What is happening to Arai?

'Tired' in a previous post raised an interesting point - Why do I give Arai an easy ride? The answer to this is that he is getting a bad deal from the management team. Certainly all players go through slumps at times but there is a difference between a slump and deliberate undermining of the players will to excel and it is the latter that is happening here. To understand this we have to understand the group culture in Japan. As far as Wada is concerned Kanemoto is a vital member of the group. Fair enough but his performance is not sufficient for the position of honour in the lineup. Arai's was and so to insert Kanemoto into what Wada (and probably Kataoka) regards as his rightful position Arai's confidence and RBI needs to be undermined. It may not even have started deliberately with Arai suffering a small fall off in numbers but it was a chance and he was punished for it. Make no mistake this is a punishment not an attempt to help him recover his hitting. The fact that Kanemoto is incapable of filling the No. 4 role anymore is irrelevant - as far as Wada is concerned Kanemoto should be No. 4.
You might think that in sport the best performer is the one who gets the important responsibility bujt no this is not the case in the Tigers organisation and in Japan in general. The best performer can be 'difficult' or 'sensitive' whilst an earnest plodder or famous has been is easier to deal with. If one has a good performer one allows them some latitude because they deliver. But in Japan this difference is often not welcome and the good performer is often sidelined and even driven out of the organisation. Group harmony is more important than results and it is the leader of the group who decides what constitutes group harmony no matter how inexperienced or inept he is. Taking another example of this and it has been a serious problem in the Tigers organisation for years we look at catching. Logic tells us Fujii is worthless as a catcher. Inept and wasteful of pitches, he however occupies the lead catcher position because he is a brown noser and fits in.
Tigers have been unable to develop a homegrown catcher since they started using Yano as their main catcher. They have had their brilliant candidates but these have been excluded and denigrated. So for a long time the understudy to Yano was Noguchi with Asai as another back up. Noguchi came from Nippon Ham - an outside catcher but was never really that good and when given a chance did not shine at all. Asai though was converted to an outfielder and moved away from catching. Asai would have been a better catcher but was removed from the frame. Noguchi was let go at the end of 2008 and sank without trace. Yano was by now fading and was a poor catcher and was replaced by another home grown product Kanoh. Now Kanoh was a brilliant catcher, imaginative, inventive and popular. However, he outshone Yano and this is another part of group harmony - a brilliant junior should not outshine a fading and no longer useful senior. It makes the senior lose face. Kanoh couldn't be undermined so he had to be sidelined and pushed out of the frame. He too was converted to an outfielder - something which he is resisting. Now ordinarily one would think that having a home grown asset like Kanoh was a cause for celebration but this is not the case in the Tigers organisation.
Kanoh was better than Yano and with Yano earmarked as a possible future Tigers manager it would not do to have a reminder of his fading years catching. So a new catcher had to be brought in from outside. It is not surprising that Tigers struggle to develop their home grown talent. Johjima was a good choice when he is fit. A powerful batter and good catcher (though a bit limited) with MLB experience. He was also older and so not a threat to Yano. However, he has suffered injury problems at Seattle and this should have caused warning signs to flash in the Tigers upper levels. It didn't and he was signed and Kanoh was sidelined. All was fine for one year but then Johjima's injury issues surfaced. In the meantime the Tigers manager at the time Mayumi had decided to bring one of his cronies into the Tigers lineup - Fujii. Fujii was rejected by Rakuten who are possibly the worst team in Japan and so what were Tigers doing signing such a poor catcher as cover for Johjima? Tigers have also started to develop another excellent young catcher Komiyama who is showing considerable talent and is clearly better than Fujii. Because of this he has been undermined and his confidence destroyed. Once his performance dipped he was pushed down to the second team and Fujii's replacements are Okazaki - a catcher who is so mediocre he is a threat to no one and Imanari a young tyro signed from Nippon Ham who is inexperienced and maybe not that good.
The logical situation if you are going to have Fujii as main catcher would surely be to have Komiyama as back up but Komiyama will rather show up just how poor Fujii actually is. Out of sight, out of mind. This is why Kanoh cannot be allowed to catch - he is too good. Fujii is a problem as several pitchers do not pay any attention to him and if they do his calls are ridiculous. This kind of situation is actually divisive and if the catcher and pitcher do not work in harmony the team performance suffers. How does all this relate to Arai? Basically the same thing is happening to him - talent and performance are not factors in his treatment but prejudice and bullying are and these two factors are endemic in Japanese business and sporting culture. Kanemoto at No. 4 is quite honestly an embarrassment to Tigers and show's Wada's total lack of management knowledge. It also highlights the stupidity of the front office. An effective business and club is being crippled by the decisions of people who have no knowledge of the jobs they do but have just been inserted on the 'Buggins turn' principle.

