January 2, 2015

After a long and difficult 2014 season, TransmitterTalk.com had the opportunity to sit down and get a few thoughts from General Manager Ron Collins. What follows is the edited transcript of a long and winding discussion that hit on baseball, rock music, and what it means to be a fan.

TT: You’ve been in the GM seat for an entire season now.

Collins: I have.

TT: What have you learned?

Collins: I’ve learned that baseball in Japan is like no other place. The fans are outstanding, the players are exciting, and the rules of player acquisition make fielding the best teams possible a never-ending task. It’s a small league, too, very intimate in ways you don’t get when you’re dealing with a larger group of teams.

TT: So you’ve sweated some bullets?

Collins (nodding): I’m like, “Are you kidding me?” The entire league got better last year, and Shin Seiki still won the best division in baseball by fifteen games.

TT: You said “best division in baseball”. I assume you meant best in the LRS?

Collins: No. I meant what I said and I said what I meant. Baseball in Japan is as strong as it is anywhere in the world today. I propose that the Shining Star Group is the best division in baseball. But I guess that’s akin to saying I think Mike Resnick’s Kirinyaga is the greatest collection of short stories in existence. I mean, no one can prove me wrong, you know?

TT: Interesting.

Collins: (shrugs)

TT: So, if the SSG is the greatest division in baseball, and Kirinyaga is the best collection of short stories in existence, who’s the best rock and roll band in the world?

Collins: That would be the Stones, of course.

TT: Really?

Collins: Or maybe’ it’s Queen. I don’t know; there are a lot of great bands, but there’s only one Shining Star Group.

TT: There are several new rules being enacted as part of the CBA.

Collins: Yes, there are.

TT: Among them is an increase of revenue sharing from 26% of income to 31%.

Collins: That’s not really part of the CBA. The revenue sharing change was pre-planned and is, in fact, the last stage of a three-season process. It’s something that I wonder if most owners actually take into account in the end, though.

TT: Are you saying Mr. Kyokai can’t count his money?

Collins: Oh, no. Don’t put words in my mouth. Mr. Kyokai is a very shrewd businessman, but he was somewhat understandably bothered by our spending last season despite the fact that, after we received our revenue sharing check for the year, we were cash positive. I don’t think owners as a whole take revenue sharing into account when they think about the game, and it’s an important part of our financial landscape. In the end, though, the thing I like most about Mr. Kyokai is his interest in the team’s record trumps his concern about the money. He wants to win more than anyone I’ve met. He’s willing to do what it takes.

TT: And what do you think it will take to make Kawaguchi a winner?

Collins: Just hang with us. We have a plan.

TT: Does any of it include a starting rotation?

Collins (laughs): Ouch.

TT: Seriously. Does the plan include a starting rotation?

Collins: Indeed it does, and a center fielder who can catch.

TT: Both of those were expectations of the fans this year.

Collins: Those are positions of need, and positions of scarcity in the player pool. It’s not like we can just go to the U.S. and suddenly come up with a big-name starter. On the positive side, we think Shohei Araki is ready to play in center this year.

TT: Most fans want to know why not.

Collins: We’re always on the lookout for a U.S. transfer, but it’s hard to justify dropping half your budget on a rental pitcher. We signed Orinosuke Morita with an eye towards him starting on occasion, and we’re looking at a couple guys on the market right now. But reality says we need to build from within. Most of last season’s draft was spent on young pitching, including Kiyoemon Saito, whom we’re really high on. It will take a year or two for it to show up, though.

TT: You’ve drawn attention for some fairly public commentary about other teams in the league and their trading policies.

Collins: Yeah. Maybe I should do a better job of keeping my mouth shut.

TT: There are Kawaguchi fans who would agree with you. They would say that rather than complain about what others are doing, you should be paying up to bring guys like “Eager Beaver” to RKO.

Collins: It’s really a question of where we are relative to everyone else. It’s clear that teams are willing to overpay to get what they want in this league, and if we need to, we’ll do the same. But I think when you need to mortgage the franchise to win, you need to be in a position where you’re really ready to do just that.

