Kazuki Inoue, the new manager of Chunichi, is too stingy! The team is in a difficult situation, and the best they can do is to “keep Shuhei Takahashi”.

I have no pity for Manager Inoue. ……

While the mainstays of each team were declaring FA one after another, Chunichi’s Shuhei Takahashi, 30, an infielder, decided to stay on by signing a multi-year contract with the team.

This is good news for manager Kazuki Inoue (53), who took over from Kazuyoshi Tachinami (55), who retired after the team’s worst three consecutive years in last place.

Shuhei was named Best Nine in 2019 and the Golden Glove Award in the same year and in 2020. He was an attractive third baseman with solid play both offensively and defensively, but his number of games played has been steadily declining since the days of former manager Tatsunami, and he ended up playing 60 games this season. He was unhappy with the team’s low evaluation of him last year, and rumors were flying that he might leave Chunichi by FA or trade.

(A source close to the baseball team) “Chunichi has been in a situation where reinforcement funds have been scarce for years, due in part to the financial situation of the parent company.

As expected, former manager Tatsunami, the “face of Nagoya,” was able to bring in Sho Nakata (35) from the Giants on a multi-year contract with an estimated annual salary of 300 million yen. However, it seems unlikely that Inoue will receive such a “congratulatory reinforcement. Instead, he spent a large sum of money on Shuhei Takahashi, and managed to get him to agree to stay on by cutting a coach’s bill. Although many FA players are on the market this year, the team is not expected to participate in any of them, and the team seems to regard this as a congratulatory gift to Director Inoue. They are so stingy that I can’t help but feel pity for Director Inoue. ……

Looking closer at the players, Koji Fukutani (33) and Takuya Kinoshita (32) have both exercised their domestic FA rights, and Shinnosuke Ogasawara (27), a mainstay of the starting rotation, is expected to challenge the U.S. major leagues via the posting process.

The team’s inability to cover for at least three near-mainstay players who may be out of the lineup next season is too painful. The team would like to enter the race to acquire Softbank’s Hiirita Ishikawa (32) and Hanshin’s Yusuke Oyama (29), but they do not have the financial resources to even get started.

At least, the team’s manager Inoue himself competed with other teams in the draft, but was able to select the number one left-handed pitcher in the amateur baseball world, Muuto Kanamaru (21, Kansai University). The team will inevitably be in the doldrums next year and will finish last in the Central League for the fourth year in a row. It is too bad that the team has no strength before Inoue’s skill as manager.

Chunichi fans will continue to wet their pillows next year.