The name of the unexpected big-name reinforcement player who is “mentioned in the plan for the big purge in the Carp, which is doing well”.

Hiroshima has defied pre-season expectations and is battling with the Hanshin Tigers for the top spot. While the team continues to do well, the front office has been plagued by a miscalculation.

Pitcher Thomas Hatch (29), who joined the team this season, has been useless, with a 7 point average, and fielder Matt Reynolds (33) has been in a slump. Jake Shiner (28) broke his right hand and left the lineup early. He is now back in the field with the second team, but his batting average has been slumping in the 10% range, and he has not shown his ability to hit 30 home runs and score 105 runs last season in 3A.

Ryan McBroom (32), who retired at the end of last season, is batting .221 with 6 home runs and 31 runs batted in in 70 games. However, he hit 17 homers in 2022, and many said, “It’s premature to fire him,” considering the team’s lack of long-base hits. However, the liaison officer did not renew his contract, saying boldly, “We’ll bring in someone who can hit more. It is said that former owner Matsuda (73) is also upset because he completely missed the point. This off-season, the front-office staff may be subjected to a “major purge.

With a chance to win the championship for the first time in six years now in their sights, the team has no intention of waiting until the off-season to make a move, and is reportedly working until the trade deadline at the end of July to acquire new help or a cannon in a trade.

Shota Dobayashi (32), Kaito Koen (23), and Shogo Sakakura (26) have batted fourth this season. None of them are the mainstay of the lineup. If they can set their sights on the period between the end of the interleague season and the resumption of league play and bring in a cannon, their chances of getting out of the thick of the competition and winning the championship will increase dramatically.

The top candidate for reinforcement is Chunichi’s Dayan Viciedo (35), who has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Sho Nakata (35).

The addition of Sho Nakata (35) has reduced Viciedo’s chances of becoming a regular player. Now that Nakata is out of the lineup and we are in the interleague games, he is available as a DH, but once he returns to the league, he will once again be surplus to requirements. The team must think it is better to put together a trade and get a replacement than to keep him.

Can Hiroshima’s front office succeed in acquiring a cannon and make up for their failure to reinforce the team in the off-season?