WINTER MEETINGS

February 14, 2013: Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture – General Manager Ron Collins and much of his management team head to the U.S. for the annual PEBA Winter Meetings.  This is an assemblage of the best minds in all of baseball and is representative of the very nature of the modern game in that teams from every league in the world are here vying for a piece of the spotlight.  Yet it is an oddly informal gathering.  There are no established conferences or programs, no panel discussions.  Instead, you see baseball people wherever you are and news just happens when it happens.

At one point, I’m in the hotel bar and I see Ghosts GM Mike Dunn walking through the lobby with Niihama-shi Chronicle reporter Midorikawa Michiyo.  I wonder what news the Ghosts are ready to unveil.  It later turns out to be a precursor to the announcement of the staggeringly intriguing pairing of Takeji Itsuka with the organization.

Later, I’m going to dinner with the Kawaguchi contingent and I see U.S.-born Powel Clark having a plate of ribs and vegetable mix with a man that I assume was his agent.  Clark is a free agent looking for that right match.  That night, I run into a collection of scouts and fans talking about baseball in Mexico.

Finally, the entire baseball world is abuzz, of course, with the news that Markus Hancock – a man thought to be the best pitcher in all of baseball – is going to be traded.  Several teams have been in the mix, and rumors are that another mystery team has entered the fray.

It is a heady place for a baseball fan to be.

We are traveling with the team’s spokes-model, Misuki Yi.  This is because they expect to have news to deliver.  On the flight over, I sit next to Collins and ask him if he uses this tactic (providing a spokes-model during press conferences) to gain favor with the media.  He laughs.  “No, no.  I respect journalistic integrity better than that.  I just assume the press would rather be looking at an attractive young person than an old guy like me.”  He then waves Ms. Yi over and introduces us.  She is well spoken and, yes, quite attractive.  She is also, it turns out, fighting a terrible head cold that will linger through the trip.  “It’s okay, though,” she says, still managing to look composed.  “The team pays me to make it through these hardships.  It’s all part of being on a winning team.”  We begin to talk, and Collins excuses himself.

Throughout the flight, you can tell the team is excited about making improvements.  Field manager Biao Ci lets me know that Collins has been on the phone shopping 27-year-old pitcher Gustavo Rivera and 28-year-old outfielder Carlos Cavazos.  “We want to do something that gets us younger and hopefully helps fix the pitching staff,” Ci says.  “These guys should bring some interest.”

I find this news interesting.  Rivera pitched well most of the year despite finding terrible luck.  But he blew up in October, posting an 0-3 record and a 7.02 ERA in 16 innings.  A terribly small sample size, yes, but it was enough to make you wonder if something was broken.  His four walks in those last few games were more than he gave up in the months of July and August combined.  Cavazos, too, lost a bit of the shine he once had.  Despite 45 steals and a career-best 23 homers, the outfielder struggled to a .313 OBP and found himself on the DL twice.  He recently signed a $2.4M, 1-year deal.  The team sees him as properly valued, which makes him available.  Of course, both Rivera and Cavazos are gaijin, which brings problems of their own.  But whatever the root of the decision, there’s definitely jauntiness to Ci’s step and a sparkle to his eyes that we haven’t seen for years.

We arrive on Sunday.  The Shin Seiki Evas and Naha Shisa have kicked off the Japanese portion of the meetings early by agreeing to a deal 23-year-old minor league center fielder Hirofumi Ine and a 4th round draft pick to the Shisa in return for 25-year-old first baseman Kichibei Kumagai.  Ine is a wonder to watch with the glove and he runs like a gazelle but, alas, has not proven he can hit at any level.  “Standard fare,” said Kawaguchi scouting director Shigematsu Akiyama.  “The Evas always deal a few completely spare parts for something they can use to win now.”

MONDAY

The Fushigi Yugi Celestial Warriors start events the following morning by announcing that they have signed pitching coach Manny Carrasco to a 4-year extension at an annual salary of just under $400K a year.

