The Chunichi Dragons have been flying low again this season, in last place in the league as of July 12. However, Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, 53, the team’s manager, is not fazed by the situation. It is hard to believe that the manager, Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, 53, has even declared that the team will finish last in the league this season.
The biggest weakness of the Tatsunami Dragons is their poor hitting. Despite some positive news, such as the emergence of Shigeya Hosokawa (24), the team still lacks scoring power, as they are tied with the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani (29) for the most home runs.
Manager Tatsunami has this look on his face as the team continues to struggle
Last season, due in part to financial difficulties, Chunichi was unable to acquire good help. Impatiently, manager Tatsunami went abroad to acquire players in the off-season of last year.
However, for some reason, he returned to Japan after only three days, instead of the half month he was supposed to spend looking around for players. The team’s liaison officer, who was accompanying him, hurriedly identified Orlando Calliste (31) and Aristides Aquino (29), two cannonball candidates who had joined the team this season.
“It would have been nice if these two had hit, but their bats remained wet from the start of the season. Then manager Tatsunami gave up on them early and dropped them to the farm. The first team has not promoted him even once since then, despite the fact that he is suffering from a lack of long-hitting ability”( sports newspaper reporter).
Even within the team, there are voices of dissatisfaction.
The team isreplacing only the players who are the weakest link in the team. There are voices within the team saying, “What is the coach doing?” There are voices within the team saying, “What is the coach doing? And when their comments appear on the Internet news, they search for the culprit, saying, “Who leaked it?When his comments appear on the Internet news, theysearch for the culprit, so there is no such thing as trust.”
With more than half of the 143-game pennant race completed, the race for the championship appears to have been narrowed down to the top four teams, Hanshin, DeNA, Hiroshima, and the Giants. How much of a comeback they can make from this point depends on the skill of manager Tatsunami, but the aforementioned baseball team official laments, “He doesn’t seem to be interested in making a comeback.
This season is reportedly the second year of a three-year contract. The professional world is a harsh one, where even if you are told in advance how many years your contract is for, it can be a blank cheque depending on your performance. Although he should have known this, manager Tatsunami told a close acquaintance early in the season, “We can’t win again this year, and 99% of the time we will be in last place. Please look forward to next year.
From the manager’s point of view, the problem is the team’s inability to gather players, and it is absurd to expect them to win a championship with the current strength of the team! I guess that’s what he means. Or maybe he thinks that he will not be dismissed during the term of his contract. I have never seen or heard of such a carefree director.
The manager’s bombshell announcement slowly spread to the Nine and team officials via TV station personnel in the Nagoya area. Under such circumstances, it was impossible for team morale to improve.
“I’ve never heard of a manager who doesn’t want to do something,” Tatsunami said. But if you go against Mr. Tatsunami, not only will you be hung out to dry, but you may not be able to survive in Nagoya. There are supporters of Director Tatsunami everywhere. The fact that no one is able to speak out against this devastation is largely due to Nagoya’s unique circumstances.
