Chiba Lotte Marines President Ryuzo Setoyama denied Thursday any plans to purchase a team in the Shikoku Island League, a financially troubled independent league, in the immediate future. Setoyama said the Pacific League club has no immediate plans to draw detailed blueprints for a possible buyout of one of the four teams in the independent league when he was asked about the framework of the purchase plan revealed by Marines manager Bobby Valentine. On Monday, Valentine said Chiba Lotte hoped to acquire about 30 players, including non-roster prospects called "ikusei" players, in this fall's amateur draft and to send about 20 of them to the independent league team on assignments from next season. Setoyama, however, admitted that he has been approached by Makoto Kagiyama, the president of the IBLJ, which runs the Shikoku Island League, over financial support for the league. "We'd like to analyze and study ways of how we can utilize the resources there and how to lend a hand to the league," Setoyama said as he spoke on his club's future relationship with the independent league.
