Sporting News Japan Interviews Kevin Vail, GM of the Shin Seiki Evas

October 13, 2013

(Editor’s note: This is the first in a series.  As the League of the Rising Sun winds down its 2013 season, Tokichi Chinwanda, national baseball writer for Sporting News Japan, sat down with Kevin Vail, general manager of one of the league’s most successful teams, the playoff-bound Shin Seiki Evas.  The wide-ranging interview was conducted aboard Vail’s corporate jet as he returned to Genesis Park.)

SN: Thanks, Kevin, for sparing time to talk with us.  We know you prefer to stay behind the scenes.  First, a softball question: Is this the Evas’ year?

KV: Well, I am cautiously optimistic, but I have learned not to be overly confident in this league.  We’ve gone into the post-season as a heavy favorite and lost.  This year, the SSG is a meat grinder and Edo is historically good, so I wouldn’t say we are clear favorites.

But with that said, things are looking good.  The rotation is solid, one of the best in the league.  I think our bullpen is the very best in the LRS.  The offense has been very productive, and not just from a couple studs.  We have a lineup that is productive top to bottom, with good balance and depth.  Best of all, we have been relatively lucky on the injury front — especially compared to previous seasons.  If there are no horribly bad surprises, I think we have the best chance to win it all we have had yet.

SN: The Evas has the best winning percentage in the history of the LRS, with four 1st place finishes and two 2nd places finishes in the past six year, yet just one championship (2007) to show for it.  How do you as a GM handle the frustration, particularly the past three years when you failed to advance to the Neo-Tokyo Cup? Yoga? Meditation? Punching walls?

KV: I try to keep an even perspective.  We win a lot of games every year, but the playoffs are a crapshoot.  Any team can get hot for a week.  I have focused on winning both in the short term and building for the long term.  If we contend every year and build out club the right way, we will win.  That gives me some satisfaction.

Also, vodka helps on occasion.

SN: Not only have the Evas been perennial contenders, but they also have the second best farm system in the LRS, at least according to Baseball America.  Shin Seiki is also one of the most financially well-run organizations.  Many want to know how you manage to sustain the club.  It’s certainly possible to build a contender for a few years, then blow it up and rebuild, but the Evas seem to be always ready to compete.  How do you manage it?

KV: Well, we have some natural advantages.  A big market with the best fan base in the LRS is irreplaceable.  That gives us very high revenue and the ability to be aggressive on all fronts.  Some other organizations have to limit the markets that they participate in.  Sometimes a team can’t afford to sign free agents or to re-sign their own players.  They might even have to stay out of the draft.  We were constrained like in the first few seasons due to some financial issues, but thanks to our solid long-term fiscal planning, that is no longer the case.

Beyond that, it is a matter of being decisive, flexible and non-sentimental.  They first thing I had to do is decide to contend rather than rebuild.  That meant sacrificing my drafts and prospects the first few years.  Not an easy choice to make.

Next, I try to be flexible and open to whatever the market presents.  I don’t know what opportunities will present themselves in the draft, free agent market or the Winter Meetings.  I try to stay open and not force things.  I’ve found that if I put too much weight on my own plans, I make mistakes.  The best-laid plans of mice and men….

SN: No doubt…

KV: Finally, I try not to be too sentimental with my own players.  It is natural for a GM to become attached to the players he drafted, scouted or developed.  Sometimes a GM becomes infatuated with a particular player on another team.  That leads to inaccurate valuations of player worth.  I try to avoid it.

SN: Yes, it is ultimately a business, even if fans (and some GMs) can’t understand that.  In terms of judging talent, what do you look for in a prospect?  How much weight do you place on your scouts’ views as opposed to a player’s statistics and performance?

KV: I give my scouting director a lot of deference; some in the organization have said I give him too much.  After the Yuk Huang situation, they might have a point.  Yuk is our AAA shortstop that I signed to a major league contract with absolutely no statistical history.  My scouting director assured me he had the potential to be an over-.300 hitter.  He later scaled that back to .250 or so.  That was pretty disappointing.

I also look at statistics, but small sample sizes are often an issue with prospects.  If a spec has a bad month, as all players do, it might make their short season look awful.

Personalities are another factor that I consider.  Leadership, work ethic and intelligence are always good to have.  But I have the impression that other GM’s weigh those things much more than I do.  Talent is always the bottom line to me.

SN: You have developed a reputation as being a very astute trader, someone who never gets the short end of a deal.  How would you describe your approach to trading?

KV: Thank for the compliment, but I’ve come up on the short end of a deal more than once.  In general, I try to see what the other GM needs and try to find a way to fill that need for him.  In exchange, I get something of value.  I try to be open to what that thing could be.  There are lots of ways to capture value.  Cash, prospects, picks, options, talent, native-born players, etc.  All of these things can be used to increase the wealth of a team.

It’s just like any other business.  If you can find a way to satisfy a need of someone in the marketplace, you can turn a profit.

SN: But many GMs are stymied by determining what they’re willing to move… and I suppose that, again, sentimentality becomes an issue there.  Have you ever regretted trading away a player?

KV: Not that I wouldn’t love to have back some of the guys I moved, but I moved them for a reason.  There are deals where I know other GMs were a couple steps ahead of me.  I can think of deals that I wish I had driven harder after and deals where I think I paid too much.  But I can’t think of a particular deal where I traded player I completely regret trading away.
SN: Obviously, the SSG is an extremely tough division, and across the way in the BBG, Edo remains a powerhouse.  Do you ever relax, take some time off?  Or does staying competitive in the LRS mean never, as the Americans say, letting your foot off the gas pedal?

KV: Well, the season has its ebbs and flows.  Right now, we are in a bit of a relaxed mode as we prepare for the playoffs.  There aren’t a lot of things for a GM to do when your team is trying to rest up for the playoffs.  But once the season ends, it will be back to the grindstone big time for free agency and the Winter Meetings.

I can’t take anything for granted.  The SSG is only getting tougher next season. Neo-Tokyo is a powerhouse. Kure is a cunning and excellent organization. Hyakujuu is on the rise. Niihama-shi will be a huge player in free agency this off-season, and Kawaguchi finally has direction and vision.  It will be very competitive, but that is what makes the SSG the best division in Japan.

SN: The BBG might argue that, of course!  Could the best of the LRS take on the PEBA back in the States?

KV: I am very much in favor of having the LRS champion take on the PEBA champion to settle that.  I think the LRS could definitely make some noise.

SN: Thank you, and good luck in the playoffs.

KV: My pleasure.

##