The new outfielder

Baldris from the development squad has signed a full contract with the Tigers and will start with the ichi-gun. He will play right field or third and will bat either fifth or seventh. Okada is excited about his potential and thinks that he will do well. There are still a few rough edges but they should be ironed out soon.

I've been away from the internet but read that Ford had been "deactivated." What does this mean exactly? He is injured or he has just been sent down to ni-gun?

Normally, this means sent down to ni-gun. I haven't heard of any injury so I assume he has been sent down to improve his batting. Baldris has taken his place.

Balderis looked decent in open-sen, so looking forward to seeing how he does. Too bad about Ford. And too bad they went and threw all that money at a new foreign player when they could have just given Sakurai a chance or gone after a proven foreign player like Alex. If the Carp hadn't taken Akamatsu, we also could have tried him in right. He's making the most of his playing time in Hiroshima of course!