By Kisho Suzuki

12/22/22 – As the winter meetings get under way, there may be a chill in the air, but it seems the relationship between team owner Akane Kenkyusham Jr. and general manager Paul Tanner is downright frigid. Early this month, Akane forced Tanner to hire a manager, thus ending the dictator like combination positon of dugout manager/general manager Tanner held for the last year. Perhaps to put it mildly, Tanner was not happy. “We improved, in terms of financial flexibility, and also in terms of wins and losses, we got better. In other realms of business, when you do something well, you get rewarded. Not here, instead I get responsibilities taking away, given to some schmuck.” In a rare unilateral movement, Tanner was not involved in the hiring of the new manager of the Ghosts, John McLaughlin. McLaughlin has spent his career with the Tempe organization, most recently managing at their AAA level with moderate success.

When asked if Tanner would be able to work with McLaughlin, he gave the standard but quite surprising, “no comment.” Asked about his plans for the roster in the winter meetings, Tanner smiled and said, “I have a couple of goals. Mostly, I am going to try and spend as much of Kenkyusham Jr.’s money as I can. After all, that’s my “job” and so I guess I will go and do that.”

Rumors are that Tanner is looking to shape his roster around his own preferences, and quite possibly send the last remaining big name bat, CF O to a new home. For his part, McLaughlin understands the weirdness of the situation, but he also knows that eventually he and Tanner will have to get on the same page. “A house of cards, divided by anything – is going to be like trying to shoot monkeys on barrels,” McLaughlin quipped.