By Chiba Yumi, Niihama-shi Intelligencer

October 9, 2014: Niihama City, Japan –  Ghosts second baseman Jun Sugimoto threw down the gauntlet to the team’s front office today: “Don’t you dare designate me as juuki!”

His comments, delivered as the Ghosts prepared to play the Kure Arsenal at home, came amid swirling rumors that the organization indeed planned to do precisely that.  “Jun may not like it,” said one source, “but he’s ideal for that.  It makes sense for us.”

Sugimoto, 35, was signed in the off-season to a one-year, $3 million contract, less than the team’s other five free agent acquisitions.  Yet he has proven to be perhaps the most productive, hitting .304 with 10 home runs and 60 RBI.

“A one-year deal means one year,” barked Sugimoto in the clubhouse.  “I’m not their slave.”

The juuki designation allows a team to choose one player who will automatically be signed to a one-year contract at the same salary as his current-year salary.  Sugimoto, for his part, has refused to engage in any contract extension talks with the Ghosts, leaving the team will only two choices – apply the juuki tag or lose him.

The team source told the Intelligencer that the juuki designation would not happen if Sugimoto would be willing to discuss a one-year extension on the order of $5 million.  “But his agent won’t even return our calls,” said the source.  “They leave us no choice.”

Ghosts fans, seizing on the brewing controversy, have taken in recent games to chanting, “Juuki Sugimoto!” as Jun comes to bat.

Sugimoto is on the disabled list after breaking his finger in the September 19^th game against the Transmitters.  Unlike injuries suffered by the team’s other free agent signings, Sugimoto’s is considered to have been a freak accident and he is judged to be relatively healthy despite his age.

All the more reason, Sugimoto says, to allow him to become a free agent at season’s end.  “All I can say is this: if they do designate me as a juuki, I’m going to be significantly ticked off.”

Further complicating matters are rumors that the league’s new collective bargaining agreement may yield revisions to the juuki provisions.  “Here comes the new CBA to close juuki loopholes!” said one source at LRS headquarters.  The source would not elaborate, and it remains unclear if these pending changes would affect the Sugimoto situation.

UPDATE – 3:24 p.m.
A league official speaking to the Intelligencer on condition of anonymity provided new details about proposed changes to the juuki designation.  It’s all but agreed upon that free agents signed during the regular season will be prohibited from being designated juuki in the following off-season.  Additionally, PEBPG is applying pressure to add a clause preventing the juuki tag from being applied to foreign-born players, thus allowing PEBA free agents who sign with LRS teams to return to the PEBA at will once their contract term has been served.  Parameters of this stipulation are still being negotiated, as LRS owners are fighting to hold onto the right to designate gaijin as juuki.  Neither of these restrictions would impact Jun’s case, leaving the Ghosts free to slap him with the juuki designation… if they dare.