As always, I feel like I need to preface my criticisms with a clarification: I am not a baseball player, coach, manager, front office person. Never have been. Probably never will be. As such, my words do not hold a whole lot of weight. Let me also say that I was excited about Tomoaki Kanemoto‘s appointment as manager back in October 2015. Having never watched him as a player, but knowing his illustrious career and strong personality, I thought this was the perfect blend of “outside blood” (he started his career with the Carp) and “Tigers knowhow” (he was a team field leader on two Tigers championship teams: 2003 and 2005).
And despite the rough 2016 season, he seemed to be working on a longer term plan. The team showed a lot of promise in 2017, and he seemed to be taking some strides as manager (a position he had never previously held). Still, there was cause for concern, as highlighted in Episode 71 of the H-TEN podcast (released in October 2017).
Which brings us to 2018. Kanemoto all but promised himself, the team, the media, the fans, and even the resting soul of his role model, 2003 Hanshin manager Senichi Hoshino, that he was going to bring this team a pennant. News flash, people: it ain’t gonna happen. Barring a collapse by the Carp, this team is going to need a minimum of 85 wins to be able to stop the red helmets from winning a third straight crown. In other words, they need to go no worse than 60-31 the rest of the way.
There’s only one problem. Well, three. But let’s just look at one for now.
What on EARTH is up with his inability to treat players fairly but uniquely?
a. Some players need a vote of confidence more than anything. Give it to them. A lot of people in the game agree that Shintaro Fujinami has some of the best raw talent in the game. A player from another team (who shall not be named here) said he thinks Fujinami could be better than Shohei Ohtani. Many scouts felt that way back when the two were drafted in 2012. And this article basically postulates the same thing. Funny, Fujinami has not had a good season since 2015 – the final year of Yutaka Wada‘s reign. Coincidence? Could be. But what’s *NOT* a coincidence is the frequency with which Fujinami has been sent down to the farm in the past 15 months. In many of those instances, the game before the farming, he has been left in games too long, given up scads of runs and left the mound without completing the inning.
b. Some guys get pulled mid-game for poor performances. Way to crush their spirits. Kai Ueda last Sunday is the most recent example of this (poorly timed error, worse-timed double play, yanked), but Matt Hague against the Lions back in 2016 is the first of countless cases. His was not only a Rule b, but a Rule c (see below)…
c. Every import hitter gets farmed — and eventually cut — without being given a proper chance to do what he was hired to do.Look no further than Hague. OK, go ahead and look further. Eric Campbell. Jason Rogers. Farmed and… farmed. Cut, cut and… cut. Good luck with recruiting new imports from here on out. Granted, Wilin Rosario has been given a chance, but for some reason, has been unable to figure NPB pitching out.
d. Some players don’t even get a chance in the first place, despite great past performance. Case in point: where was Masahiro Nakatani for the first 40+ games of the season? And how come Kanemoto’s lap dog, Yusuke Ohyama, gets all the starts in the world (including batting third on Friday against the Lions)? Talk about bias!
WHERE’S THE PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SKILLS, KANEMOTO???
OK, I get it. This is a grown man’s sport. If you don’t put up numbers, you don’t get to play. There’s no crying in baseball. But there is such a thing as stroking egos, and deftly dangling the carrot while wielding the stick. To get the best out of your players, you have to know which buttons to press. You also need to cultivate a fierce loyalty in your players.
Kanemoto has done none of that this year, and as a result, I absolutely can’t stand him as a manager. Not convinced? Stick around for Parts 2 and 3. The ranting has just begun.