NPB

Can Dragons be changed to a winning team in 2024 ?


I believe that in case of key players on a weak team are mid-career players, a team won’t become a winning team even if these key players continue to be used.
Therefore, I can understand that Kyoda and Abe players of the regular key-stone combination, are shipped.
In fact, there is a big chance for young players and newly joined players have not been used in the past to grow significantly.

Therefore, I thought there was no need to worry about ranking in the 2023 pennant race.
I also believed that the talent is more likely to bloom by talented youngsters will play in the first team match until summer.
Of course, rejuvenating a team all at once comes with risks. This is due to individual differences between players and injuries. It will be difficult for everyone to grow as expected.
In other words, it may not be able to determine regulars for all positions in only a season. However, there is still an urgent need to rejuvenate the team.

Even if team wants to make next year a fruitful year, I don’t think we can become a winning team just by using young players for one year. That’s why, during the final month of the 2023 pennant race, I wanted manager Tatsunami make arrangements to win as his strategy. This should also be a leaning experience for young players.

I want to see manager Tatsunami is tossed up in the air more than anyone else. Therefore, I would like to make acerbic comments.

Again, during the final month of the 2023 pennant race, I wanted manager Tatsunami should have shown his game plan to win, and how to get a point in the few chances in the game.
Of course, I understand that there are said to be only a few games a year that are won by the manager’s control.
However, determining the starting lineup and changing pitches are also part of the manager’s controls. And that’s what happens in every games.

In the final stages of the pennant race, it felt like he was so confused by the starting lineup that he forgot the goal of next season.  It felt as if he was determining the starting lineup just for today’s game. (In fact, there were player who was received a notification of non-inclusion.)
The Dragons are said to be a team that struggles to score points. It is natural that the team is focusing on defense since the large Vantelin Dome is their home stadium. That’s why it’s very important to know how to get a point in the few chances in the game.
This is about the game I saw at the final stage of the pennant race.
In case of the runner with no out and team losing by one in the 8th inning of home game, manger Tatsunami decided to let hit No.8 batter who had a lower batting average.
In the end, the runner was unable to advance to second base, resulting in a scoreless inning.
Can team become a winning team playing games like this?

Also, this year the Dragons is the only team not to get four consecutive wins, but there were times when I felt that manager Tatsunami himself was stopping the flow of consecutive wins.
For example, Usami’s walk-off hit in two consecutive games gave us three consecutive wins, a lot fans was feeling that team will be able to get more consecutive wins. But manger Tatsunami made a big change to the starting lineup. Even Usami who built on the momentum, was removed from the starting lineup, completely the good flow of team was stopped. After this game, the team was on many games loosing streak.
If this is manager Tatsunami’s game plan to win, I don’t think the team will become to a winning team next year.

What I strongly felt was that while the Dragons is said to have a weak hitting lineup, a major factor in the loss seemed to be the pitching successions. Pitching successions often resulted to be pitcher’s flameout. In other words, there were times when a winning game was reversed or lost a lot of points in a competitive game.
I felt that the pitchers and their order were determined from the day before, rather than deciding on pitchers based on the flow of the game and the pitcher’s condition.


2024 season is the final year of manager Tatsunami’s contract.

As a must requirement, continuous reinforcement of hitting will be necessary. We got big news that Sho Nakata will join to the Dragons. I believe that the joining Nakata player is really big news because of his great history in NPB. The reinforcement is still needed because the team needs to consider in case Nakata player will be injured. The Dragons has announced the signing of Alex Dickerson, and there are Orlando Caliste who is adapted to Japanese baseball, and Dayan Viciedo. We can be expected to greatly improve their scoring ability.
(I don’t think I need to mention the skill improvement of each  players, as it is necessary every year.)

Next is the season strategy (the game plan). 
The strategy of the past two seasons would need to be reviewed. 
For example, did the team have the best strategy to score a point? Were the pitching changes appropriate? etc.
Based on this review, we really expect the Dragons to consider and make a best strategy for 2024 season.

Thanks.