From the Desk of Kevin Vail
General Manager of the Shin Seiki Evas
August 16^th, 2014

To Shin Seiki Evas fans everywhere:

I realize that today’s trade might be traumatic. I am sure many of you are wondering why I would trade a legend. I feel that I owe you an explanation.

Sometimes when we are faced with a deadline, we are forced to make decisions we have put off for a long time. We can be led into rash decisions when pressed, or we can find clarity. That is the scenario that the Shin Seiki front office found itself in this week.

We were faced with the imminent trade deadline and a Neo-Tokyo Akira squad with an unrelentingly talented roster and aggressive general manager, the very skilled Mr. Ron Hiscock. We had to decide whether the squad we had today had any weakness that could cripple our quest for a second straight LRS championship. Basically, we had to answer the question, “Are any of our critical components weak links?” We concluded that we did indeed have a couple weak links in third baseman Ton “Dracula” Nakamura and leftfielder Edgardo “Hercules” Cortéz.

Firstly, I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Ton for everything he has done for our city and team and to wish him well in his future endeavors. Perhaps he will find himself in Eva blue again someday. Personally, I hope he chooses an Evas cap when he is inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Ton Nakamura had been a godsend for our team. He is one of the all-time greats of the LRS and a surefire first ballot Hall of Famer. He is the career leader in many offensive categories, a Gurabukin-caliber first baseman, and still possesses tremendous power. He also is a true leader. That is perhaps what we will miss the most.

Everyone in the Shin Seiki organization agreed on the above, but there was tremendous disagreement on how much he still has left in the tank. Our lead scout, Seinosuke Harada, insisted that he could still be a stud. He was adamant that though Ton may have grown a bit impatient at the plate, he still could hit for both average and power against all pitchers. On the other side was hitting coach Masatake Nakayama. He stated flatly that Ton could no longer be counted on to hit for average. Further, while he still had good power, he had developed a terrible split and was now only a reliable platoon bat versus southpaws.

I had to decide who was right, so I went to the numbers. That made my decision easier. Ton had posted an anemic .243/.261/.717 line versus RHP in 2014. He was better against LHP, posting a .239/.327/.892 line. But even there, he showed no ability to hit for average or to get on base at a high rate. In addition, his overall OPS has been declining since he arrived in Nagoya in 2011 at an average rate of 69 points per year. That is not so bad for the first few years when you start out at an epic .984, but it does not look so good when you get into years four and five. He has been barely average this year and will be much less than average if the trend continues into 2015, as I believe it will. A player who posts a .720 OPS is not worth $6.2M. Couple that with a .962 fielding percentage at 3B and you are left with a very marginal platoon player. I tried for months to talk myself out of that conclusion, but when pressed by the impending trade deadline, I couldn’t deny what I knew in my gut to be true.

The decision on Cortéz was significantly easier. In order to add the monster bat of Jon Wood, I had to move a gaijin. The other three on the roster (Gonçalo Doroteia, Jesús Luna and Shannon Davis) were simply not moveable due to their outstanding performance. Cortéz, on the other hand, has been hurt an astounding nine times since signing with us in 2013. He managed only 161 AB in over a season and a half. He does have excellent offensive potential for the LRS and a very reasonable price, but the Evas need reliability right now, not a lottery ticket.

Jon Wood has had his own injury concerns, but he has been a stud whenever he is in the lineup. There is no question at all about his hitting ability. If he is healthy, he will be a stud. Plus, with salaries we shed in this deal and the cash we received, Wood will cost us nothing extra in 2014 and only about $7.3M extra in 2015. That could be great value, too.

In conclusion, I hope you can understand my decision and continue to support the Evas. We are nothing without our fans. I honestly believe we have a better shot at a title with Wood than without. So I hope to see you all for the rest of the season and in the playoffs as we continue our quest for another title.

Sincerely,
Kevin Vail