[tehsuigi]

2027 Offseason Updates

Before Free Agents File
* Taiki Ono's vesting option failed to vest, and he will be heading to free agency
* Conner Greene's 1.125M team option was bought ought, and arbitration has been declined
* The following other players have been declined arbitration: LHP Yudai Mori, RHP Yuta Nakamura, RHP Azumamaro Masuda, RHP Adrian Luna, RHP Colby White, C Yudai Furukawa, 1B Toby Welk, CF Jutaro Mori, CF Kota Okuyama, RF Akiyoshi Yamane
* The Shizuoka Arrows have locked up another player long-term: CF Shizue Uchino signed a 6-year, 13.92M extension that buys out four arbitration years for the 30-30 batter.
* The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks received LHP Yudai Mori and RHP Yuta Nakamura from the Shizuoka Arrows for RHP Mitsukuni Matsuda.
* Also heading to free agency are LHP Kenta Uehara and RHP Chihaya Sasaki.

Awards Season
* 2B Sosuke Genda earned a Mitsui Golden Glove for his work. A 9.1 ZR and .988 fielding PCT spells the story there.
* 3B Takahiko Arakawa's 40 home run, 94 RBI season earned him a unanimous Rookie of the Year award. He also placed 5th in MVP voting, with Orix RF Ryo Nishimura winning the award unanimously.
* Manager Andre Ethier won Manager of the Year for his efforts to get the Arrows into the Japan Series
* It's an Arrows 1-2 for the Eiji Sawamura Award, as Yoshinobu Yamamoto won the award unanimously, with Daichi Ishii taking second place. Yamamoto's 184 1/3 IP, .93 WHIP, 1.9 BB/9, and 5.3 WAR are all league-bests. His 2.64 ERA is his best in 5 years. Yamamoto finished 9th in MVP voting, and Ishii 11th.
* CF Shizue Uchino finished 8th in MVP voting.

First-Year Draft Results
1. LHP Yoshimitsu Ota, who is likely going to be our top bullpen arm in AA this year.
2. RHP Hironori Watanabe, an equally strong bullpen candidate. Rare for any team to go 1-2 pitchers, but we did.
3. RF Reizo Nishimoto, leftie power bat from high school
4. 3B Tomaru Hotta, high schooler with decent Koshien results. Could develop into a 1B too.
5. RHP Shichinosuke Yamasaki, was not expecting him to fall to me here. Likely a reliever, but could be a damn good one with that knuckle curve.
6. C Takekazu Nakamura, adding another high-ability catcher
7. CF Keisaburo Terada, looks like a good defensive outfielder
8. 2B Shinkichi Ihara, leadership and a liner bat
9. 3B Ritsuo Hasegawa, best power bat left in the draft with high leadership
10. 2B Gou Ubai, contact bat who could turn into something

Winter Meetings
Shizuoka GM tehsuigi has a habit of announcing big deals during the winter meetings, and this is a particularly big one that moves the Arrows from contenders to force-to-be-reckonked-with. Left fielder Seiya Yamazaki, left-handed starter Yuki Watanabe, and right-handed reliever Yuma Tamura were sent to the Hiroshima Carp in exchange for right fielder Seiya Suzuki. 50% of Suzuki's remaining contract will be retained by Hiroshima. This gets the Carp's limited financials straightened up, and gives the Arrows a potentially dominant RF/DH. In spite of injuries, Suzuki posted 5.3 WAR over 94 games last year, with a .334/.455/.587 slash line.

Continuing a tradition of trading with the Japan Series champion, the Yomiuri Giants have acquired 1B Sofu Kawaguchi, 2B/OF Kei Kinoshta, and SS Riku Masuda for right-handed starter Ryu Ota. 90% of Ota's 4.1M contract will be retained.

The Shizuoka Arrows announced the signing of right-handed pitcher Yuto Kanakubo to a one-year, 750K contract. Kanakubo picked up 32 saves for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows last season, and made 48 starts with a 13-14 record in the two years prior.

After Winter Meetings

With Colby White and Conner Greene having left the Shizuoka Arrows, there was room for a new foreign pitcher. Shizuoka has signed right-handed reliever Danny Bergeron to a one-year, 665K deal. Bergeron was drafted in 2024 by the San Francisco Giants, but was released by their organization. He says he's eager to join the Arrows organization.

Minor league signings: C Shosei Nakamura, IF Ryuhei Obata, 1B/3B Keita Nakagawa (he's back!), C Ronald Rosario, LHP John Means, RHP Mattia Agnolutto, RHP Kenta Onuma (purchase from industrial leagues), LHP Keiji Takahashi, LHP Kazu Akimoto, C Kenya Wakatsuki (he's back too!)