By Kisho Suzuki

Monday April 4^th – The Niihama-shi Ghosts hired Tanner to help transition the team from a very successful franchise in the now defunct League of the Rising Sun into becoming something more than afterthoughts in the competitive Sovereign League within the PEBA. While Tanner claimed that rebuilding was going to be a slow process and urged the faithfully to give the team and his front office time to learn the players within the organization and to plot a course moving forward, just a week after he accepted the job Tanner began wheeling and dealing with teams – and in the end arriving at an opening day roster that few fans would recognize from the 72-90 team of 2021.

No one had expected the team to stay in tact. In fact, the team had really been in flux throughout most of last season. Injuries took a toll as young OF Brandon Meade, CF O, and LF Kiyomitsu Kichikawa spent significant time injured. Not to mention the nicks, scrapes, and bruises a full season of baseball brings. The first year of competing in the newly expanded PEBA proved to be a bit overwhelming as the Ghosts stumbled to a third place finish in the Rising Sun Division. Tanner began the reformation with a trade to New Jersey bringing in well-used starting pitcher Roberto Rodríguez. The RR trade was not his first move, that involved a bit player from Kentucky, but it was the move the signified a need to revamp the pitching of the Ghosts. Not only that but the Ghosts got back 2 third round draft picks, while surrendering their fourth round pick and a young prospective pitcher. The knock on RR? He is 34 and certainly headed on the downside of his career, but Tanner felt that Oikake Maze would be a great place for the pitcher to finish his career. Not to mention the fact that in the ten seasons RR has been a starting pitcher, there was only one (because of injury) that he started less than 30 games. He also brings great experience and work ethic as an example to future Ghosts pitchers. Fans are skeptical, but they hope that RR finds some sort of fountain of rejuvenation in Niihama.

In the midst of the trades, Tanner also hired a new assistant GM. Lee Warner is an unproven 34 year old who will help Tanner evaluate talent during the draft and help evaluate trade options. Warner has also become the very public face of the front office, mostly due to the fact that at the urging of owner, Akane Kenkyusham Jr., Tanner has assumed managerial duties for the Ghosts. Some critics have quietly suggested that Tanner, who stepped away from the game after a long tenure in New Orleans, made sure to stipulate such a responsibility in his contract before signing with the Ghosts. The official stance though is that it was ownership’s idea and that Tanner is simply kowtowing to their wishes. Still, this strange arrangement is not the most shocking development of 2022 spring training.

Saturday, March 19 will be a day that lives in infamy for the Ghosts faithful. Though newly appointed assistant GM was the man to announce the deal, true fans know the architect behind the trade was Tanner.  Tanner sent Niihama-shi favorite son Tuo-zhou Yang to Amsterdam in the morning, and by the afternoon other Ghosts favorites Meade and Kichikawa were headed to the Rio Grande Valley Ocelots. In his announcement, Warner thanked each of the players for their contributions to Ghost’s Organization and wished them the best of luck. In a series of cryptic, though not so hard to piece together tweets, Tanner explained that the “moneyball moment” in the PEBA has always been pitching. One particular tweet insisted “It’s an arms race- and we have to win.”

But doubters, or just fans unable to cope with change, or the uneducated masses – if you believe the front office spin – see another motive behind Tanner’s moves. Yang was an expensive bat, probably too expensive for the 4.2 WAR he put up last year, but still that is a very good year, and can’t be the only reason. In fact, the most popular theory is that the Yang trade was a bit of a shell game – a way to move salary in order to acquire the pitchers. But not just any pitchers. Tanner was looking to acquire past players that he had helped break into the majors – players he was comfortable with because of previous experience. Glenn Dixon and Darryl Lewis fit the bill perfectly. Both ex-Trendsetters both spent extensive time in the Trendsetter organization. A few days later, the Trendsetters signed reliever Kevin Mack, free agent from last year’s Trendsetters team signed to play for the team by Tanner, and then traded for Edgardo Rodriguez, another prominent reliever from New Orleans.

Tanner denies any such connection, other than the obvious, that scouting was made easier due to familiarity. Besides, the Rodriguez trade was actually initiated by San Antonio, claimed Warner, including that Mack was the best of the remaining free agent pitchers.

Three pitchers remain from last year’s pitching staff. Starting pitchers Koki Wantanabe and Floyd Davis and reliever Hiroyasu Hirano

. The squad finished right in the middle of the pack, but Tanner feels like this year’s staff has the ability to be much better. The official goal is to stay at .500. Will any of the moves Tanner made make that much of a difference – or in terms of this year from last year – and eight game upswing?

It seems as though Tanner is taking a new approach to teambuilding in Niihama. The Trendsetters have been most recently known as a team that has a gluttony of home run producers, but not much pitching. Tanner recently tweeted that the Ghosts pitching staff may be the most talented staff he has been around in years. High praise, and high hopes…what will the results be?