December 12, 2019: Toyama — The Lupin Cliff Hanger organization, like much of the LRS, entered 2019 Winter Meetings with a sense of urgency that was fueled by the ambiguity of an uncertain future.  A merger loomed on the horizon, and the rules of the road were changing.  Trades, for example, are a whole new ballgame as the barriers between Japanese baseball teams and those of the PEBA have now gone away.  And finances are in a tizzy, LRS leaders–having recently signed a series of new media deals—know they will be working with more money, but no one is certain exactly how much more, and most GMs are struggling with owners who may well be drawing conservative lines.

On top of it all, there is still one final LRS championship to win—a championship that every team in Japan is dreaming of taking home.

It was against this backdrop that General Manager Ron Collins and his staff had worked behind closed doors for three days solid prior to leaving team headquarters for Ashville, North Caroline–the traditional home of the Meetings.  They arrived ready to party.  And party they did, pulling the trigger on six deals over the four days, deals that moved 24 players or draft picks.

How did they do?  Let’s take a look:

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DEAL 1:  Sent $500K to the London Underground for Toyokazu Kurihara and Adrián Fuentes

The Cliff Hangers celebrated the new open-gate trading policy between the leagues by making their first ever deal with a team outside the LRS, purchasing two minor league contracts.  Kurihara is a journeyman first baseman who is likely of little impact, but Adrián Fuentes is an 18-year-old third basemen who was picked up by the Underground in the middle of last year’s first round of the PEBA draft.  A star in secondary school, Fuentes struggled in his first 240 at bats as a professional, and with 17 errors he wasn’t particularly adroit in the field, either.  The team needed a decent prospect at the hot corner, though, and buying a first round pick (albeit a tarnished one) for a half a million dollars is probably not a bad deal.

Impact on 2020:  Ideally Fuentes would spend the season at SS-A, but don’t be too surprised if he gets a start at A-ball, then slides down if he continues to struggle.

DEAL 2: Traded Bill Kennedy to Kawaguchi for outfielder Frank Collins

This was an interesting trade, not so much for the specific players involved as for the concept behind it.  Kennedy is a decent ballplayer who could have been kept around for his injury depth, but he was moved for a guy in the low minor leagues who has a few decent tools.  So this deal, along with the purchase of Fuentes, suggested that Collins and crew were working this set of meetings primarily to focus on the deeper portion of the organization.

“We wanted to give Bill Kennedy a chance to play a lot of baseball,” said GM Ron Collins.  “He’s given us a lot of good time, and we felt we owed it to him.”  Kennedy was a steady, if not spectacular player for Lupin, playing 383 games over five seasons.  His fate with the big club was foreshadowed a year ago when they acquired second baseman Kaz Yamada, and pretty much cemented a few months later with the arrival of Shoichi Koyama.  The contraction draft did him no favors, either.

“I’m happy to go someplace where they want me,” Kennedy said through his agent.

Collins went to school in Alabama, and was signed by Kawaguchi after every team in the PEBA turned their noses up at him.  He then arrived at the Kawaguchi A-ball club and proceeded to put up the best numbers he’s ever had, a .357/.427/.480 slash line in 98 at bats, homering 3 times and driving in 21 runs.  On top of this, he threw a +4.0 ZR in centerfield.  Whether this line says something about Collins, or about the quality of Japanese A-ball is a question for the fates.  At 21 years of age, scouts continue to be split on him, but Collins obviously felt like he has a solid chance to be an impact player and took a chance.

Impact on 2020:  Collins will likely start at the Cagliostro single-A level, and possibly be looked at in AA at the end of the year.

DEAL: 3: Traded Toshiro Okamoto, Yashushi Yamasaki, and Taizo Nii, Tsuneyo Ito to Neo-Tokyo for Hirotsugu Tenno, Tsunesaburo Sugimoto, Shinji Kichida, and a third-round draft choice (#37 overall)

After a pair of small minor league deals, the Lupin ball club pulled no punches in putting together this deal’.

“We think Hirotsugu Tenno fills the hole we’ve had at first base for a couple years,” Collins said.  “And he’s a young man, still just entering his prime.  I expect him to be a Cliff Hanger for a long time.”  That much is probably true.  Tenno is a switch-hitter with power, and a guy who can play the position well in the field.  Sugimoto’s contract is quite high, and at 32 he’s getting a bit older, but the team sees him as a backup and capable injury insurance across the entire outfield (and his arrival apparently relieved the team of the need to hold onto António Pérez, who was subsequently dealt).  Kichida (along with recently signed free agent Michinori Endo) brings the team a left-handed presence in the pen, something they completely lacked last season.

