Hiroki Matsui would have left even if he hadn’t been offered a job in the Majors”: The inside story of how Rakuten’s top players “left one after another.

After finishing in fourth place for the second consecutive year, Rakuten announced that Kazuhisa Ishii (50) would step down and Toshiaki Imae (40) would become the new manager.

Imae made his move immediately. On the following day, the 18th, at the Rakuten Mobile Park, he asked Hiroki Matsui (28), the guardian god who has decided to exercise his overseas free agent rights, to remain with the team, saying, “I hope I can do it again next year. However, the pitching performance from the start of the season was highly regarded by major league scouts, and Matsui had strong intentions to challenge the major leagues in the U.S., so on October 25, he officially informed the team of his intention to challenge the majors. The new Imae organization has just started, but it is unlikely that a sudden decline in strength will be avoided.

However, some of the team’s alumni are heard to say the following.

Matsui would have left even if the majors weren’t on the table. Matsui would have left even if the majors were not discussed.

A man who played for the team in the 1960s and 70s is one of them. After his peak season, he was told he was out of the game and was not offered a post as a team employee.

He was not offered a post as a team employee or anything else. Even if the total annual salary looks high, it is Eito Asamura (32) and Masahiro Tanaka (34), who came from the majors, who are paid the most. The transfers are given priority in the games, and there are not many chances for the freshmen to play.

The team bought Asamura, who is paid 500 million yen a year, and Daichi Suzuki, 34, who is paid 200 million yen a year, from other teams, and the team took a hit with Eigoro Mogi, 29, and Ginji, 35, both former players. Mogi played in only eight games this season, and Ginji played in only six games, and was given a notice of retirement after the season.

An alumnus of the company said, “When people talk about Rakuten, they always talk about owner Hiroshi Mikitani’s intervention in the field, but Mikitani has not been so interested in baseball in recent years. Rather, there is a fierce competition among executives for posts. It has become the norm for him to take credit for the players he brings to the field, including foreign players,” he laments.

The team’s top management also underwent a dizzying change. Team president Masayuki Morii, 48, took over in July of this year, an unprecedented time. Former team president Yosuke Yoneda (39), who took over in January 2010, was effectively ousted after only a year and a half.

Former manager Ishii became general manager (GM) in September 2006 as the head of organization, and served concurrently as GM and manager from 2009 until 2011, but this season he was relieved of his dual duties to concentrate on his managerial duties. This season, however, he was released from this dual role to concentrate on his managerial duties. The organization manager of another baseball team has a scathing comment.

I don’t know who the contact person is for the organization anymore. I have no idea who I should talk to when I want to propose a trade. There is no other team like this.

In fact, since the beginning of 2011, there have been no trades involving Rakuten, and reinforcements such as new foreigners have stopped. In fact, since the beginning of 2011, there have been no trades involving Rakuten, and the team has stopped reinforcing itself with new foreign players.

At present, it is difficult to say that the team has a system in place to develop its strength as a professional baseball team. The new organization has embarked on a journey that seems likely to plunge the team into the dark ages.