Then it’s the Transmitters’ turn.  Misuko Yi (stunning in a Kawaguchi-gold business suit) stands upon a makeshift podium to announce the team’s signing of minor league free agents Tadamichi Higashi and Kotaro Mizuno.  Both are journeyman minor leaguers who give the organization depth.  Mizuno, Transmitter fans will remember, joined the team late last year and spent time backing up Félix Lima.  He’s clearly not a big value, but the signing is important because the team needs a Japanese catcher in case their pursuit of their real target, Katsunan Sakei, falls through.

Collins uses Mizuno’s signing to his advantage by phoning Sakei’s agent and letting him know that he still wants Sakei.  The undertone of the conversation is clear, however – Collins is telling the man that his offer isn’t going higher and time is growing short.  The team can move on with or without Sakei.

Collins’s cell is burning, though.  At one point, he’s talking into it as it’s charging.  The team fields as many as fifteen offers.  Not surprisingly, teams want Hisamitsu Osawa and Kisho Suzuki, as well as a few other prospects.  Collins is not inclined to make that happen.  Teams also approach the Transmitters with more gaijin, but they explain their 25-man roster is full up and won’t do any deals for foreigners unless they ship one in return.

Finally, talks heat up with Jim Konopka, GM of the Lupin Cliff Hangers.  They want Rivera.  Talks happen.  Nothing occurs.

This, it turns out, is the norm for the Winter Meetings.  I say this to Horiki Hara, a reporter who covers Kure and is a veteran of several Winter Meetings.  “It’s like they say about war,” he responds as he frowns over his American beer.  “Hours of boredom, thousands of rumors, and then five minutes of intense action.”

TUESDAY

There is a rumor that Cavazos might be traded any minute.  Of course, nothing happens.

I have lunch at an indoor/outdoor restaurant with a pair of U.S. journalists.  Samuel Platt covers the Connecticut Nutmeggers and L.H. Thompson writes about the Manchester Maulers.  I ask Thompson what “L.H.” stands for, but he’s mum.  “Less Handsome,” Platt quips as he orders dark beer for the table.  It’s thick and gloriously tasty.  We have three while eating club sandwiches and homemade french fries.  There is a gentle breeze blowing and a coarse, rhythmic music is playing in the background as the pair talk about players like Ronald Lowry and Jason Kirkland.  My brain swoons.  They later tell me that the music is called Delta blues, and Platt turns me on to a couple songs from a guy called Big Joe Williams, who supposedly played a guitar with nine strings.

“Yoritoki Ando plays for Manchester,” I blurt out at one point.

“Indeed,” says Less Handsome.  “Fine pitcher.  Made the All-Star team last year.”

I know Ando is a right-hander from Washimiya in Saitama Prefecture, which is near where I was born.  Suddenly I feel very close to the world.  I’m sitting in the U.S. drinking German beer and eating club sandwiches with people from places called Connecticut and Manchester, listening to music from somewhere they call Louisiana, and talking about a pitcher they watch who comes from a place about 30 minutes from where I was born.

It is a big, beautiful world, eh?  The fact that I’m going to wake up with the biggest headache on human record does not bother me a bit.

It is late afternoon when we get back.  I find the Transmitters have announced another minor league acquisition.  This time it’s Naoaki Yamamoto, an outfielder that they see as an organizational guy.  “He could play in a pinch because he’s got glove,” one scout said, “but mostly we want someone who can win games at the AAA level.”  This move probably means bad news for current minor leaguer José Bautista, who is of similar age but lesser skills.  Bautista’s gaijin status makes him nearly unplayable in the LRS.  This is small move but it improves the organization as a whole and shows the level of detail that must go into running a ballclub in the Land of the Rising Sun.

WEDNESDAY

The last day of the Winter Meetings is filled with action.  The team has a string of fifteen-minute conversations with agents.  It’s clear that Collins wants to solve his shortstop situation by adding Rikiya Taketo and has offered a 1-year deal for $12M with a mutual option for the following season.  It’s a lot of money, but the shortstop is asking for $15M and a guaranteed multi-year deal.  The story of Taketo’s dealings will be covered in greater detail in later segments of this story, but I mention it here because this discussion is taking much of Collins’s time.  The team is also hot on the trail of four pitchers and, of course, backup catcher Sakei.

