The Giants were in a fierce battle for the top of the standings in the interleague tournament, but came up just short in their bid to win the championship. The second “trade for pitching reinforcements” is said to be quietly underway, following the May 17 trade of former Orix pitcher Kohei Suzuki (29) for infielder Taishi Hirooka (26).
In the early part of the season, losses were plagued by a lack of strength in the pitching staff. The starters were getting knocked out in less than five innings, and the relievers, suffering from “work fatigue,” were turning the game over in the late innings.
The Giants had hoped to gain momentum for the second half of the season with a win in the interleague series, but they narrowly missed out. Manager Hara has this look on his face.
Tomoyuki Sugano (33), our ace, has been struggling to get into shape, and was finally promoted to the first team after the start of the interleague game. The team’s manager, Tatsunori Hara (64), is getting frustrated because he can’t win without the fielders scoring more runs,” said the baseball desk of a sports newspaper.
After missing out on the championship two years in a row, there is no way the “evergreen team” can afford to miss out on the championship for the third year in a row. The Giants’ next target seems to be pitching, as they hope to make a comeback and win the championship in the second half of the season.
He is desperate to put together trade talks for multiple fielders and pitchers. The exchange members are Takumi Kitamura (27), Akihiro Wakabayashi (29), Shingo Ishikawa (30) and other fielders. The team is also looking to acquire fastball pitchers from Nippon Ham, which improved its ranking in the interleague tournament. The candidates include Naoya Ishikawa (26) and Kazuaki Tateno (25), both of whom are serious right-handers, and Ren Kakiki (22), who is on a developmental contract. Even if they don’t work in the Pacific League, they can still be useful in the Central League, which has a large number of soft pitching pitchers who mainly use changeable pitches.
Looking back over the past five years, trades and transfers between the Giants and Nippon Ham have been active.
In the offseason of 2017, Kazunari Sanematsu (42), who left the Giants, was traded to Nippon Ham. In June 2019, two Nippon Ham pitchers, Yohei Kagitani (32) and Takahiro Fujioka (33), were traded for Giants pitchers Mitsuo Yoshikawa (35) and Shingo Usami (30). In August 2021, a trade was concluded between the two teams. In August 2021, the Giants took in Sho Nakata (34), their main gunner, in a free tradeafter he was suspended for causing violence on the team.
The Giants also acquired pitcher Toyoki Tanaka (29), who was out of the lineup in the 2019 offseason, while Nippon Ham acquired pitcher Yuri Furukawa (27) and cannon Villanueva (32), who were out of the Giants’ lineup. Both of them belong to the Eastern League, so it is easy to analyze each other’s strength from young to experienced players. Moreover, the first team is in a different league, so it is an environment where personnel exchanges are easy.
Kitamura, who has been mentioned as a possible trade candidate, was promoted on May 28 and played in two games, but returned to the farm on June 4 after only three at-bats. He was replaced by Wakabayashi.
I think that the promotion was meant to ” showcase” him to the team that approached him with the trade offer, to show that he was not injured and could play well. I am sure he is aware of this.
