Cliff Notes - An Informal Blog of the Lupin Baseball Club

[John]

Can you place Fujiko Shusay?

Well, Fujiko Mine is Lupin's double-crossing love interest, and Shusay illustrated Lupin III. Did I get the reference?

[Steel Dragons]

One of the things I got for my great gram when i got back form japan was Lupin and dolls. She never understood the book I also got but she loved the dolls.

[roncollins]

Can you place Fujiko Shusay?

Well, Fujiko Mine is Lupin's double-crossing love interest, and Shusay illustrated Lupin III. Did I get the reference?

Very nice.

[roncollins]

Written by Fujiko Shusay

Shiro Adachi and the Lighting Round

December 1, 2018: Yanai -- The sound of a baseball hitting a bat cracks out, an anachronism in the winter air. It comes in a staccato rhythm usually reserved for the chopping of wood. Thwack ... thwack ... thwack ... thwack. The field is open and flat, a high school playground surrounded by chain link and cement-driven poles. The dugouts are cement block built as if from the bedrock of the earth itself. On the field stand three men and a tall basket of baseballs. The man with the bat reaches into the basket, tosses a ball into the air, and thwack!, sends another screaming ground ball out over the dirt.

Deep in the hole.

Up the middle.

One hopper, sizzling grounder.

Slow bouncer toward second.

They come in a steady stream of horsehide that are scooped up by one Shiro Adachi in a series of moves that are part ballet, part martial art. Each ball is fielded in smooth stride, each is rocketed over to the third man, who stands in what seems like a perpetual stretch at first base.

"This is the lightning round," Adachi will explain later. Every ball is hit, and he stays on the field until every ball is caught and tossed properly to his first baseman. A single miss causes an embarrassing reset. A single bobble, a single errant toss and every ball is retrieved and the whole thing starts again.

Thwack ... Adachi glides to his right, plants his foot, nabs the ball back-handed and in a single wheeling motion has it flowing toward first. Thwack ... the next comes just as he takes his position, and Adachi is chasing up the middle, then twisting his body to get a proper throwing angle. Thwack ... again, and again.

He won't say why he's doing this added element to what is usually a more modest off-season work regimen. He won't let on that he's seen the Gurabukin voting, and that his league-leading 3.0 Zone rating wasn't enough to overcome the fact that he made 10 errors last season. Shiro Adachi is a prideful man whose eyes light up when you mention he has been an All-Star the past two seasons, but a quiet one, and an honorable one. He won't say that he sees the voting totals except to note that the run-away winner for the best defensive shortstop in the Bright Blade Group is the Fushigi Yugi Celestial Warriors' Tadamichi Sato, a man who is "a very good shortstop and who deserves his own accolades."

But you see it in the way Shiro Adachi approaches the Lightning Round. Thwack ... thwack, thawck ... thwack. You see that he knows Sato's Zone Rating was a mere 2.1, but that Sato made only 6 errors. And you see that he knows that number--raw mistakes made--speaks louder than any other number to most voters.

Adachi is 26 years old--no longer the dashing youngster who took Lupin fans by surprise and became one of the more recognizable players on the roster. He is not old enough to be concerned about the near future, but still he hears the buzz created by 20 year-old Shigekazu Shimizu, the team's #1 prospect who is still down in single A, but who people already talk about in those tones that were once reserved for Adachi himself.

"It's not about the errors," he will tell you later. "And it's not about the Gurabukin. It's about making the play. It's about being perfect. Or as perfect as a man can be, anyway. That's all."

And you believe him.

How could you not believe this of a man whose 3.0 ZR may well have led the league, but was still short of the +6 standard he set a year prior? How could you not believe a man that knows where his ceiling is? How could you not believe a man who comes to a ballpark that holds only three people in it in December, with the wind whirling, and the lightning striking--thwack, thwack, thwack--as if Adachi himself is calling it down like a conductor with a capon made of rawhide and leather.

[John]

What an amazing photo to augment the evocative description of "Adachi... calling [lightning] down like a conductor with a capon made of rawhide and leather." Nice find, and nice verbal picture-painting!

[Lions]

I voted for Adachi!

[roncollins]

Written by Fujiko Shusay

Lupin Debacle Results in Drafting Their Own Players

December 1, 2018: Toyama - The Rule 5 draft is looming in four days, and Lupin Cliff Hanger GM Ron Collins has a problem. Actually, it's an intern who has a problem, but Collins is a forgiving leader, and takes all the blame. "I'm the one who signed off on it. The problem lies right here," he says to me. But the truth is clear, a report has been mis-filed, and through an unfortunate chain of events following that error three players the team is interested in holding onto are now exposed to the draft. Collins may well be absorbing the blame with me, but it's my guess that an intern is having a pretty crappy day.

