FIRST TO WORST: AN ANALYSIS
A Niihama-shi Chronicle Exclusive

(Editor’s note: Rarely has baseball seen as precipitous a fall as seen this season in the League of the Rising Sun.  The Niihama-Shi Ghosts – winners of 190 regular season games over the past two seasons, more than any other LRS team, and winners the past two years of the Shining Star Group title –  suddenly find themselves squarely in last place in July, 16 games out of first and with only 16 wins to their credit.

What has gone wrong?  The Chronicle has uncovered a confidential memo that addresses this question.  It was written by Scouting Director Salvador Romero for team owner Akane Kenkyusham without the knowledge of beleaguered General Manager Mike Dunn.  The team went to court to block our publication of this memo, but citing the famous Pentagon Papers, the Japanese Supreme Court upheld the public’s right to see this.)

TO: Honorable Akane Kenkyusham
FR: S. Romero
RE: 2012 season

Sir, you asked for my evaluation of the state of the team, the reasons for our decline and the degree to which Mr. Dunn is responsible.  I believe the degradation of the Ghosts is due to the following five key matters:

1)  The loss of SP Takeji Iitsuka to a career-ending injury left a gaping hole in an already shaky rotation and left the squad’s morale diminished.  Some fault Dunn for overusing him in the 2011 campaign.

2)  The contract of Shiggy Memoto: In late 2011, Dunn offered popular DH Shiggy a two-year contract extension at $11 million per year.  Given his age (40) and declining abilities, some saw this as foolhardy.  Thus far, Memoto has hit a pedestrian .253 with just 17 RBI.  His contract, taking up one-sixth of the Ghosts’ payroll, gives rise to this next matter:

3)  The failure to land a big free agent bat. The free agent market came and went for the Ghosts, who signed only utility infielder Shiro Yamamoto and starting pitcher Tsugumichi Uemura.  Both have played well (Uemura has a 2.50 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in eight starts), but what our squad needed was at least one outfielder with some power at the plate to replace last season’s free agent acquisitions, CF Tatsukichi Suzuki and LF Tetsuo Ageda.  Both signed with other squads for reasonable salaries.  My information is that Dunn assumed they would both command free agent salaries that were not affordable to the Ghosts because of the Memoto signing, and that he never made a serious attempt to re-sign either.  In fact, the team could have afforded one of them.  The power each provided last season has simply not been replaced.

4)  The failure of new acquisitions: Virtually to a man, the “talent” brought in to the club through trades have been disappointments.  Dunn was hoping that LF Tamuramaro Gato would provide at least some of the power lost with the departures of Suzuki and Ageda, but thus far, Gato has hit just .225 with 17 measly RBI.  SP Yasuhiro Noda, acquired at last year’s trading deadline, has pitched miserably this season (notwithstanding his 60 strikeouts), with a whopping 5.20 ERA that threatens his position in the rotation.  Even more miserable has been SP Sotatsu Sai, another mid-season trade acquisition from 2011.  He tore up his knee a month after arriving and, though healed, has not been the same pitcher (1-4 with an 8.84 ERA).  Sai has now been demoted to the bullpen and would be in AAA were he not out of options.  Word is that Dunn has told field manager Hisashi Fujii to keep Sai away from the mound.

5)  Lack of depth to survive injuries: The season has already brought lengthy injuries to the heart of the lineup: superstar 3B Nobuhito Hasegawa, 1B Ron Samuels and SS Naizen Kimura.  And the bench simply isn’t strong enough to adequately fill those shoes at a competitive level.  Your honorable sir, the team should have been better prepared for such setbacks.

Those, kind sir, are the five keys to the quick and embarrassing demise of the Niihama Shi Ghosts.  In my estimation, Dunn is responsible for all five.  He is the cause of your very public humiliation.

You now face the decision as to whether to retain his services.  Should you do so, Dunn faces a key question between now and the trading deadline.  Should he retain the roster in hopes this team can still compete in 2012, or should he quickly jettison some of his aging, expensive veterans and launch a rebuilding process?

If you don’t retain his services, I, as your humble servant, am fully prepared to quickly step in.

It has been a pleasure to provide you this analysis.

(End of document)