Sadaharu Oh thinks Hiromitsu Ochiai is a good candidate for WBC manager
by Gen on Jun.21, 2012 @ 6:24 pm, under WBC
Sadaharu Oh told reporters on Wednesday that he felt Hiromitsu Ochiai was a good candidate for WBC manager.
"[Ochiai] is not an active manager and he has the credentials." said Oh.
When asked about Softbank manager Koji Akiyama, he replied, "It is no surprise that [Akiyama's] name has been mentioned, but I think candidates should be people not actively involved in baseball."
Akiyama also provided his thoughts: "No, no. Even if they ask, I will turn it down. It is a job that would be difficult for active managers. It would be impossible."
Source: Sponichi 6/21/2012, Sanspo 6/21/2012
Interesting that they think it’s too hard for active manager. There doesn’t seem to be a noticeable effect on the manager’s NBP team. Oh’s Hawks dropped to third in 2006 after finishing first in 2005 but there may have been other factors involved (like Johjima leaving for the Mariners). In 2009, Hara’s Giants won the Nippon Series.
Certainly Oh knows better than I do since he’s actually done it, but not being an active manager didn’t help Senichi Hoshino with the 2008 Olympic team.
The other thing is that the NPB is trying to schedule a few international exhibition games in November. The Nippon Series is scheduled to begin on October 27.
I don’t know when those November international exhibition games are going to be scheduled, but I think that would be a pretty tight schedule.