Management issues

An overhaul of Tigers management and coaching is rapidly needed. Coaching is obviously old fashioned and out of date. Recently concern has been expressed about the number of young players in ni-gun who get injured. It is felt that if this is the case then they should be let go more rapidly. There have also been questions asked about why it takes so long to develop young players. The answer is that Tigers coaching team and methods leave a lot to be desired. Old fashioned and abusive coaching practices cause injuries to young players. Furthermore, the drills and styles used by the current coaching teams do not relate to baseball as it's played now. It is not the players that are necessarily the problem but the coaches themselves. The front office is planning to replace some of the ichi-gun coaches which is a good move but maybe they should also take a look at the ni-gun as well.
We now have two top notch managers available Nashida and Ochiai. It's a great opportunity to dispense with Mayumi and bring one of this pair in to manage Tigers. Ochiai will be replaced at Dragons by a 70 year old - Takagi. One has to wonder what the Chunichi front office is thinking with Ochiai likely to deliver a second or even a pennant. Then if Chunichi and Nippon Ham can be stupid enough to let talented managers go for no apparent reason Tigers can be stupid enough to retain Mayumi. Sakai owner has commented that Mayumi's salary is not going to be reduced but has not confirmed that Mayumi is being asked to stay on just that he is on a two year contract. One does hope that Sakai is hedging his bets but it isn't likely and the signs are that Mayumi will be allowed to wreck things for another year. It would be nice if Tigers could dump Mayumi who has proven that he has no management talent whatsoever and bring in Nashida or Ochiai. There has been discussion with Nashida but not yet with Ochiai.

Hopefully the firing of Ochiai, as bizarre as it is, will help Tigers see the light. Ochiai and Nashida are both performing better than Mayumi this year, yet both are out of jobs. I know Nashida officially quit, but considering that there were rumors several weeks ago that he wouldn't be offered a new contract, details are still sketchy.

Wow, if Ochiai were to join the tigers he would be the smartest person in the whole organization. He has always been three steps ahead of any coach he has faced, especially Tiger coaches.

Credit to former coach Okada who has his Orix team in the playoff hunt. Christopher, you always railed on him but he has proven himself again, now with Orix. I do agree with you that Mayumi needs to be fired. He is making the team less effective while Okada took a less talented Hanshin team to the playoffs year after year.

Ironic to praise Okada now! If you look back at this site a few years ago, I'm sure I was probably complaining just as much about Okada as I do now about Mayumi. But time has clearly shown who the better manager is.

Yes it is easy to acknowledge that Okada is a far better manager than Mayumi but this does not make him an excellent manager. He might have taken the Tigers to the post season regularly but his record in playoff games was abysmal. He also lacked motivational powers and Tigers blew one pennant because of this. His main advantage was he showed an ability to learn but one can't mention him in the same breath as Ochiai for example.

If we did somehow have the luxury of choosing between Ochiai and Nashida, who do you--and other fans out there--think would be a better fit with Hanshin?

Personally, I would go with Ochiai - his tactical acumen is impressive.

Hard to argue with Ochiai's track record. But with his strange personality, there could always be the potential for clashing at the beginning. Still, I seem to remember him having pretty immediate success with Chunichi. Didn't he take them to the Japan Series his first year? I don't recall exactly.

Personality might be the issue but then given that Mayumi is strange I think that can be accepted. Ochiai has always been a maverick and this might be a problem for the hidebound and traditionalist Hanshin management. He has a healthy contempt for Japanese baseball practices and that should always be encouraged. Ochiai did take the Dragons to the Japan series in 2004 and his record does speak for itself (3 pennants, 3 second places and 1 third).

On a personal level, I've always liked Mayumi and Okada too as they were from the legendary 85 team together with Bass and Kakefu. But, Tigers should not renew Mayumi's contract. He has had time without being able to come with results. This team has currently the league's best line up and 3rd best pitching yet they are 3 games behind a play off spot. In contrast Swallows team average is lower than Tigers and their team ERA is higher than Tigers yet they are currently at first.

Getting Ochiai would be a smart move. Though he is extremely cynical, he is probably one of the best managers out there.