A SIGNING AND A DEAL

Sakei’s agent calls early in the morning and suggests that the Transmitters’ offer of $450K for two seasons is just what his client is looking for.  The team celebrates their acquisition.  While Ms. Yi charms the reporter pool once again, Collins makes a call to withdraw a min-salary offer to another catcher that he had submitted as further support in case Sakei balked.

THEN LIGHTNING STRIKES

A chance meeting between Collins and Lupin’s Jim Konopka results in Collins asking if the Cliff Hangers are still interested in Gustavo Rivera.  Next thing you know, Rivera is bound for Lupin.  The Transmitters receive Roberto Cuevas and a 3rd round pick in next summer’s draft.

 “The team wishes Gustavo great success,” Ms. Yi told the crowd.  “But Mr. Collins suggested that despite pitching well much of the year, Rivera was 5-16.  It is important that the team be able to score runs.”

In Cuervas, Collins got a young slugger who hit 18 homers and posted a .357 OBP in 371 at bats with the Cliff Hangers.  He’s not going to be the answer in centerfield, but will probably play left to fill the gap created when Yoshihide Suzuki filed for free agency.  The team’s hitting coach, Munoto Nakashima, is clearly pleased with the acquisition.  “Roberto’s a bit of a free-swinger, but he’s young and you can’t teach his kind of power.”  The deal also bolstered the minor league system with a third round pick.  The bottom line is that the team dealt a solid starter for a potential star with as many as seven years of contract control left, plus an unknown pick.  Probably not a bad deal, but only time will tell.

LIGHNTING STRIKES TWICE

A moment later, Seoul GM Michael Crawford rings up Collins and inquires about prospect Kazunari Oka.  Seoul has been particularly active in these meetings.  They want Oka to fill out their young core that’s coming up the ranks.  Collins isn’t interested in dealing Oka without getting youth in return.  Crawford suggests Raúl Gómez.  Collins like Gómez a lot.  He’s a 22-year-old outfielder who his scouts say can really hit and might be adequate in left.  If the team brings him in, that means Cuervas probably needs to play right, which means Cavazos needs to be moved.  Collins tells Crawford he can’t do that without a gaijin swap and adds Cavazos to the discussion.  Crawford is still interested.  In the waning moments of the Winter Meetings, the Transmitters and Crushers agree to a deal that nets Kawaguchi Gómez, intriguing infield prospect Kagehisa Takahashi and a 4th round draft pick.

SUN SETS ON THE WINTER MEETINGS

The Winter Meetings were complete.  The hotel hallways grew quiet and the bars calm.  The Kawaguchi management team gathered that evening for their post-meetings dinner.  Everyone seems content with their doings.

“We’re going to be upset when Oka becomes an ace, but you have to give to get.  I like that we got a lot younger,” Collins said to a gathering at the bar.  “Gómez and Cuevas should be solid in the corners for a long time, and we expect Takahashi will give us LRS-quality production in a couple years.  The two draft picks are icing, really.  You never know what you’ll get there.”

In addition to the player transactions, the deals also unburdened the team of $2.4M in salary that was going to go to Cavazos.  That money will probably be banked to pay for the draft picks that the team has coming in the summer months.  Given that neither Cavazos nor Rivera was part of the Kawaguchi long-range plans, they both make sense in the bigger picture.  The Transmitters gave up one part of their future – Oka – for two good-looking young players, a prospect, two picks, and $2.4M.

I bowed out of the celebration after dinner, complaining of a head cold.  This drew several chuckles and innuendo about the goings-on between me and Ms. Yi, who was just now recovering from her head cold.  She played up the innuendo by putting her arm around me, something that I am not particularly embarrassed to admit I enjoyed.

The flight home was long, and subdued, though.  The management team knew the heavy lifting was not over.  Now they turned their full attention to the free agency market.