Hara Almost in Tears?

I wonder what Nabestune is saying on the matter, and as we all know everyone (including Takihana) Yomiuri answers to him.

Hara has been here before and succeeded, so I don't really think the weight is too much. Though all the other distractions around the Giants could be helping it.

When I read in Nikkan Sports that Takibana-owner stormed out of the meeting fuming, I thought it was some kind of joke. Takibana-owner has been quiet as a mouse since "taking over." When he's seen with Watanabe, the press goes to Watanabe for a quote, Takibana generally just there in the background going unnoticed. Nabetsune, though, just gives the press a rude remark that he's not talking with them and goes on.

I've been thinking for a while that the Giants need a loud mouth who'll fire anyone who looks at him funny in charge to keep everyone in line. It's as though the Giants have lost their way without Watanabe constantly griping in the press. Like they don't know what's expected of them anymore. So perhaps Takibana-owner is stepping up to that role at long last. (Or maybe he's tired of being unnoticed in the background.) Anyway, it's very out of character for Takibana, and I can't imagine him becoming another Nabetsune.

- perhaps Takibana-owner is stepping up to that role

Well, the meek shall inherit the, er, stress of running the Giants.

- Hara has been here before and succeeded, so I don't really think the weight is too much.

He should do okay. But it still amazes me what a difference managing the Giants and managing another team makes. Take Marty Brown for instance. Both Marty and Tatsunori have the same thankless job of developing a young team. But when Marty meets with his boss, Hiroshima owner Matsuda, they go over to Soyogi's house and have a laugh with mom and dad [SpoNichi Article]. Or they go over the Hiroshima mayor's office and talk about eating oysters [Nikkan Sports Article]. Although both the Giants and the Carp are in similar situations performance-wise, it just seems like the folks in Hiroshima look at the glass as half full while the folks in Tokyo look at it as half empty.

I think the Giants organization as a whole have to realize that their brand of baseball isn't that fun to watch, one reason being that the players and staff don't seem to be having any fun. They just look like a bunch of salarymen being stressed out. That was one of the things about the Fighters last year, that they were such a fun team to watch because the players themselves looked like they were having a ball, just like the Red Sox a couple of years ago.

I tend to think that in this day and age, capturing the public's attention and imagination is about as important as raw performance. The public has too many choices for entertainment, and can just tune out pro-yakyu (and tune in MLB, for that matter). In this sense, even if the Giants do well, it's hard to see them regaining the popularity they had back in the heydays. I can sort of imagine it would have been fun to watch Oh and Nagashima play. Come to think of it, even going back a decade or so ago, although I'm in the anti-Giants league, I have to admit it was sort of fun watching the likes of Cromartie, Nakahata, etc. These days, if the Giants don't satisfy you, your choices are limitless, from the Urawa Reds to the Chicago White Sox to K-1 to Celtic FC to the New England Patriots to the Miami Heat to F-1 and so on so forth. Thirty years ago it was only sumo or yakyu. Times have changed.

- Like they don't know what's expected of them anymore.

Yeah, it seemed that way even more after Nabestune stepped down, that Yomiuri doesn't know what to do.

Maybe Takibana is stepping up, about time someone in the organization stepped up after so long. I also doubt he will be another Nabestune, he's one of a kind. Well now that Tsutsumi is long gone, Nabestune seems to have a monopoly on being a thorn in NPB.

Regarding Hara's picture, it's not surprising that he looks like he's going to cry after his boss yelled at him. In fact, it's the same expression he has in the dugout, almost every day, whether the Giants are playing good or bad, whether they are in contention for the penant (like in Hara's first year) or whether they are in contention for last (like the last couple of years). While he may be a good manager and may connect well with his players, he's not emotionally strong enough to manage a team like the Giants.

I can't see why you're comparing him to Joe Torre, who takes a lot of heat from George Steinbrenner, but is strong enough to handle the Boss and the players on the close-to-$200 million payroll.

Hmm, But do we really know whether or not Joe Torre goes home, gulps down a bottle of whiskey, and starts to weep? Stranger things have happened. I, for one, worry about his blood pressure.

In the States, the players take more of the heat than the skippers. Bobby V. said one of the things he likes about managing in Japan is the skippers here have more power, control. But on the other side of the coin, this means taking on more stress.

I don't necessarily think Hara is emotionally weak. I just think he's taking things too seriously. In the end, it's just a ball game, whether you're paying out 200 million dollars or 200 jelly beans. I think this realization is what makes Trey Hillman such a good manager. He puts his family and his faith first and second, and then baseball comes third on his list. I mean, in Nikkan Sports the other day there was a picture of a guy sobbing because his ten year old daughter was just run over by a truck. Now there's something to cry about. Baseball is a great and important tradition, but there are other things in life worth emotionally breaking down over.