This is how things start when my time inside the circle of the Lupin front office begins. Collins, as was his wont in his days with Kawaguchi, plays it pretty free and open with the press as long as the press plays it fair by him. He's giving me free rein inside these walls so long as I do not publish anything that might be helpful to other teams prior to its release.

As a result of this error (Let's score it E-I), the team's officers have been meeting all morning, attempting to fill out their Rule 5 draft approach. They are interested in a pair of relievers, Tokimasa Daisen (out of the Kure organization), and Yodo Yoshida (lately of Shizuoka, a minor league club of Naha Shisa). But the twist here is that they need to consider the strangest of all moves--that being whether they should draft their own players in the Rule 5 draft. It is a strange circumstance.

"The only issue, is that if we draft these guys they need to stay on the Lupin roster all year," said Tomotsu Yoshida, the team's scouting director.

"Not a problem, hopefully," Collins added.

At question are third baseman Kikaku Ono, a 24-year-old prospect the team has pencilled in at the major league level, and outfielders Hiroyuku Masuda and Kohei Sakai. Ono has been drawing interest from other LRS teams, and the staff is concerned he will not last until Lupin's fourth selection. There is nothing they can do about this, though. Sakai's numbers have been better than Masuda's, but the scouts are much higher on Masuda. The officers suggest that if Ono is on the major league roster, and it turns out that he can't yet handle the rigors of an everyday player, he could still have value as a utility player. And they suggest Masuda's potential power and year's youth over Sakai makes him a more coveted player for the organization.

After much debate, the team arrives at a draft order of:

Ono
Masuda
Daisen
Yoshida

Leaving Sakai off the list because they are not willing to take the gamble of leaving him on the major league roster all season.

"We expect to win a lot of games this year," Collins said. "I don't want to risk a roster spot like that."

Collins then disbands the meeting, and (one presumes) goes to have a conversation with an intern.

#

It is a few moments after the Rule 5 draft, and Collins is semi-placated, having apparently ripped a few pounds of intern flesh from the intern bone. The team has succeeded in "saving" both players they had exposed, as well as picked up both Daisen and Yoshida.

"It all worked out in the end," Collins said. "Sure, we look a little silly, but as long as it all works out well in the end I guess I can't complain."

Collins is right, of course. But the rest of the world, of course, can still point and laugh.

[Mike Dunn]

Interesting piece. I wasn't aware that you could draft your own players, but I certainly don't see anything prohibiting it. You're smart to (re)claim Ono, he was tops on my list.

I made my own blunder -- I want to try for two, but forgot to put in a list for a second round. D'oh!

[roncollins]

We're a pioneering and innovative front office, eh?

[roncollins]

Written by Fujiko Shusay

Lupin Signs Koyama to Three-Season Deal

December 9, 2018: Toyama -- Headinng into the Winter Meetings, the Lupin Cliff Hangers have signed starting pitcher Yoshitora Koyama to a three year deal estimated to be worh something near $7M in total. The 31-year-old pitcher has played in the US for the past seven seasons, registering a 57-49 career record with the Crystal Lake and Kalamazoo franchises. He's known as a guy who can throw a lot of pitches with good velocity--though an injury in 2015 cut his strikeout rate considerably.

A Cliff Hanger spokesman said "This move goes a way toward closing the gap created when we dealt Keitaro Koda earlier this off-season. We expect he'll fill the third or fourth slot in the rotation, and hope he'll be able to throw 150 innings or more."

Koyama was excited to be able to come back to Japan. "It will be glorious to be back on the continent where my parents are," the pitcher said in a phone interview with this blog. Koyama and his wife have two children, and expect to make their home in the Toyoma area.

Koyama will join a rotation that will be anchored by young hurlers Shinobu Takeuchi and Akira Watanabe, and veteran right-hander Gustavo Rivera. Fifth starter will likely be either Tsuyoshi Nishiyama or Yosuke Kono. "It's nice to have this kind of depth," GM Ron Collins said. "Though we may need to find one more starter in order to ensure ourselves against injury."

#

In additional news, the team has announced that they will be making changes to their ballpark, shifting the fences to be something close to a mirror image of itself--bringing the right field fences in, and pushing the left field fences out. More to come.

[roncollins]

Written by Fujiko Shusay

Kumagai Wins Case

December 1, 2018: Toyama -- An arbitrator heard the cases of the Lupin Cliff Hangers and Kichibei Kumagai today, and awarded the oft-injured firstbaseman a $2M deal. The team had offered $1.6M, a $100K increase over last season, which Kumagai lost due to a second achilles heal injury during spring training.

