed batting college 3B with decent defense.
3. Eiji Ito, another right-handed college starter.
4. Kumeo Matsumoto, high school center fielder with decent numbers
5. Morikazu Hiramoto, the best available shortstop
6. Shigenori Morimoto, a slugging left-handed outfielder from high school
7. Harutomi Takara, college right-handed reliver.
8. Kota Saito, a leftie college reliever with an intriguing pitch mix.
9. Osamu Suzuki, incredible defensive prowess with a total noodle bat.
10.Akihide Tada, the usual high-ability catcher.
EDIT: Hayashi would indeed sign with the Arrows.

Other News
* LHP Yoshimitsu Ota retired after more than 12 seasons between Shizuoka, Okinawa Kirin, and Fukuoka SoftBank. He's got a future as a broadcaster, for sure.

Winter Meetings and After
* The Shizuoka Arrows acquired a number of minor league players today via trade, and one notable major leaguer from the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters - Mitsumasa Saito, a 35-year-old right handed reliever who'll be joining an already fearsome bullpen.
* The Arrows aren't known for free agent deals before the calendar flips over, but this year's an exception. Mitsuchika Saruwatari, four-time All-Star and three-time Best Nine winner over a career with Hanshin, Seibu, Honda, Nippon-Ham, and Yomiuri, signed a 1-year, 1.26M contract to come to the Arrows. Saruwatari will be 36 when the season starts, but his bat's as sharp as ever, and will be the vLH platoon DH counterpart to young Yoshikuni Yokota.