Marty Brown Done in Hiroshima
Hiroshima’s most recent loss eliminated the team from playoff convention, thus preventing manager Marty Brown’s automatic one-year extension clause for making the playoffs from kicking in. So Marty is done after the season, and next year the Carp will be managed by former shortstop Kenjiro Nomura.
Marty spent four seasons running Hiroshima, a time that saw the Carp generally more competitive than Yakult and Yokohama but still unable to crack the A-class. I thought the Carp were on their way up after finishing 69-70-5and missing the playoffs by two games last year, but they were not able to sustain that performance this year.
This is purely speculation on my part, but I could see Marty returning to the Cleveland organization, where he managed at 3A prior to joining the Carp.