Oya Quits, Opening for Valentine?
Yokohama BayStars manager Akihiko Oya is quitting tomorrow, citing the team’s poor performance under his watch. The ‘Stars are again the doormat of the Central League this season after another last-place finish last year. Yokohama farm team manager Tomio Tashiro will take over managerial duties on the top team.Â
The more interesting part of the story for me is that Bobby Valentine was linked to a group that tried to buy the BayStars last year but withdrew their bid over uncertainty about the global economy. Bobby expects to be out of a job after the season as the Marines have already decided not to renew his contract. It’s tempting to think that the BayStars, no matter what management they’re under, could revisit the idea of having Bobby V at the helm. It would only be a short move across Tokyo Bay for Bobby, and Yokohama has some good players to build a team around.
Japanese baseball is facing the loss of one of it’s finest advocates, so I hope Bobby gets a chance to stay in the game.
18/05/2009 at 2:36 am Permalink
There are Nomura to Yokohama rumours as well, as Nomura’s not on a semi-permanent contract.
18/05/2009 at 4:42 am Permalink
I would not expect either Nomura or Valentine to end up in Yokohama because both managers would be expensive and the BayStars are too cheap to spend money to improve the team. And, since these are the BayStars we are talking about, it really does not matter who the manager is anyway. The team is going to be awful until around 2036. Typically, Yokohama is competitive only once every 38 years.
18/05/2009 at 5:00 am Permalink
I heard the Bobby-to-Yokohama rumors second-hand from a Marines staffer a few weekends ago. My friend was told “If it all doesn’t work out here in Chiba we’ll probably be in Yokohama next year.”
I wouldn’t be surprised, honestly; it makes sense.
18/05/2009 at 7:30 am Permalink
EJH, I would have said the same thing about Lotte before Bobby showed up.
18/05/2009 at 7:37 am Permalink
Both Sponichi and Asahi say that Ohya is “taking a rest.” Your Jiji article has him outright quitting (which, granted, is what his “rest” will most likely be).
This Japan Times article is where the whole “Bobby to Yokohama” rumors started, I believe. I had joked about Bobby moving to Yokohama with some of his staff the day before I read that – and suddenly thought that it might not have been such a joke after all.
18/05/2009 at 7:40 am Permalink
This is what I mean by the “rest” being the same as quitting.
18/05/2009 at 8:03 am Permalink
When I saw this news about Oya, it immediately reminded me of that Japan Times article.
I saw the “rest” classification this morning, but then again this one makes it look like he was fired, leading with the headline “Why now? The team couldn’t see it’s vision”.
18/05/2009 at 4:03 pm Permalink
I really cannot believe that Valentine would take the BayStars job. Being manager while his ownership group runs things is a completely different thing that managing under the current inept BayStars management. Why would he want to work for them?
Also, the BayStars, after years of looking like Carl’s Jr. employees, have finally got decent-looking uniforms. I would hate to see Valentine come over and put them into ChocoBall uniforms like he did at Lotte. Those Lotte uniforms are the ugliest I have ever seen. Lotte is to uniforms what Orix is to stadium announcers.
18/05/2009 at 9:21 pm Permalink
I’m truly hoping that Tashiro kantoku will be able to do something with the team for the rest of the season. I believe in him to be honest.
I honestly have to agree with EJH in his previous statements about Bobby though. It would be interesting to see what Bobby could do with the BayStars, there’s no question about that. But something deep down tells me that him managing the team while the current ownership is in place is a bad idea.
18/05/2009 at 9:30 pm Permalink
Nice to have some discussion among the true pro yakyu fans here 🙂
EJH, I actually liked the old Yokohama uniforms a bit better. The new ones aren’t bad, but I’m not a fan of that weird collar thing. That said, I thought you were being (hilariously) cynical with that Carl’s Jr remark, but then I Googled it:
BayStars: http://www.baseball-reference.com/bpv/images/3/33/Yokohama_BayStars.png
Carl’s Jr: http://burgatory.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/carlsjrrgb.jpg
I think I see what you mean. Good eye, you made me laugh out loud.
19/05/2009 at 4:17 am Permalink
Patrick,
Nice research. I appreciate your effort to protect my reputation. I would hate for people to think I was cynical.
Also, it’s good to see that you can take time away from your wife and kids and job and all to work on more important things once in a while.
19/05/2009 at 7:27 am Permalink
It’s important to have the facts straight.