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The story
The Chunichi Dragons announced that Kudo Kimiyasu will take over as manager next season. Kudo, a Nagoya native, used his introductory press conference to set goals of repaying the hometown fans and winning the pennant. Meanwhile, the team president’s comment — “Honestly, we want results fast. We want the team competing for the title right away” — struck many as an unreasonably urgent demand for a club stuck in a long slump. Thread opinion split between optimists who think the Dragons have a shot at a top-three finish simply because the Tigers and Giants are expected to decline, and pessimists who argue that swapping managers means nothing unless the front office changes its reinforcement policy and team-building approach.
On the 15th, the Chunichi Dragons officially announced Kudo Kimiyasu as first-team manager for next season.
That day, new manager Kudo held his introductory press conference at a hotel in Nagoya, saying, “Since I’m originally from Nagoya myself,
my top priority is playing baseball that makes the fans of Nagoya happy. And of course, my ultimate goal is to win it all and take the championship,” he said.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
What about the Yakult Swallows?
Especially next year — the Tigers are losing Sato Teruaki ("Satoteru") to the majors so they'll be weaker, and the Giants are turning into a retirement home, so really only the BayStars have a top-three spot locked up.
For some reason there are a lot of people around the Dragons who just can't see reality like this.
At the end of the day the Tigers' pitching is stable, the Giants will reinforce, and they'll get crushed by DeNA — there's no way they're making the top three.
Bring in some foreign middle relievers — there's plenty to do.
This won't be easy.
If it said "must win it all, no excuses!" that'd be dumb, but…
The club: "Get us results fast."
Lol, the club's the one who can't be patient here.
They were just losing a ton because of bad in-game management until now.
This might be rough, who knows.
It really does come down to the manager.
No way.
The Tigers and Giants are both better.
Next year's probably 1st Tigers, 2nd DeNA, 3rd Dragons.
Isn't it more like 1st Tigers, 2nd Giants, 3rd Dragons?
Is this really fine?
Actually, Hoshino getting trashed with this kind of talk is kind of sad, now that I think about it.
Honestly I don't think Nomura would've won a title even if he'd stayed on as manager for another two or three years.
Tigers aside, the Giants' lineup is way too weak now — talent-wise they're a bottom-half team.
Their DH candidates are Maru and Sakamoto.
The Giants are 3rd in the league in runs scored and their pitching's good too — they're easily above average in talent.
Competing for the title right away seems rough, doesn't it?
The Dragons aren't SoftBank.
Well, that's true, but if the other teams are doing the same thing at the same time,
the overall standings don't really change.
DeNA built up its roster gradually like that and got stronger, but the Tigers did the same and won the pennant 3 times in 4 years.
Though his postseason record was ridiculously strong.
For a team like the Dragons (nicknamed "Chuni-Dora") where 3rd place is the best-case scenario, he's a perfect fit, isn't he.
Not masochists.
Hardcore masochists.
If they want to grow attendance from here, they'll need to expand the terrace seats — it was already that packed this year.
Can't believe he actually took the job.
If they win it's "Lord Kudo," if they lose it's just "same old Chunichi," so it is what it is.
There's no downside for him.
Background and Talking Points
This managerial change comes after the Dragons have spent recent years stuck in the bottom half of the standings, reportedly finishing dead last again this season. Kudo Kimiyasu brings a track record of three pennants in seven years as SoftBank’s manager, but his regular-season winning percentage wasn’t especially outstanding, a point several thread commenters raised. The team president’s comment about wanting “results fast” never touched on front-office issues like player salaries or roster reinforcement, which is why the thread kept circling back to doubts about whether a managerial change alone can actually improve the team. Opinions on next season’s Tigers, Giants, and BayStars rosters varied widely as well, and since every team is still mid-reinforcement, the optimistic view that “the Dragons have a shot at the top three” tends to overlook that it depends entirely on rival teams stumbling.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5channel (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] Chunichi Dragons team president: “Honestly, we want results fast. We want them competing for the title right away”.”
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