TT: You mean, when you’re really ready to win?

Collins: Yes.

TT: So you really don’t think Kawaguchi will win next year?

Collins: I think we’ll be a winning ballclub next year, but I’m not ready to sell the farm right now because I think we’re really another year away from being serious contenders for the Neo-Tokyo Cup. That’s one of my issues with some other teams. They’re paying such huge prices for today’s talent that they won’t be able to compete when their window opens… if, in fact, it ever really does.

TT: So you’ll sell the farm next year?

Collins (laughs): Let’s just say I’ll do what it takes when it makes sense.

TT: Getting back to the CBA – how will the changes affect Kawaguchi?

Collins: For us? Not too impactful. It should make it a little easier for us to enter into longer term contracts, but it will make it easier for everyone at the same time. The Winter Ball cutoffs might drive us to think about some things differently. The real impact will be on the documentation side of the business, stuff no one will see. Things like not submitting multiple reports to the commissioner’s office in quick succession and whatnot – stuff the average fan doesn’t see, nor do they care about.

TT: You mentioned that Mr. Kyokai is most interested in the record, which goes for most fans, too. So let’s talk about that a while.

Collins: I love talking about our record.

TT: Really? After falling so short of expectations?

Collins: We wanted to win 70+ games this year, and we thought we could pull it off. But we ended up at 68, which is only a 26-game improvement over last year. So, while I agree with Mr. Kyokai that we should have won a few more games, it’s hard to complain when you look at the quantum leap the Group made as a whole. I mean, someone told me it was the second-best turn around in LRS history.

TT: And yet the season feels like a dismal failure to so many fans. They say the team had three All-Stars in Félix Lima, Rikiya Taketo, and Roberto Cuevas. Fans came out to the park in numbers not seen in three or four seasons, and yet the squad was below .500. How do you look your fans in the eye and say this was a good year?

Collins: I say it was a good year, but not great one. Part of the problem is that we started off so poorly. We dug ourselves an 8-15 hole that took us three months to get out of. We went 42-36 after May, then came a truly horrid September.

TT: And a terrible home stand.

Collins: (hangs his head). Yeah, we lost a lot of games at home. That was tough to swallow, too. We fought and fought to get up to .500, then went right into the dumper. But, you know, despite having our best starter (Orlando Valadez) sit out two months on the injured list and top reliever (Takanori Takano) get hurt for the year, we were still very competitive. I understand why Mr. Kyokai and the fans are buzzing, but I think it’s fair to say that we saw young players like Lima, Raúl Gómez, Tadaaki Suzuki, and Kazuma Yamada do great things. Shojiro Sano has become a fixture at third. Fans got to see a pair of Gurabukin Award winners in the middle of the diamond. You mentioned Roberto and Félix already. Both of those guys have received considerable support in the voting for Saiyu-shu-senshu. And I was pleased that we went 9-8 in our last 17 games (mostly on the road) after calling up the kids and handing them the keys to the car.

TT: And Shunsen Ueda, too.

Collins: Yes, Shunsen didn’t win the Umai Kabeyaku Award, but it’s really only because Sachi Sakurai pitched for a team that gave him save opportunities. Nothing against Sakurai, but I’ll put my guy up against him any day and it’ll be at worst a draw. Still, I know our fans deserve better. When I got here, I promised them a winner, and I think we’re going to be ready to deliver that come the next year or two.

TT: So, who are the targets for 2015? What can Transmitters fans expect over the off-season?

Collins: My management team will take an off-site retreat again this year, during which we’ll draw up our plan.

TT: No heads up?

Collins: Wouldn’t be prudent.

TT: Where have I heard that before?

Collins: Ack! Never mind. Seriously, though, we’ll be working on revising our plan. But where it will end up is uncertain right now.

TT: Any chance we’ll see another 26-game jump next year?

Collins: You’re talking, what, 94 wins?

TT: Sure.

Collins (laughing): Hey, it sounds good to me.