The Ongoing Diary of Casey Neal

They Go Right Direction

(April 2020)

Two days later, the story has been submitted and Yuni has called in whatever special Chief Inspector chips he can call in, and the bit is slated to run the next morning on the front page of three of the five big daily papers that still get printed in Japan, and the front of the sports pages of the other two.  It’s also in the prefecture and city issues of several other papers, and pretty soon it’s all over web.

We celebrate by going up north to Toyama to catch Lupin host Fushigi Yugi that Friday night.

I’m into this one because I haven’t seen Fushigi Yugi at all this spring.  The Celestial Warriors make their home in Fukuoka, which is on the southwestern tip of Japan, and on the island of Kyushu–so it is not the easiest place to get to.  I’m thinking this probably went into the back office negotiations between the LRS and PEBA boards during the obviously intense discussions that went on to hammer out the merger’s details.  I’ve met several PEBA GMS and board members, and I can imagine pretty much every one of them balking at the idea of flying into Fukuoka for a weekend series, and then having to get back out.  One thing that can be said for sure is that the

I’m also stoked to get to Lupin because Ron Collins, the Cliff Hanger GM, has finally found time to talk to me.

I say “we” go up north because both DK and Yuni join me.

They’ll both be needing another team sometime soon, and I think they are trying on Lupin for size.

The two trade notes most of the way up.

“Takeuchi and Watanabe can pitch with anyone,” DK says.

Ichihara agrees.

The two are a pair of young-gun hurlers, Shinobu Takeuchi is 25 years old, Akira Watanbe 24.  The team recently made big news by giving them each five season extensions for what are big dollars today, but could well turn out to be bargains by the time they run out. Watanabe set the LRS on fire last Tuesday night when he no-hit Naha, giving only a full-count walk and a man on base via error.

They obviously view Lupin centerfielder Sadatake Sato in high esteem, which seems proper to me.  The guy is an athlete. And they talk about shortstop Shiro Adachi as if he’s supernatural.

While they are busy absorbing Lupin neep, I think about the Celestial Warriors, and I find myself excited to see António Coronado, a PEBA guy from way-back.  I remember him mostly as a Fisherman in Gloucester for several good years, and I remember the buzz it created when he first signed on in Japan (with Niihama-shi).  He got something like $30M (US) for three seasons, and it was a shot across the bow of the PEBA that the game in the Far East could maybe someday compete financially.  Coronado was not the usual LRS signee, you know? He was 31, still a long way from that 34-35 year-old hump that some guys could get to when they would jump and see a sudden resurgence.  Coronado came to Japan in what was essentially his prime.  He was three-time All-star on the big stage, and still he jumped.

He is getting old now, though.  He’s 37 and he signed a 1-season deal as a free agent with Fushigi Yugi before the season started after the club at first declined what would have been a much bigger option. And now he faces the strange question of looking in the mirror and asking himself if today he is good enough to go back and play in the fields of his younger days.

We get to the ballpark named the Castle of Cagliostro, and we take our seats in the press box–seats that Collins has provided gratis as a special reach-out to me and my friends. The offer of free tickets was made immediately upon my request for the interview, but I can’t help but feel like there’s an alternate purpose there, as if the team is already hoping I slant words their way. Perhaps I’m just too sensitive.

Collins comes to join us as the game is starting.

His team has Yoshitora Koyama on the mound, a guy who also has PEBA ties, having won 57 games in the States before agreeing to come back home and go 13-4 for the Cliff Hangers last season.  Koyama is 32 this year.  Also not old.

He faces Fushigi Yugi’s Ichiyo Kuhabara, a 28-year old guy who has thrown four seasons in the league, mostly out of the pen.

The Cliff Hangers have started the year as a favorite to take the BBG crown, and both the GM and owner have made a stir of things by going public with the idea that they intend to win it all this year.  The Japanese are of two minds when it comes to this kind of brash talk. They love to judge, is probably the best way to sum it up. It is not good to show up your opponent, but a winner can be spared a few indignities as the dust settles.

They are 2-1 as Koyama throws the first pitch, a ball high to lead-off hitter, shortstop Tadamichi Sato.

“How are you enjoying Japan?” Collins says as he takes a seat next to me.

“Very well,” I say.  “Though I miss home.”

“I understand totally.”

“Chief Inspector,” Collins says as he greets Ichihara. They had met before, of course, when Yuni had made his first round of interviews.

Yuni nods.

We chat a little about the team.

The Cliff Hangers were fairly active throughout the off-season, and used the contraction draft to improve themselves at first base (where young slugger Hirotsugu Tenno was acquired from Akira with the leverage of a contraction draft pick), and in left field, where the scintillating 23-year-old Okakura Ishikawa was selected out of Hyakujuu’s remains.  He also rebuilt a bullpen that was one of the better relief corps in league last season.

“Why did you do that?” I asked.

“The guys we had were great, and most of them are still with the organization.  Just down on the farm, you know?  I mean, I think our top level club in Yamauchi could win a lot of games in the LRS this year. But we got killed in the playoffs because we couldn’t get good left-handed hitters out.”

