DeNA’s “Shocking Trade of Yudai Yamamoto” Behind the Sin of “Too Strong Front Office”…Manager Aikawa “Couldn’t Stop It”.

Nothing surprises me.”

In a surprise move that fans could not believe, on the morning of May 12, the two teams announced a one-for-two trade of Yuta Yamamoto (27) of DeNA and Takato Ogata (26) and Tomoya Inoue (23) of SoftBank.

I am a little surprised.”

Yamamoto, who was told of the trade that morning, could not hide his surprise at the mid-season trade in front of the press.

Yamamoto was drafted ninth overall in the 2005 draft by Shiga of the BC League. He played over 100 games both last year and the year before and was one of the key players in Japan’s victory in the ’23 Japan Series. This season, too, he had many opportunities to wear the starting pitcher’s mask as the key to DeNA’s defense.

The shock of DeNA’s sudden release of its regular catcher was quite shocking, but an official from a Central League team said , “The team was steadily preparing to release Yamamoto. There is nothing surprising about that.

Yamamoto’s batting ability had always been highly regarded, and former manager Daisuke Miura (52) had a lot of confidence in him. However, his batting ability did not grow as much as expected, and the team’s front office lost confidence in him. The backroom crew settled on the policy of using Shion Matsuo (21) as a regular catcher for a long time and developing him into a star of the baseball world. Matsuo is an elite player from Osaka Toin High School and has many female fans. From the time he was training with the second team, he was well liked by the front office, which emphasized numbers and data.

The current DeNA front office has a powerful voice, as evidenced by the fact that “meetings” between the front office and the front office are held far more frequently than would be possible with other teams, and the front office has little authority to make decisions, whether for the first or second team. Former manager Miura, who has served the team well, could have strongly opposed the Yamamoto trade and the priority use of Matsuo, but manager Ryoji Aikawa (49), who has been in charge of the front office since this season, has no such power.

A source close to the DeNA baseball team explains what he means by “no power of voice.

Mr. Aikawa was originally the fifth choice for manager. The team had been negotiating with Kimiyasu Kudo (63) and Hatsuhiko Tsuji (67) following the resignation of former manager Miura, but each of them turned us down, saying, ‘We can’t take on a team that lacks a strong voice on the field. The front office then turned to Mr. Aikawa, who had been head coach under the Miura administration. The front office of DeNA made a personnel move that was very typical of the DeNA front office: “If it is difficult to appoint a big name to the position, we will appoint someone internally promoted who is more likely to listen to what we have to say.

In fact, there was an offer to trade Yamamoto last offseason. I heard that Mr. Aikawa stopped the trade after vehemently opposing it, but I guess he did not have enough power left to break the “higher-ups'” decision twice. The loss of Yamamoto is painful, but I can’t blame Mr. Aikawa because I know what’s going on inside the company. ……

The reason for the delay in selecting human compensation is: ……

Yamamoto lost the backing of his manager and was forced out by the front office’s “Matsuo Nurturing Plan. The Pacific League team officials had sensed something was “wrong” since last offseason, when outfielder Masashi Kuwabara (32) decided to move to Seibu as a free agent.

Because of the human compensation, DeNA decided to acquire catcher Takeru Furuichi (23), who has a strong shoulder. Since Kuwabara’s transfer agreement was made on November 26, human compensation would normally be decided by the end of the year based on the protected list, but the announcement of Furuichi’s acquisition was made on January 8 this year, after the new year.

Considering the time it took to select the compensation players, it is safe to assume that the DeNA front office already had Yamamoto’s release in mind at that time and was continuing discussions with the front office. In fact, since that time, DeNA had been secretly negotiating with several Pacific League teams in addition to Softbank, which has an abundance of pitchers.

However, it is unclear whether the trade will be a “success” for DeNA.

Matsuo’s batting average, which the front office wants to nurture, has been hovering around .200. It is understandable that the front office wants to encourage Matsuo to get back on his feet, but it would be better for Matsuo to grow up with Yamamoto’s back to the team and not feel pressured to do so. I have heard that this trade was also led by the front office, but the two assistant pitchers, John Duplantier (31) and Austin Cox (29), who were also acquired at the initiative of the front office, have not been functioning at all.

The plan may have been to cover for the starting pitching shortages resulting from that debacle by releasing a regular catcher, but if that was the case, couldn’t they have gotten a pitcher with a little more starting experience?

There is no doubt that Aikawa and Matsuo will be under even more pressure than before.