Manager Bobby Valentine is pushing for the Marines to draft up to 30 players and use 20 of them to form a club team or to dispatch to the SIL. 

An official with the SIL welcomed the overture from Lotte, believing the idea would be good for the development of baseball in Japan. 

But any move in this direction would have to be approved by the NPB executive board who might secretly be afraid that they would have to do something similar to what Valentine has in mind and thus cost more money than they would otherwise like just to keep up appearances. 

Both Yomiuri and Hanshin have expressed opposition to this, with the Tigers organization saying that they should work on creating an independent pro minor league that would effectively take the current Western and Eastern Leagues off of their hands in terms of day to day operations. That in itself isn't a bad idea, but there are no concrete plans to make that happen as yet, so this is just a roundabout way for Japan's two biggest teams to turn down yet another innovation. 

Ironically, the poorest team in NPB, Hiroshima, says that "this isn't a bad idea," though they aren't saying anything further about it. Yokohama is also reportedly looking favorably on the concept, though just how that would play with their overlords at TBS is anyone's guess given the clusterfuck that media outlet is when it concerns matters related to baseball. 

Shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka was taken off the roster Tuesday due to a back injury. He hurt it this past weekend while running the bases. 

Nippon Ham The Fighters Eastern League squad played one of the teams from the independent Hokushinetsu Baseball Challenge League Tuesday and whipped them 8-1. It was the first time that a club from that circuit had faced off against an NPB outfit. 

The Hokushinetsu outfit may also soon be getting a new team. A group in Gumma Prefecture is in the early stages of organizing a club they hope to have join the independent league next season. 

Rakuten Former Yokohama and Chunichi pitcher Domingo Guzman has passed a tryout with the Eagles and was scheduled to have his medical exam Tuesday. Manager Katsuya Nomura said that they will use him in the rotation. 

Seibu Leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada will have accumulated enough service time for free agency this July and the Lions are already indicating that they would like to keep him. Given that Wada is 34 and his funky swing mechanics, it is unlikely there will be any MLB interest, but there will be some within NPB should Wada decide to exercise his rights. 

Japanese olympic team manager Senichi Hoshino was asked about Hideki Wakui: "he gives up too many two strike hits. What a waste that is! There are good parts about him because he has won nine games, though."

Softbank Pitcher Jason Stanridge had a tuneup appearance down in the Western League Tuesday, tossing a scoreless inning on a hit.