I nodded.

“I was happy to see Diego Rúbio stick,” I said. “I spoke to him at camp. Nice guy.”

Rúbio made his debut two days before, and struck out five guys in two and a third innings.

“Diego is a great story.”

Collins, for his calmness on the subject, was an interesting inclusion in the negotiation team.  He is vocal among the brotherhood of GMs in Japan, and he has nearly three seasons of experience with the league, though he has only been in his Lupin seat for a season.  Only recently has he begun to talk about his past while in the GM chair in Kawaguchi, something I know Yuni Ichihara will want to chat about sometime tonight.  That stint spanned almost two seasons, and from what I read, the team had moved in the right direction during that time. It appeared success was around the corner, when he just up and disappeared.  Not quite Cooper-esque, but close.  He mentioned alien abduction in one interview, a conversation that tabloids have been making hay with for the last couple weeks.  But his leaving like that left serious burns with some, and Ichihara had as much as admitted that he was one of those.

But I want to put that topic on the far back burner for now.

I turn the talk to the merger and his role in it.

“I was a sounding board more than anything.  Kevin and the PEBA guys have all the history, and they understood more about the financial details.  I was there mostly to play devil’s advocate and to help shape policy in ways that might represent the fans.”

“Interesting perch.”

“Certainly.”

“what were your thoughts of Charlie Cooper?”

Collins shook his head.  “I’ve tried not to think too much about him, really.  He was a little loose for my taste, but there are guys like that.  We made two deals, both of them worked out for me.  In one of them, he lost a player to Edo because he didn’t understand how waivers worked here.  I figured that would happen, but he was aggressive on the deal, so no skin off my nose I guess.”

I know one of those deals with Hyakujuu brought the team star closer Jo Kichida, a 26 year-old kid who throws 100+.

“if the rumor mill is to be believed, you are working on an extension for Kichida?”

“Well, I’ll just say that. It makes sense to us to lock up our kids as early as practical.”

In addition to contracts with Takeuchi and Watanabe, the team has recently done deals with right-fielder Kuniyoshi Kato and second baseman Kaz Yamada.

“Isn’t it a gamble?

“What isn’t?”

He goes on to explain that Japanese teams are struggling right now to project the future.  The money will be there, but how much is not certain, and they are playing the match-up game with players, too, just as the fans are.  These contracts are gambles based on those projections.  They are for more cash than they would be if the merger wasn’t going to happen, but for less than these players would get if they can play the game “with the big dogs,” and make it through the PEBA arbitration gauntlet.  Takeuchi, for example, will make $6.5M (US next year, his first in the PEBA.  If his stuff makes him a 15-game winner, that’s a steal.  But if not, Lupin has a $6.5M anchor around their necks for the next four seasons.

It’s almost an anti-game of roulette.

Spend your dollars now, and hope you’re not shooting blanks, or wait and let someone else play with your bullets.

“But I want to bet on my guys,” Collins said. “I believe in baseball in Japan, and I think players like Akira and Shinobu and Sadatake can play the game in any ballpark in the world.”

I see stars growing in DK’s eyes.

Yuni is staring down at the game, which is in the top of the sixth, by now, and in which Fushigi Yugi holds a slim 1-0 lead.  That is, until three singles and a double off Koyama register three runs.

Collins grimaces.

“Well, you can’t win them all.”

António Coronado ends the inning with a ground out, first base to pitcher covering.  He will finish the game with the 0-4 collar.

Ichihara turns to Collins and asks point-blank.

“Why did you not come back to Kawaguchi?”

I try to save him a bit. “Yuni is a big Transmitter fan.”

But he just wades in.

“I screwed up in my life, Mr. Ichihara.  I took on too much, and I just didn’t deal with it well.  I thought we had a heck of a run going, though.  We had Rikya at short, and a couple good pitchers going.  The minors were getting healed.  But I screwed up.  I got overwhelmed when I thought I could do it all.”

He looked down as young Ishikawa plates the Cliff Hanger’s first run with a base hit to center.  Then he looked at Yuni.

“Have you ever done that, Mr. Ichihara?  Have you ever taken something so big onto your shoulders that you didn’t see how you could handle it?”

Ichihara smirked and gave a light laugh.

“Yes, I think I understand.”

#

For all intents and purposes, the game is over at that point.  Fushigi Yugi will win by the 4-1 score that stands after six.

Lupin’s record stands at 2-2, Fushigi Yugi’s 2-3.  Across the way, Naha beats Edo to even its own record to 2-2, and bring Edo to 3-2.  The Bright Blade group, with rosters fueled by a deep contraction draft, promises to be a dogfight to the end.

On the train ride home, Yuni and DK talk about Lupin again.

“They had a bad game,” Yuni said.

“Bah!  Happens everyone,” Dk replied.

“Don’t I know it,” Yuni said.

“They go right direction, though.”

“Yes,” Yuni nodded, looking out the dark train windows. “I believe they are.”