January 1, 2020: Toyama – As the calendar turned to 2020, the Cliff Notes staff had the opportunity to sit down and share a few moments with Ron Collins, General Manager of the Lupin baseball club. The team is coming off a club record 96-win performance that included a thrilling 4 games to 3 victory in the Bright Blade Group’s Wasei Junkesshou playoffs. They drew 2.78 million people to the Castle, also a club record. Yet, in the final analysis, the team’s biggest achievement was to remain strong enough to be one of the teams left standing when what has begun to be known as the Slimeball Scandal hit.

Collins attended the interview wearing a pair of cargo pants and a comfortable golf shirt, and having recently returned from the PEBAverse’s Winter Meetings, where the team pulled the trigger on six deals. He seemed relaxed, yet focused, and he was direct and forthright in his viewpoints on several subjects ranging from the controversy that spurred the LRS/PEBA merger, his thoughts on his team’s future, and even spoke publicly for the first time ever about his stint with the Kawaguchi club.

It was such an extensive interview process that we’ve decided to release it in multiple parts over the period of the next few issues of our news-blog. So sit back and enjoy: here comes part I.

PART I: 2020 & Beyond – An Interview with the Lupin GM

C-Notes: It’s been a whirlwind off-season so far.

RC: Yes, it has been. Considerably crazier than anyone expected.

C-Notes: What can you tell us about the status of the investigation?

RC: I’m not sure I can tell you much more than you read in the papers. But I know for a fact that Inspector Ichihara and his team are working around the clock to chase down the culprits.

C-Notes: I understand you spoke with the investigators last week. What did you tell them?

RC: My front office team and I spent the better part of a day with the detectives and told them what we knew. I can’t divulge everything in any real depth because I don’t want to impact the work that the investigators are doing, but I think it’s fair to say that we discussed our team’s dealings with the various incarnations of Slimeball, and that we were forthright and open at all times.

C-Notes: Do you expect an arrest soon?

RC: I think I’m with all baseball fans everywhere when I say that I hope to see justice done quickly in this case.

C-Notes: You had a part in the inner-workings of the deals that finally resulted in the merger. Lupin fans are curious to how everything worked out as it did.

RC: Them and me both. <laughing> Yeah, I was involved in a lot of the conversations. As you can imagine, they were some very long nights filled with some very intense moments. But I was really impressed with the professionalism and focus of the group. It was a moment in the league’s history when things could have really come off the rails.

C-Notes: But they didn’t.

RC: No, they didn’t. At least I don’t think so, and I believe history will prove me right. I think the league is strong, and the reaction of our fans has been great.

C-Notes: That’s the Lupin fans, correct?

RC: Sure. As well as fans of the rest of our LRS teams. Of course we all know there are fan bases out there right now who are hurting, and yes, I’ve seen the videos from the Seoul riots and read the Steel Dragon Fan Manifesto. I get it. But I think it’s fair to say across the board that things are far better off in the fanbase of the LRS than anyone had a right to expect. You see it everywhere you look. There’s a platform here to spring forward from, and we’re all very excited to be moving forward.

C-Notes: So you’re not worried about the merger?

RC: Not in the slightest. Not anymore, anyway. We’ve got a lot of interest in our baseball product across the globe. Our media contracts have fallen into place, and we’re already seeing the results of fan interest in the form a big run on merchandising and an early surge in the purchase of season tickets and web viewing packages. The league as a whole is probably as strong as it’s ever been.

C-Notes: Is that why you’re adding seats to your ballpark?

RC: Of course. That was already in the plans, but these events made the process that much more urgent. You can expect to see a lot more work on the Castle. We’re in a global league now. We want our home to be a world class place.

C-Notes: So, where do you see the Cliff Hangers going this year? It’s a big season in a lot of ways for the fans.

RC: I fully expect we will win the last Neo-Tokyo Cup.

C-Notes: Seriously? Straight-out?

RC: I don’t see any reason to dance around the topic. We made it to the playoffs this year, and just ran out of gas. We’re ready, and we’re motivated.

C-Notes: But after the contraction draft, don’t you expect the competition to be better?

RC: Of course. Everyone got better. That includes us. We’ve added All-Star quality players at first base (Hirotsu Tenno) and the outfield (Okakura Ishikawa). And we found more depth for what was already one of the better pitching staffs in the league. Why shouldn’t we be confident?

C-Notes: Injuries?

RC: Can happen to everyone. We lost our #1 starter, last year, and our Player of the Year candidate in Center FIeld, and our starting first baseman. We lost big chunks of the seasons of our starting second and third basemen. You can cry about that if you want, but it happens to everyone. We still won the division and made it out of the Wasei Junkesshou.

C-Notes: Well, we applaud your honesty.

RC: You’re welcome. It’s not intended to offend any other organization or their fan bases. We just think we have the horses to win.

We will end Part I of our comprehensive interview with Lupin’s general manager here because from this point the conversation turns in a few different directions. Stay tuned for Part II coming soon!