Why Hanshin’s Yusuke Oyama is having a hard time staying with the team and the team’s “secret plan” to prevent him from transferring.

Giants?　Seibu?

Hanshin’s infielder Yusuke Oyama (29) announced on November 13 that he will exercise his domestic free agent (FA) rights.

The Hanshin side is already “restraining” the media from getting too heated.

I have always wanted to ask other teams what they think of me and what they think of me. This was the main reason for my decision.

Oyama, who was interviewed at the team’s office in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, in the afternoon, is said to have said this. Last offseason, the team offered him a multi-year contract, but he chose to sign a one-year deal.

In response to the crisis of the No. 4 hitter’s exodus, the Hanshin team has been eager to retain him by offering him a multi-year contract and an increase in his estimated salary from 280 million yen to the mid-300 million yen range for this season. Oyama said, “I am really grateful. But I would like to make a decision after listening to his evaluation as an individual and considering it carefully.

The Giants, his old rivals, have already been mentioned as one of the leading destinations in baseball circles.

If Kazuma Okamoto (28), who hopes to post his transfer to the U.S. major leagues next offseason, is not available, the Giants will be short on infielders. It seems that the team plans to acquire Oyama as insurance against that. To date, no player has ever moved from Hanshin to the Giants by FA, and if this were to happen, Oyama would surely be booed intensely by Hanshin fans at the Tokyo Dome and Koshien Park next year. There may be some danger during the move, so the plan is to have a full-time security guard on duty.

The Kansai groove just doesn’t fit.”

The Hanshin baseball team has already begun to calm down the frenzy among the media in Osaka over the possibility that the Tigers’ No. 4 might be shipped out to a rival team.

The Hanshin team was quick to calm things down. “After responding to our interview, the team said, ‘We don’t want the media to make the assumption that he will be transferred. We accept that he will stay on as a declared player. The team made the unusual announcement, saying, ‘We are accepting that Oyama is thinking about staying with us. The baseball team must have thought that an inadvertent report might encourage Oyama to move.

However, Oyama seems to be fed up with the Kansai tiger-ban media, which continues to drum up the Hanshin baseball team and encourages Oyama to stay on. …… Since joining the team, he has often jokingly told players and alumni from the Kanto region that he doesn’t like the Kansai way of life.

Besides, Oyama has not forgotten the frustration of being ridiculed by Hanshin fans as “the worst draft pick in history. Of course, he is attached to the team because he was the mainstay of the team and experienced the first place in Japan, but I think it will be very difficult for him to stay in the team, ” said a sports producer from a TV station in Osaka.

How will the FA battle over Oyama end?