Transmitter Summit: The Final Analysis

January 16, 2013: Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture – It was a grueling, four-day meeting with much conversation, much dry-erase ink spilt, and several calls to the Wai-su Deli.  At the end of the process, a few things were understood:

1) The team would guarantee the services of second baseman Sakutaro Otsuka by naming him Juuki.  Otsuka was brought in mid-year for $2.5M and, while underperforming overall, still managed to lead the team in OBP.  Otsuka will turn 37 during 2014 and his range at second base is nothing to boast of.  The management team sees him as a candidate for first base in case Kuemon Kiyomizu can’t be retained, or as DH in case Soshu Konishi doesn’t recover from his fractured wrist properly in the off-season.

2) First baseman Kuemon Kiyomizu will be resigned to avoid arbitration as long as the price tag is under $4M; otherwise, they will let an arbitrator decide his fate.  The team has many interesting prospects at the position, so only a 1-year deal will be considered.

3) The two bright spots on the team are catcher Félix Lima and third baseman Shojiro Sano.  Lima’s .304/.342/.428 line showed solid growth and his defense was above average.  That he was the team’s lone All-Star and delivered a three-run blast in the game just adds to his aura.  At 24, the scouting staff suggests he’s still got growth to give, and the management team as a whole sees Lima as a possible face of the franchise.  Sano is a pleasant surprise to the gang and draws much analysis.  He was the team’s #1 pick from the 2007 draft but was much maligned early in 2013 after bringing a stone glove to the shortstop role.  But he blossomed both in the field and at the plate after being moved to third as a result of the Narita deal.  “Addition by subtraction,” said a stathead.  At 24, Sano is a three-year veteran and closed the season with a career-high 15 homers.  His gap power faded, though, and he ended up with only 28 doubles.  “He needs 50,” Collins said.  Hitting coach Munoto Nakashima took that issue as his own, and the entire organization’s collection of offensive-minded coaches and scouts recessed into a video nook to analyze Sano’s swing at various times throughout the year.

4) Despite having a few arms the team considered acceptable, left-handed bullpen ace Shunsen Ueda is the only pitcher on the team’s active roster who is viewed as irreplaceable.  Collins noted that Ueda managed only 52 innings last year and felt the kid needed to see more work.  “I’m worried about his control,” field manager Biao Ci said.  Collins stayed firm, though, and his stats crew backed him up.  Ueda walked only 16 hitters in those 52 innings.  “That’s not great,” Collins said, “but it’s the fact that the man strikes out three batters every two innings.”

5) The team will explore trades and free agents to resolve the issue at shortstop and on the mound.  Mitsuo Kan was clearly a stopgap at short.  The team’s biggest winner last year was Orlando Valadez (6-9, 4.51 ERA), who joined the team in a mid-season deal.  Gustavo Rivera was also considered serviceable, and Kantaro Sakei will have a role.  But the team needs a true ace starter sometime soon, and the bullpen needs serious help.  That said, shortstop is considered the highest priority, a position stated most eloquently by a junior member of the stathead contingent.  “Last year, we couldn’t field, hit, or tie our shoes at the shortstop position,” the young man said.  “How good do you think our pitchers can be until we get that spot covered?”  In this light, the group identified four possible trade and three free agent candidates.

6) The group also decides to target centerfield as a secondary priority, but they are comfortable with playing 2014 out with a platoon that consists of Keitaro Ishii from the left side and Shohei Araki from the right.  Araki is still considered raw but has tools, and Ishii showed more at the plate last year than either the scouting staff or the numbers guys expected.  Worst case: center is a role that can be addressed in 2015.

7) The farm system was viewed as the team’s core.  “Mr. Kyokai has been generous with his seed money, and we’re going to spend at the free agent table,” Collins said.  “But that can only really serve to stop the bleeding.  If we’re going to compete for championships and win the hearts of the Kawaguchi fans, we need to put good, young talent on the field.”  This means they will only deal prospects to get other prospects or young players in positions of need.  It also means that next year’s summer draft will be very important – the team has four selections in the first two rounds and will work to use them wisely.

A TEAM THAT PLAYS TOGETHER…

After four days, the walls of the Transmitters war room were filled with scrawling that outlined the central core of the team’s 2014 roster and identified holes the management team wanted to fill.  They had a list of free agent targets and a detailed time-phased plan that projected farm system replacements over the next five seasons.  “It may not be right,” one team member explained at the end of the scrum, “but it’s something we can manage with.”

The team gathered to give a great, “Yo ho!” cheer.  At this point, Collins took the entire team for a three-day blowout at the Fuji Kawaguchiko Resort, where the teambuilding exercises consisted of hiking, exercise programs, and restorative trips to the spa, all under the shadow of the great mountain.