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The story
Catcher Takuya Kai, who left the SoftBank Hawks for the Yomiuri Giants as a free agent, has spent much of his time since the move in the minors or warming the bench — prompting an outpouring of questions on 5ch’s live-commentary board asking “What did he even go to the Giants for?” During his SoftBank days, Kai was prized for his high caught-stealing rate and blocking skills, but with the Giants he’s been buried in a playing-time battle against Takumi Oshima and Yukinori Kishida. The thread was also split over conflicting figures being thrown around regarding his contract terms, with some posters questioning whether the numbers were even accurate.
What people said
Seriously, what did he even go to the Giants for?
They're both trash, but at least Kobayashi gets playing time.
Reminder: when Kai's started this year the team is 2-1, a game above .500, so he's not dragging them down.
SoftBank's been stronger since he left too — maybe he's just better off not being around at all.
This year, with Kai sidelined, they're 2nd even without Okamoto.
His biggest contribution has been not playing.
Thing is, last year they were also in 2nd before Kai went down.
They dropped to 3rd because Kishida started every single game after Kai left — that's on him.
Are you that notorious "Kai's defense attorney" everyone talks about? (wordplay on bengoshi, "lawyer" — i.e. someone who always defends Kai)
And this year they're 2nd even with Kishida sent to the minors.
SoftBank offered 4 years / 900 million yen.
The Giants offered 5 years / 1.5 billion yen.
Nobody on earth would pick SoftBank after seeing those numbers.
Giants: 5 years / 1.5 billion yen
SoftBank: 4 years / 1 billion yen
Of course he's going to the Giants.
Back then they really did need Kai.
And apparently some team just handed them Yuta Yamamoto as a gift this year on top of that.
They got an ace and a cleanup-hitter candidate out of the deal.
And now Yamamoto's even coming back to them as a free agent.
His tag on Ogata's stolen-base attempt in the Japan Series was incredible.
His caught-stealing rate really was tops, and his blocking was great too.
At the plate he was a low-average, roughly 10-homer guy — so-called "punchy" hitting (occasional pop but no consistency), which is pretty normal for a catcher anyway.
Not sure about now, but his blocking used to be the best in the game.
His caught-stealing rate was also top-tier.
He had a year with double-digit homers, but overall his hitting was weak.
The arm too, but his blocking ability was the real standout.
Telecom companies especially — easy on new customers, harsh on existing ones, and even homegrown guys get treated badly once they're no longer useful.
SoftBank treats its homegrown players better than any team in the league though.
Sugiuchi: "Is that so?" (skeptically)
Like who, for example?
Salary.
Homegrown players' pay is overwhelmingly good.
It's mostly incentive pay though, so it's not actually that good.
That's true everywhere, but for outside signings the reported figure includes incentives at full value, while for in-house guys it's the base salary that gets reported.
Other teams have incentive clauses too, you know.
Unlike SoftBank, the Giants just don't develop players at all.
Actually the Giants' own draft picks have been developing just fine.
People who say this don't understand what the team's situation actually was back then.
They'd just signed Oshima, a catcher who can hit, to a 3-year deal.
Kishida was emerging and became team captain.
Down in the minors, Yamase is doing decently too.
Oshima and Kishida, around the same age as Kai, were already producing at this level.
So he's needed less and less.
There's no way an average fan like me would know the inside team situation, but objectively speaking, it never looked like they needed Kai at all.
But I'm surprised "the Toilet" (a derisive 5ch nickname for SoftBank) actually offered Kai pretty good terms too.
He's not that great a catcher.
SoftBank takes good care of its homegrown players, after all.
For SoftBank he was unquestionably a guy who earned his keep — they wanted to pay him well and keep him until retirement.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Takuya Kai is a catcher who left SoftBank for the Giants as a free agent in the 2023 offseason, valued during his playing days for his high caught-stealing rate and strong blocking technique. In the thread, multiple figures circulated for the contract offers — “5 years / 1.5 billion yen” from the Giants versus “4 years / 900 million yen” or “4 years / 1 billion yen” from SoftBank — but posters disagreed on the exact amounts, and some even accused others of “lying just to defend Kai,” so these unsourced contract figures shouldn’t be taken as established fact. With the Giants, catchers of a similar generation such as Takumi Oshima and Yukinori Kishida have already secured playing time, and the frustration over how Kai has been used in this thread centers less on debating his individual ability and more on questions about the team’s catcher roster planning and reinforcement decisions themselves — that’s the real point of interest in this thread.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nanimo Jikkyo G) thread “Why did the Giants’ Takuya Kai even move to the Giants?“
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