An update on the Tigers

The big news is that Kyuji turned down a 20 million yen a year pay rise saying that the club is already paying him enough. This is initially surprising but understandable given that he wants to go to MLB in 2013. He is not as obligated to stay. On going to MLB, Toritani still hasn't agreed a contract for 2012 and will only accept a one year deal. He is to be made fielders captain with Kyuji being pitching captain.
Tigers have resigned Brazell (two years) and Murton (one year) and Wada is talking of moving Brazell away from first. This is going to be interesting as the only other position that Brazell could profitably fill would be left and Tigers have just resigned Kanemoto. Of course, Kanemoto could start as a pinch hitter rather than a regular fielder but he hasn't shown much ability in that role. Messenger has also resigned which is good news.
Tigers are reportedly interested in Igarashi though one wonders whether that is a good idea. Kobayashi is going to be converted to a starter and also picked up a pay rise - the team has money to throw away as his performance wasn't as good as expected. No news on Fujii but one hopes it will involve him getting no catching time with the first team.

Some good and bad news here. The biggest surprise is Murton. I was pretty certain he would try to get a deal in MLB, so will be nice to have his bat around for another year.
Although Wada has most recently said he has no plans to move Brazell, the fact that has been talked about a lot means it still could be possible. I also don't see the logic in such a move. Brazell is our slowest runner, but he has a good glove at first, so I don't know why they'd even consider moving him. Now that we have Murton back, we should focus on developing our younger players like Shibata and Shunsuke in the outfield. They at least bring speed and hopefully their hitting will develop if they are given the chance to play everyday. I won't even comment on the Kanemoto situation, as it's too depressing to think about.

It might be that Brazell does stay at first. Shibata I agree with but Shunsuke has had two years of failure.

Shunsuke was one of the biggest disappointments last year to me. He started the season really well and then dropped off badly and seemed to me like he went into a bit of a sulk. Fingers crossed for Shibata, I hope he can keep his end-of-season form going into next year.

Just noticed that Uezono was traded. Shows how much the Tigers thought of him that this went through so quietly. Always thought he had potential, but seemed like the coaches had given up on him and he didn't seem particularly happy pitching relief.