Hanshin Tigers 2013 preview

Tigers are going through a transition period with their second weak manager in a row. The ineffective coaching team of the past year has changed somewhat but whether this will lead to an improvement is debatable. Several players have left, Kanemoto (who should have retired a long time ago), Hirano, Johjima and Brazell (after a poor season). Several have been signed as Tigers abandon the youth development policy and try to buy their way to a championship. This is an expected reaction for the Tigers front office and coaching staff who lack the skills to develop players in a timely way. The question is whether their scattergun signings will work.

Trades and Free Agents
Hirano was unhappy with his treatment both in game time and salary offers and used his free agency to return to Orix. Apparently he was so unhappy he paid no attention to Tigers salary offers. As a he was a Class B Free Agent Tigers could take an unprotected player in compensation and they duly chose Takamiya - a left handed pitcher. Takamiya has had an undistinguished career with both of his previous teams and his only virtue seems to be that he is a left hander but his figures suggest not a particularly good one. Another pitcher picked up was Hayashi from Orix on an Ikusei contract which means he isn't likely to make a top team experience. The main free agent movement for Tigers has been in the signing of MLB returnees Nishioka and Fukudome. Both had undistinguished careers in MLB with Fukudome perhaps doing better than Nishioka. Still Tigers management believe that MLB returnee equals quality and so made great efforts to sign both. Of the two Nishioka is more likely to be a success still having some of his best years left. Fukudome is more questionable - does he still have what it takes? His last season in Japan was marred by injury and he didn't put in a particularly distinguished performance. He is probably the one who will have most difficulty fitting in as he isn't seen as a natural Tiger by the fans. To replace Craig Brazell, Tigers signed Brooks Conrad who has had an undistinguished MLB career. Apparently he can hit but defensively has been rather weak. Tigers have not had much success with self-selected foreign batters in recent years actually doing much better with pick ups from other teams. Of their other non-Japanese players, Murton is back after a very poor season and if his bad form continues this will be his last. Both Messenger and Standridge also return for another season. The final signing of note is that of the catcher Hidaka from Orix. Tigers have not had much success with signing catchers of late picking up discards - the semi-effective Fujii and the rather useless Imanari. The other big failure has been Johjima who didn't justify the waste of money despite his sterling personal qualities. Hidaka has not been the regular Orix catcher for the past two years and one rather thinks that Tigers have wasted more money again.

Batting
Tigers batting was ineffective to say the least and Toritani ended up with the most RBIs. Ryota Arai was tried in various places and proved to be limited. He will make a good six or seven but doesn't really have the ability to bat four which he did. With his brother struggling after a good start Tigers were a bit weak in that department. Toritani decided to stay with Tigers this season and abandon his plan to move to MLB - one of the few pieces of good news and Takahiro Arai claims he will be better this season. He has struggled with the ideas of management and whilst he has been injured, one feels that the mental aspect of the game is the main problem for him. Tigers are going to have to rely on the new signings in a big way. Conrad is an unknown for Japanese baseball. In MLB he was known for good clutch hitting which would be very useful if he can replicate it in Japan. Murton will have to do better but a lot will be riding on Nishioka and Fukudome. As I mentioned the former is probably more likely to succeed but the latter I don't know. He does have the big game attitude and it will be good if he is able to bring it out. Itoh proved to be ineffective but once again the poor batting coaching may have been a factor. Yamato should get more playing time but Tigers do need to improve their batting drastically to challenge for the championship.

Pitching
The core of the starting lineup is very strong this year. Nohmi, Iwata, Messenger, Standridge with two other places up for grabs. Tigers were able to pick up the No. 1 draft prospect Fujinami and he should fill one of the slots. The other could well be Iwamoto who impressed mightily at the end of the season. Tigers can also bring in Kubo though it is mooted that he will pitch relief and possibly even be closer. Akiyama is also a possibility and for once we can say that Tigers have a nice secure starting lineup.

The relief's decline continues with Fujikawa having departed for MLB. Tigers have a big hole to fill and they are considering various prospects for the role of closer with no one yet chosen. Tsutsui is possible but Kubo has also been mentioned. It seems unlikely that Kubota - the last remaining of JFK - will be available and he must be in his last year now. Enokida, Katoh and Watanabe should form a reliable middle relief. Here may be Tigers biggest issue though and one hopes that Wada doesn't succumb to the temptation to make his starters go too deep.

Catching looks to have regressed. Komiyama was progressing nicely and was quite clearly Tigers best catcher. However, Tigers management felt they needed to strengthen the catching lineup and signed Hidaka. He is very likely to get some playing time and this is going to cause issues. Like Fujii there was a reason he wasn't playing regularly and though Fujii improved one cannot expect the same of Hidaka. Tigers need to place faith in Komiyama and use him pretty much as the main catcher - they certainly shouldn't waste Komiyama like they did Kanoh.

Prospects
Whilst last year was an easy call, a B class finish, this year is much more difficult. If everyone performs, one can see the Tigers challenging for the pennant behind a strong pitching lineup. A lot is riding on Fukudome and if he fails one can see Sakai-owner going as it will be another expensive loss. Wada of course is a factor - an incompetent old boy as manager is not the best way to win a championship. This year I would say that Tigers are going to finish A class and perhaps go even further with the import of big game players (Fukudome, Nishioka and Conrad).

[Edited by: Christopher on Feb 10, 2013 2:13 PM]