"We're happy to have Kichibei's bat on the roster again," the team tweeted.

Rumor on the street though, says that the front office is perplexed at the result. Kumaigai made $1.5M for not playing last season, and the Clif Hangers apparently felt they were being quite generous offing him an additional $100K to return.

"I'm excited to be hitting in the Castle again," the firstbaseman said. He has a career .277 batting average with a .783 OPS (100 OPS+). The team expects him to platoon with RHB Takechi Yoshida.

[roncollins]

Written by Fujiko Shusay

Cliff Hangers Ink Sato and Gaijin

12/30/2018 - Toyama: After a quiet winter meeting session, the Lupin Cliff Hangers have completed two major signings, the first being the extension of local fan favorite Sadatake Sato to a multi-season, big buckets 'o cash extravaganza. How big? How about $49.5M spread out over 6 seasons big. At 26 years old, Sato has been a 3-time All-Star, and is a feared switch-hitting centerfielder with 25-homer power and 20-steal speed. Fans were jubilant at his singing, even going to the extent of having "Great Sato" parties and swilling Sato Slammers at local gin joints.

The team also came to an agreement with 27-year-old American Dan Stewart, a left-handed hitting third baseman who has played mostly in the minor leagues in the US. "Dan is a superb fielder," said GM Ron Collins. "So he's going to make our pitchers better. And we think he can hit a bit in our league." One has to wonder whether he'll hit well enough to earn out his $11.8M, three season deal. In addition, this move is a bit of a head-scratcher as it puts a road block in front of prospect Kikaku Ono, who will be spending the season at the big-league level due to the team's Rule 5 Debacle.

"We're not sure exactly what Collins is doing right now," one fan said of the deal.

One person who is pretty sure he knows what this deal is going to do to him is probably second baseman Bill Kennedy, who was seen packing his bags and looking for apartments near Yamauchi's (the team's top minor league franchise) home park.

[Mike Dunn]

Great piece, and great extension. I want to try a Sato Slammer.

[roncollins]

Written by Fujiko Shusay

The Winds of Pain That Once Blew in Lupin

January 1, 2019 - Toyama: It was a shock to Shinobu Takeuchi when the pain came. He was a twenty-three years old star whose face appeared on billboards and phone screens and bottles of shampoo. He had won 12 games for the second year in a row, and there was still five weeks left in the season. He was a golden man, a kid with 98 mile an hour fastball and an entourage that was growing as fast as his paycheck was being direct deposited with more money than his father had made in his entire life.

He had thrown baseballs since before he could remember, and had been drafted straight out of high school where a mere two weeks earlier he had led his team to a championship. That year, after 67 innings with his high school team, he threw another 105 innings with two Cliff Hanger minor league teams. Then there was 154 innings the following year. A strained forearm limited him to 95 the following year, but that was more a vacation mandated for caution's sake than a true injury. The following year, Takeuchi broke into the bigs, registering 170 innings in AAA/LRS tilts, and never seeing the minors again.

Two All-Star games, a Sawamura, and a Shinjinshou later, Shinobu Takeuchi's life was flying as high as a young man's life can fly.

Until the pain came on a 3-1 count to Sosa Kiyomizu, a pitch that resulted in Kiyomizu walking to first base, and Takeuchi walking toward the dugout, holding his elbow. "It was a shooting pain," he said to the press later. "I've never felt like that before."

It was enough to convince the Lupin front office to shut him down for the rest of the season.

"I wanted to pitch," Takeuchi said in an interview last week. "But I knew the team was right when they said to wait. I feel better now. I can't wait for the season to start again."

Takeuchi Throwing in a WorkoutThose are great words to Lupin fans, who despaired and who felt that this was the last straw that broke over the crumbled remains of the 2018 season's back. Lupin's front office has already said that they expect Takeuchi to team with Akira Watanabe once again to make up one of the best young 1-2 combinations in the league this coming year. GaijinGustavo Rivera will probably hold down the #3 slot, and the recent signing of Yoshitora Koyama, means he will probably be the #4 guy. "It should be a great staff," Takeuchi. "I'm honored to be considered to be a part of it.

The team says Takeuchi has been throwing long toss and is due to throw from a mound in late December. They say he will return as good as ever. But you have to wonder if he will. Shinobu Takeuchi has felt pain now. Can you ever be the same after that?

[Akira]

Always scary to see a young pitcher have arm trouble. Hope he recovers fully, good pitching is critical in the LRS.