Update: The good news is that the article below does in fact appear to be a rumor, and probably an unreliable one at that. As of 10/22, Hoshino is still being written of as being uninterested in the job and none less than Ichiro Suzuki called on Japanese baseball officials to hurry up and name a manager already just a couple of days ago. We apologize for any near heart attacks the (hopefully) inaccurate item below caused.
Despite promising he wouldn’t, unsuccessful Olympic baseball manager Hoshino has accepted the top job for the World Baseball Classic, according to stories filtering through this morning.
Although I thought, and hoped, it was a rumor, it appears to be for real. I guess it wasn’t that surprising. Older, respected managers tend to get jobs regardless of performance and tend not to be held responsible for bad decisions or incompetence by the powers that be in Japanese baseball. It’s also an old boys club, which means only the older, respected members of the club, guys who played by the rules and toed the line throughout their careers were ver really in contention. Sadaharu Oh had already accepted an advisory position with the WBC team and remains in poor health, so he was out. Talk of fresh blood was hopeful gossip, not a real possibility.
From this point, I’m sure you, the readers and commenters, can express the thoughts we’re probably all having best, so have at it.
