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.