Shimpei Stir Fry:
Controversy on the Menu in the LRS

By Clarence Kukyama, Nipponese Baseball Prospectus

(August 25, 2017) — Nothing stirs the blood like a little controversy, and that’s certainly now the case in the previously-somnambulent League of the Rising Sun.

After an extremely quiet first half, the LRS erupted into not one but two separate controversies on the cusp of the trading deadline, each involving one of the league’s last-place teams.

First: one-time perennial contender and now bottom-dweller Edo Batoussai unceremoniously dumped high-priced bench warmer Shimpei Adachi in the third year of his five-year, $62 million contract.  Adachi was not even hitting above the Mendoza line, and the Batoussai front office clearly got sick of seeing him sitting on the bench every day, counting his millions of yen.

That eye-popping move was followed by the shocking word that longtime Edo GM Patrick Hildreth was considering leaving the team because of its recent woes.  “There was no point in hanging that contract on the new owner. I’m moving on,” Hildreth tweeted.

Never shy to voice their opinions, other league owners and GMs quickly piped in, urging Hildreth to stay even while questioning the move.  “I can understand wanting to get rid of the dead weight, but was getting rid of him really worth dropping $30M all at once?” questioned one veteran front office dweller.

Fueling this furor is the fact that some of that instant debt will be made moot, as the League Constitution states that losses greater than $22 M are erased at season’s end.  This gave rise to an equally shocking revelation: Hildreth had actually cut Adachi by a clerical mistake, but then decided to make the best of the slip-up because of that clause.

“At the time I saw it as a sort of Chapter 11 clause,” he posted on his Facebook page. “Taking the hit this year, when the team was already at a low, allowed me to get some extensions in place to stabilize the club a bit for the 3-year rebuild.”

Then came second thoughts about the tactic: “When I went back to re-read it later I decided it may have been legal but it was contrary to the spirit of the league.”  And Hildreth now is said to be thinking of staying in Edo after all.
Shimpeii, meantime, has reportedly told his agent, Kujiro “Scott” Borasan, to contact other GMs and see if they’re willing to take a league-minimum flier on him.  “I still got life in my legs and my bat,” he told the Prospectus.  “A contender might want me off the bench.”

The second controversy in the LRS erupted virtually simultaneously over in the Shining Star Group: former Seoul GM Mark Kierstead suddenly resurfaced, apparently recruited by new Shinkansen owner Jonas Pine to handle trade talks — wiith Kierstead actually placing calls to other GMs using Pine’s cell phone.

This led to no small amount of confusion over who is running the club in Hyakujuu, and then vocal complaints from a few over the latest trade between the Shinkansen and the ever-first-place Shin Seiki Evas.  At one point the matter escalated into an online shouting match between Kierstead and the hot-headed, beligerant Ghosts GM Mike Dunn (methinks Dunn should spend more time paying attention to his fourth-place team than what others are doing).

At press time, league owners were awaiting clarification from the Commissioner’s Office on the status of Shinkansen stewardship.  Complicating this question is that former longtime Shinkansen GM John Leonard — who departed the team last season under mysterious circumstances — has now suddenly resurfaced.  Back in Seoul, GM Larry Roof reportedly wants to move the parent club to Japan and a minor league affiliate — get this! — to the United States.  And no one is answering the phone at the Kuwana Steel Dragons front office.  They must be out hunting for GM James Hunter.  

The end result of all this was that for several day rumors flew fast and furious: Would the Shimpei release be voided?  Would the HYA-SS deal be voided?  ould Hildreth stay in Edo?  Would Leonard return to Shinkansen?  Would Kierstead go back to Seoul? And best of all, would former Steel Dragons GM Alan Ehlers reclaim his old team, making his stop in Tempe only temporary?  After all, Ehlers recently tweeted, “I’ve had many sleepless nights due to the dismantling of the Kuwana core that I put together.”

Your loyal correspondent needed a scorecard to keep track of all this, and most of the rumors proved false.  Still it announces the return of fun times in the LRS!  Here’s hoping it continues.