That apparently isn't stopping Softbank from looking at him. Takayuki Shinohara, their lefty specialist, hasn't been very effective against lefthanded hitters, who have bounced him for a combined average of better than .290 the last two seasons. Koji Mise suffocated lefties, though, and while he has hardly been old reliable in the years after a pretty good rookie campaign, he is probably still better than an aging warhorse such as Fujita. They let C.J. Nitkowski go because of his propensity to walk people even though lefthand batters did very little against him and righties hit .250 off of him. 

Manager Bobby Valentine appealed to his players who smoke by advising them that this is a good time for them to give the nasty habit up. According to Sports Nippon, ten Marines players have kicked their nictotine addictions this year. 

Nippon Ham The ball hit off of one of Yu Darvish's shins Saturday by Chunichi pinch hitter Takehiro Donoue resulted in only a minor bruise. Darvish said that he doesn't believe it will have any impact on his next Japan Series appearance. 

Kansas City Star writer Joe Posnanski is at the Japan Series right now with the obvious hook of the Royals new manager Trey Hillman. They are running a series about it right now in that paper and you can comment on Joe's articles there. So check it out. 

Orix Slugger Kazuhiro Kiyohara talked to manager Terry Collins about how his rehab from knee surgery is coming along. Kiyohara is tentatively slated for a pinch hitting role next season, but Collins also rhetorically pondered what it would be like to have him back in the lineup. 

Rakuten Tampa Bay is said to be showing interest in Eagles free agent closer Kazuo Fukumori. 

Softbank Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo will have left wrist surgery on the 30th. Rehabbing it is expected to take four months, meaning that he will miss the first mointh of spring training.