Never heard of Buggin's Turn before. Thanks for that.

As always, your conjecture is interesting. It seems to be a common trick however to blame "Japanese group harmony" whenever there is something wrong with a situation. It's not just Japanese bosses who feel more secure by surrounding themselves with brown noses and Yes men. What about all the teams who are doing well? Is this despite being Japanese, or have they left their culture at the door of the stadium?

Having said that, of course the group madness may well play a part, but general ineptness and bad man management may play an equal part.

Wada may have had his authority challenged and he is persevering with his Kanemoto and Fujii decisions in order to prove a point. He knows he probably has 2 years whatever happens, so time is on his side.

I remember Kanoh playing a considerable number of games in Yanoh's last season. Whoever the manager was then didn't worry about Yanoh's loss of face. Was that Okada or Mayumi?

One thing is for sure - there is something seriously wrong about the spirit at Koshien. Kanemoto is the only person who looks contented, and why wouldn't he be? He's back in the starting line-up. Toritani, Murton, and Brazell all look completely demotivated. It's a miracle that Tigers are in third with a .488 average.

One more question Christopher. Do you have a picture of Fujii on your dartboard?

Yano was injured and so Tigers had to use Kanoh. They had also dumped Noguchi by then (it was the first year of Mayumi's reign). Once Yano returned he wasn't the same and so he needed cover for a lot of the season.

I am referencing group culture as it is a serious problem in Japan. Of course you are right that the phenomenon of yes men and brown nosers is not limited to Japan. In a competent organisation groups can be a strength but in an incompetent or lazy organisation it is a serious flaw. I view this as a specific Tigers organisational issue not necessarily as a general disease though the bullying and undermining of talented young players is. I am also using as my model companies outside the sports environment where the effects of group culture can also be seen. The practice of bringing your group members into an organisation is widespread and is not dependent on ability and is I believe particularly common in the Tigers organisation. Tigers as a baseball club are probably one of the most conservative and backward teams in Japanese baseball.

The only reason we are third I would say is that the Swallows have imploded and no, no dartboard with Fujii on it even though he is not my favourite player.

[Edited by: Christopher on May 31, 2012 7:24 PM]

Its been going on for a long time. The two young catchers are just the beginning. What about Lin and Sakurai a few years ago. They were playing well, but were dropped for some of the usual lightweight rejects.
Uezono from rookie of the year to pretty much not getting a game.
Cheng, wheres he gone?
Kojima, wheres he gone?
Kubota, wheres he gone?
Akiyama, wheres he gone?

So many young promising pitchers...

Is Wada the problem? It seems every year the same problems are coming up. Maybe the higher ups are making the player decisions

I don't think Christopher is exaggerating, the Tigers really is run in a very similar manner to the Japanese organization I work for. Talent and results be damned, the only things that are important are age and knowing the right person, then surrounding yourself with cronies and enacting pointless reshuffles so the process continues. Hanshin does also appear to one of the worst at this (Gomiuri are bad too).

On Wada, it's pretty amazing how you can play baseball for so long and not know anything at all about it. I find myself wondering, does he know Kanemoto's OBP is higher than his slugging percentage, or does he just not care? Does he even know what a slugging percentage is? OPS? Can he count RBIs? I also wonder if he noticed how Lotte last night hardly bunted at all and how many baserunners they had as a result.

Probably not.