Rakuten Hironori Fujisaki, who was released earlier, has become a batting practice pitcher with the Eagles. 

A team official indicated that they will not bring in Hanshin free agent Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi or any other of the players released by Japanese teams this offseason. They will, though, bring in another foreign player or two and continue developing their young players. 

Seibu Outfielder Kazuhiro Wada said that he will not engage in negotiations while he is part of the Japanese olympic baseball qualifying team. Manager Hisanobu Watanabe, who is weill known in Taiwanese baseball circles due to his coaching tint there, had told reporters that he might go to that country in order to hold talks with Wada. But that is now obviously out the window. 

Softbank Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo had successful left wrist surgery Wednesday in L.A. He will now head to Arizona and begin rehabbing it. 

Since the Lions parted ways with DH/first baseman Alex Cabrera, the Hawks are checking into taking him in. With their power core being at the corner infield slots with Nobuhiko Matsunaka and Hiroki Kokubo, both of whom are displaying signs of slowing down at the plate plus disappointing power production from centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura, they need to bolster their longball potential. But Cabrera is no spring chicken either plus he takes at bats away from developing players such as Nobuhiro Matsuda and Tomoaki Egawa. They can't continue to allow their lineup to become more ancient, either. So it will be interesting to see how they handle this and who they decide to bring in to fill an outfield slot from MLB.