The Departure of Collins-kantoku

There has been much discussion about the various foreign managers and the amount of cooperation that the front office gives them. The general consensus amongst those of us on the outside looking in is that Valentine-kantoku (LOT) and Hillman-kantoku (NIP) both had the support of their front offices to implement what they wanted, and their success came from that freedom. Collins-kantoku (ORX) and Brown-kantoku (HIR), on the other hand, have been forced to work with organizations less willing to allow for sweeping change, thus having to struggle to get even the simplest strategies started, let alone see any payoff.

Collins-kantoku had finally had enough. In his resignation message he stated,

To do this job you need great passion and energy. This has been my life for 38 years. It is time to move on. The flame has been burned out and I have too much respect for the game to continue without that commitment.

I've seen the passion and energy that Collins-kantoku and the others have invested in their respective teams. And I've seen the frustration on their faces at their inability to change some things.

As I had started to mention in this thread, Orix's Brown-head pitching coach, when asked if he could change one thing, answered, "I'd have the next day's pitcher on the bench." My reaction was, "He isn't?" Let's see, 28 men on the ichi-gun roster, 25 men on the game roster for any given day, usually the starters from the previous three days are the ones not on the bench. Where is he?

Oh, he'll be getting a massage, or tossing in the bullpen between starts, or maybe even watching the game on TV at home or in the bullpen. But he's not in the dugout getting real time advice about real situations that are going on the day before he faces these same batters. Hearing Brown-coach say this, I'm wondering, why isn't such a policy implemented? It just makes sense to do it. It must be frustrating to not be able to implement such an easy strategic change that will make your next day's pitcher that much more ready and effective.

I've heard similar tales of Hiroshima's Brown-kantoku. He'd comment about the opposing team giving a catcher knock practice, why try to wear him out before a game? Then his fielding coach comes out and does the exact same thing, with Brown-kantoku rolling his eyes and complaining bitterly that his policy to stop this only lasts about two weeks at a time, then he needs to put a stop to it all over again.

An anonymous guest asked about foreign managers' influence on pitch counts recently. I've rerun the numbers to get the average pitch counts (and innings pitched) for starters who threw at least 6 innings. These are the results:

    +------+-----+------+------+-------+
    |      |    2007    |     2008     |
    +------+-----+------+------+-------+
    | team | ip  |   pc | ip   |   pc  |
    +------+------+-----+------+-------+
    | HAN  | 6.1 |  94.4 | 7.0 | 105.3 | 
    | YOK  | 7.0 | 106.7 | 6.2 |  96.7 | 
    | ORX  | 6.2 |  98.4 | 7.0 | 107.3 | 
    | HIR  | 7.0 |  99.9 | 7.0 | 105.0 | 
    | YAK  | 6.2 | 103.7 | 7.0 | 106.0 | 
    | YOM  | 7.0 | 107.8 | 7.0 | 103.8 | 
    | NIP  | 7.1 | 106.5 | 7.0 | 104.8 | 
    | CHU  | 7.1 | 110.3 | 7.0 | 107.9 | 
    | LOT  | 7.1 | 109.0 | 7.1 | 111.2 | 
    | SFT  | 7.1 | 111.9 | 7.0 | 115.4 | 
    | RAK  | 7.0 | 112.0 | 7.2 | 114.8 | 
    | SEI  | 7.1 | 112.1 | 7.1 | 112.3 | 
    +------+-----+-------+-----+-------+

[Note: Unofficial figures through end of play on May 22, 2008.]

The Japanese press has often stated that Collins-kantoku had a pitch count limit for his pitchers, yet the average pitch counts for his starters who threw at least 6 innings were 98.4 pitches in 2007 and 107.3 pitches so far in 2008. I guess the pitch limit wasn't 100.

Today's Nikkan Sports (May 23, 2008 - paper edition) has acting manager Ohishi introducing sweeping changes. He's throwing out those major changes that Collins-kantoku had made, specifically:

• No more pitch counts.
• It's OK (and shows proper spirit) to practice hard on days off.
• There will be more ichi/ni-gun transactions.

The third one there is actually the only one that I would probably criticize Collins-kantoku for. In the Majors, you've got your 25 players and may pick up some other players when someone is going to be injured for a period of time. Rosters are limited, so you build the best 25 man roster that you can. The Japanese system (I'm not saying it's good or bad) allows you to make your best 25 man roster from a pool of 70 men. Collins-kantoku managed like a Major League manager, strictly keeping to his main 25-30 players. This put him at a disadvantage to other teams who freely move players up and down with the tide. I understand the reasons for what he did: stability of players on the top team and allowing full development for player on the farm team. I just feel like he wasn't using the system to his (or Orix's) full advantage in this instance.

If anything has an impact on Orix, I think that an infusion of new players hungry to play from ni-gun will do it. In the short term anyway. Changing management style and personnel is a good way to kick start a rally. But I have my doubts about Ohishi's strategy in the long term.

Well, the season is still young, so Ohishi will have some time to make an impression with the team. If that's the sparkling, aggressive team that he envisions, we'll see. And we'll see if it ends up an exhausted, worn out team with several flat arms at the end of the season as well.