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The story
On October 1, the Hiroshima Carp notified Kaito Kozono and three other players that their contracts would not be renewed for next season. Kozono updated his Instagram the same day, apologizing to team officials and fans for “careless conduct in his private life,” while denying the illegal drug use allegations themselves, stating “There is no truth whatsoever to any illegal activity.”
On 5ch, opinions were divided — some found it odd that he denied the allegations yet still accepted being released, while others debated his chances of a comeback via an independent league or a pickup by another team. Some pointed out that there’s said to be an unspoken agreement among all 12 NPB teams not to sign a player under suspicion.
Published 10/1 (Thu) 16:33 — Sports Hochi
On the 1st, the Hiroshima Carp notified four players — infielder Kaito Kozono, infielder Masaya Yano, infielder Seita Maekawa, and outfielder Shunsuke Tamura — that their contracts would not be renewed for next season. Kozono updated his Instagram that day, apologizing to team officials, coaching staff, teammates, and fans. He denied the allegations, saying, “There is no truth whatsoever to any illegal activity.”
Kozono opened his post with, “To all the fans who always give me such warm support, and to everyone involved,” and continued: “As announced by the team today, I, Kaito Kozono, have received notice from the Hiroshima Toyo Carp that my contract will not be renewed. First, for the careless conduct in my private life this season and the reports that followed, I offer my deepest, most sincere apology to everyone at the club, the manager, the coaches, my teammates, and above all, the fans who kept cheering for me so passionately, for the tremendous trouble and worry I’ve caused.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
'Prison food,' come on…
At least call it 'cold rice' for him (meaning benched/sidelined, a lighter term).
Manny Ramirez: "Udon and bonito are both delicious!"
Shocked to hear a hardcore baseball otaku ("yakibuta," 5ch slang mocking obsessive NPB fans) use a word like "athlete."
If that's the case, I can root for him with my head held high.
I'd take Yano, don't need Kozono.
That "extremely difficult" line feels half-baked.
— clumsy words would've been fine —
at the press conference?
If he could show that kind of sincerity, maybe the team wouldn't have said they'd lost trust in him — even with just a photo as "evidence" — and maybe he wouldn't have been released at all. Then again, it might also have had to do with keeping things even with the other three players.
Even the majors could be in play.
For an infielder, you need to hit like Okamoto or Murakami or no MLB team will touch you.
Case in point: Kikuchi went through posting or free agency and got zero offers.
His defense and OPS don't leave much room for growth, so the majors are a stretch.
Batting titles don't even register over there.
so using drugs that tank your athletic performance is a betrayal of the team paying you — basically fraud.
So drugs that boost performance are fine because they're "for the team"?
the Hiroshima Carp
have always been like this anyway
https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20210314/11/prains/eb/5e/j/o1536194814910052370.jpg
This guy outranks even the dealer's boss.
All the old-school baseball players were like this lol
That photo of him coming down the airplane stairs looks like a scene straight out of a Tarantino movie.
Apparently the uniform player contract states he has to be a model figure for the sport, so that's not really an option.
It ended up like this because of the unspoken agreement among all 12 teams not to sign him.
So I can say for certain there's no domestic team in his future.
Probably negotiating with the Hawks or the Giants behind the scenes.
Baseball ("yakyuu") really is nothing but idiots lol
— that's the vibe he's giving off, pretty optimistic about it.
Yeah, that's how it looked from the press conference.
If nobody signs him, he can just sue FLASH (the tabloid that broke the story) lol
I mean, he claims he never used anything lol
this just looks like cutting off the lizard's tail — pinning it all on a scapegoat.
The manager was supposed to step down, but they couldn't find anyone else willing to take the job, so he's staying on.
Right now, nobody wants to manage the Carp.
If the manager could quit, he'd have quit already…
Background and Key Points of Debate
The NPB uniform player contract explicitly requires players to maintain “a character that serves as a model for the sport,” and the thread’s comment that “fighting this with a lawyer would be difficult under the contract” appears to reference this clause. There’s also said to be an unspoken agreement among all 12 NPB teams not to openly sign a player under drug suspicion, and many in the thread felt it would be genuinely difficult for Kozono to find a new team within Japan. Opinion was split on how to judge Kozono’s response — denying any illegal activity while still accepting his release — with some arguing “if you’re going to deny it, you should fight it to the end,” and others countering that “suspicion alone is enough to destroy a team’s trust.” It should be noted that, as of now, there have been no reports of criminal charges or indictment, and Kozono himself has consistently denied any involvement in illegal activity.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[🧟] Carp’s Kaito Kozono, released by the team, apologizes — denies illegal drug use but “severely lacked self-awareness as a professional athlete”.”
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