But you don’t get this kind of haul without giving up something in return, and Lupin paid dearly in the form of a star second baseman (Okamoto) and a bullpen ace who was brilliant last season (Yamaski).  Okamoto came to the club as part of the contraction draft, and the team was in a situation where they were going to have to consider sending Kaz Yamada (last year’s starter) to the minors to make room for him.  The team also dropped a pair of controversial minor leaguers in Ito and Nii, who are two of the three ballplayers who recently made Japanese newspapers for allegedly performing petty vandalism during a session of late-night carousing.

“That had nothing to do with the decision to trade them,” Collins said in a terse reply to a question about that event.  “It was a baseball decision and a baseball deal.”

Impact on 2020:  Cliff Hanger fans may one day despair of having missed out on Okamoto’s services, we think this was a good deal for the team to make.  The team made a commitment with Yamada at second, and Yamada delivered.  There was limited value to moving him down, and the marginal value between Okamoto and Yamada is probably not large.  Tenno should be a major upgrade at first base, and should find himself in more comfortable hitting grounds in the Castle.  With luck, Sugimoto will provide great value in somewhat limited time—but his glove is a major improvement to last season’s depth in the middle infield.  Kichida is the question mark.  It’s unlikely that he’ll match Yamasaki’s performance last season, but then, who knows if Yamasaki himself would be able to?  Either way, it’s nice to see a lefty in the pen.  This could wind up being a trade that makes both teams better.

DEAL 4: Sold five minor leaguers to Naha Shisa for $50K

The team advertised this package as their “Winter Meeting Lottery Ticket,” and offered, among other things, “the rights to flaunt any success of these guys in the face of the Lupin GM during future Winter Meetings.”

Of the five players (3B Katsunan Watanbe [21 yo], MR Shoji Yoshida [21 yo], CF Jose Martinez [22 yo], MR Yukinaga Ikeda [19 yo], MR Ieoshi Fujii [19 yo]), only Yoshida and Martinez got much time on the field in 2019.  Watanabe, in fact, came from the contraction draft (having been in the Kuwanna organization, but not seeing the field at all during the season).

Impact on 2020:  This is, perhaps, the biggest deal in the history of the LRS.  Not.

DEAL 5: Sent $800K to Shin Seiki for Shinobu Fuji, Takaaki Matsui, and draft pick (#48 overall)

Eight hundred thousand dollars might have been a bit pricey here, but the Cliff Hangers are always there to help the pan-handling poor of the league, and with rumors that the Eva Empire will be building a magalolopis to play in during their first season with the PEBA, it’s clear that Shin Seiki is in the poor house.  In seriousness, Matsui (22 years old), and threw 33 nice innings in A-ball last season, and the team’s scouts still like Fuji’s chances despite the fact that he’s 21 and still having trouble posting solid numbers.  The #48 overall pick should bring a pretty reasonable prospect.  Collins has made worse deals.

Impact on 2020:  One of the two will probably find some time in AA ball.  Our bet is on Matsui.

DEAL 6: Traded António Pérez to Naha for two draft picks (#24 and #25)

António Pérez has always been an enigma.  He’s like pure silk in the field, quick and precise, a piece of art to look at.  And when he goes to the plate, he’s always been at least adequate, yielding league average OPS numbers as a shortstop.  Yet, he can’t seem to hold a job.  Naha represents the sixth LRS organization this oft-coveted infielder will have passed through (if you include Lupin, anyway).  Pérez was a controversial pick up in the contraction draft, as incumbent short stop and defacto team captain Shiro Adachi is entering his prime, and coming off a Gurabukin level season in the field.  Most team insiders thought he was slated to be the utility infielder in the mix, though there was apparently some discussion of moving Adachi to second base to make room for Pérez.

All this said, we think a pair of solid draft picks is a pretty good deal for Lupin, given all the issues around the situation.

“I’m just happy to play baseball,” Adachi said back home when he was informed of the trade.

Impact on 2010: The loss of Pérez reduces the current depth of the squad, but with guys like Kikaku Ono, Shoichi Koyama, and a few others hanging around in AAA, the impact should be minimal.

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And so, as the curtain closes on the last Winter Meetings that will see the LRS as a separate entity, Cliff Hanger fans look around and see that their guys did pretty well.  With the contraction draft serving to bring scintillating young corner outfielder Okakura Ishikawa, and the addition of Tenno at first base, the offense should be better this year than last.  With the inclusion of Kichida to the bullpen, it would appear the bullpen will be better balanced.  On top of this, the organization added a top prospect at third base, three intriguing players at the A-ball level, and four draft pick in the #24-#48 overall range.  To achieve that, they gave up only one piece of last season’s Group winning club (Yamasaki), two players they acquired in the contraction draft, and a few odds and ends.

We’ll see what happens on the field, but Lupin fans should probably be pretty happy as we near the flip of the new year.