Late October: Transmitter Planning Summit

January 2, 2014: Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture – The futility of the Transmitters‘ performance in 2013 is well documented, so we’ll not dig into such sore matters.  The organization itself, however, did no such thing.  General Manager Ron Collins called a weeklong team summit that started at 7:30AM the Monday after the season ended.

“The goal,” Collins said in his opening remarks, “is for every member of this organization to share a common framework and to know what we need to accomplish the next several months.”

This, however, proved easier said than done.  The Kawaguchi front office was not altogether… err… together, and Collins had barriers to overcome before it could progress further.  Monday was reserved for a review of the season just completed and a straightforward analysis of what went wrong.  Suffice to say tempers flared often during these discussions.

But Monday was just the pre-show.  Tuesday’s agenda was reserved for an assessment of the minor leagues, prospect review and player evaluations; hence, Tuesday was about exposing the raw inner core of differences between various factions within the management team.

There was a moment or two where I thought bloodshed might actually occur.

THE FARM SYSTEM

The second day of the summit was spent digging into the team’s minor league organization, which Collins clearly sees as the team’s basic building block.  To understand the root of the discussions, it is important to note the rift that the previous leadership created between the scouting and the data teams.

“We were mad all year,” said regional scout Takanori Toiguchi.  “It was all about the computers and the skinny guys with glasses.  Nobody paid any attention to us.  I think (head scout) Shigematsu Akiyama considered leaving, and I believe fully that only the sense of honoring his contract kept him here.”

In the process, they bled the scouting staff to its base minimum.  “The stat-heads were always asking for more,” Toiguchi added.

“Mistakes were made,” is all director Akiyama will say when pressed.

“We knew what we were doing,” said Tabito Furukawa, the man who leads the team’s stats operation.

It is against this backdrop that the second day of the Transmitter Summit must be judged.  Tempers did flare, arguments did ensue, names were called.  Through it all, the general manager acted as ringmaster.

“Collaboration is conflict,” Collins said in a private moment afterward.  “Sometimes people think collaboration is all compromise and working to get along above all other things.  But collaboration is really about quality, and quality demands you share ideas.  Not everyone is going to like all your ideas, so collaboration is a full-contact sport.”

The fireworks began from the opening bell.

Among the team’s most promising prospects is 23-year-old hurler Hisamitsu Osawa.  The diminutive right-hander has three solid pitches and throws 96 MPH.  “He’s ready,” said the stat crew, pointing out Osawa’s 57 strikeouts and only 5 walks in 58 innings at AAA-Taito last year, “and we need a good #3 starter.”  But the scouting crew is equally firm in their conviction that Osawa needs at least another half-year at Taito, pointing out that AAA pitching coach Jin-hyun Yi has only now started to make progress with Osawa’s curveball.

The conversation grew heated, but Collins let the battle rage for several minutes before stepping in.  “You’re arguing about a couple months’ difference,” he said.  The room went silent.  “Do you see that?  Does anyone think Hisamitsu isn’t a LRS-level talent in 2015?”  A stats guy shrugged.  Akiyama said, “No.”  Collins walked to the whiteboard, took an orange pen and wrote “Winter Ball?” beside the future Transmitter’s name.  “Anyone think that’s a bad idea?”

No one replied.

“Okay, then let’s get him to Mexico and let him work on something.  The next question is whether we want him in the rotation or out of the pen.”

“Rotation,” said Furukawa.

“Bullpen,” said Akiyama.

“Naturally,” quipped Collins, bringing peals of laughter.

The argument continued, centered loosely around whether Osawa’s three solid pitches trumped his history of being unable to throw more than six innings at a shot.  But the words the opposing sides used were, again, more personal than professional.  “Do your computers tell you when to take your bowel movements?” one AAA scout said in a moment of angst.

Ten minutes later, a scout raised his hand.  “Do we really need to decide this now?” he asked.  Collins smiled.

The team agreed to delay the decision.  Akiyama took the action item to propose the location where Osawa would play Winter Ball, and Collins summed it up.  “We’ll look at Osawa’s role and AAA or LRS assignment when he gets back from wherever we’re sending him.”

Then he added an editorial comment.  “I loved the argument.  The conversation was useful, but we need to hold each other in greater respect.  It’s okay to disagree, but realize that neither side is right today.  We need more information.  Any decision we make right now would not be well-formed, so we’ll need to look at the needs of the organization and work together to make the right call for us as a whole.”

It was that moment the team sensed a true shift in the management style.

But old habits die hard.  The next topic was single-A infielder Kisho Suzuki, who underwent a season-long experiment to move to shortstop in 2013.  Stathead Furukowa suggested a return to third base.  Akiyama said one more season would see his conversion complete.  Furukowa wanted the team to use slick-fielding Keitaro Sato, who had a solid season this year, at short in A-ball.  Akiyama views Suzuki as a future star at a critical position.  Furukowa sees some evidence in the numbers that Suzuki’s bat suffered during the conversion.  The two butt heads until Collins again finds middle ground.  After haggling, the management team agrees that Sato will play at AAA in 2014, focusing on a combination of shortstop and second base to prepare him for both roles.  Suzuki will play the first half of 2014 at shortstop and be analyzed again at that point.

And so it went.  For 14 hours.

At day’s end, the team had covered every player in the organization and listed the prospects in priority order – an order that varied considerably from any published anywhere else, we might add.

Perhaps more important, at the end of the long day Furukowa and Akiyama met at the doorway on their way out of the room.  As the entire group looked on, both men paused, gave respect to each other, and even managed weary smiles.