February 14. 2020, Palm Springs — “There’s not enough money in Japan to get me to play over there,” free agent catcher Samuel Kettley said at a press conference in Palm Springs where he has signed a 1-season deal for $3.2M to play as a Codger in 2020.  “I know the leagues are merging and all that, and I understand this will be a controversial statement, but I seriously just can’t see baseball in Japan as being worthwhile at all.” These comments were made after it was revealed that the catcher and his agent turned down various deals from Lupin that were rumored to be for $45-$60M over 5-7 seasons.

The deal, and the commentary that went along with it have inflamed fans in Japan, as sports talk shows and various team twitter feed have been full of anger, invective, and admonishment. “This will come back to haunt him,” one fan said. “Kettley will play in Japan someday, and the fans will remember,” exclaimed another.  One group has been taking reservations for a “Kettley Kamikaze Tour,” a trip that fans in Japan would take to the US during the season to follow the Codgers and set up picket lines as they play in various PEBA stadiums. “This is the tip of the iceberg,” said Manni Ito, lead commentator on J-ESPN’s version of Baseball Tonight.

Kettley, 29, was one of the more sought-after free agents this season despite playing only 17 games last season, and signed his deal after several other catchers signed considerably heftier deals before him.  Wayne Williams, for example, picked up a three year deal with Omaha for $9 mil a season. Pepe Espinosa was gifted a 5-season deal for $23 million a season to play in Arlington.  33-year-old Bob Keller made a 1-season deal, albeit for $4.6M (not a terrible deal for a guy who is on the downside of a career, whereas Kettley is in the same basic range as Williams and Espinosa).

“No question that Kettley gave the Codgers a PEBA discount,” said one Lupin insider. “This is the kind of response we’ve been getting from a lot of PEBA guys, really. Our money’s no good for a lot of them.”

Current Lupin catcher Shigekazu Munakata is currently making the league minimum $300K, but is coming off a solid .299/.405/.469, 15 HR season, but is not considered to be as adroit behind the plate as some team officials would like. He release a brief statement through his agent that read: “I am still the Cliff Hanger’s catcher, and am honored to be here.” The agency, however, did appear to take note of the offer itself. “We were excited to see that the Lupin baseball club valued a starting catcher of such quality to be worthy of that kind of compensation.