By Betty Kraker, Lupin Times

11/17/2009 – Fans of the LRS Lupin Cliff-Hangers, coming off a disappointing 55-91 losing season, will most certainly be seeing something different this coming season.  Newly-signed General Manager Jim Konopka has quickly made a bold move in his first few days with the organization: he fired most of the team staff.

“Following two first place finishes in 2007 and 2008, to drop to last in a six-team division shows something major wrong,” stated the skipper.  “You can’t blame something like that on the players.  There is obviously something wrong somewhere in the management of the team for something like that to happen.  I don’t have time to investigate and figure out who was doing their job and who wasn’t.  I don’t really want to point fingers or place blame.  I pretty much let the entire staff go… across the board.  A lot of these guys had time left on their contracts, which will soften the blow, and I’m certain they’ll find new homes.

“I was hired to turn this team around and get them back to a competitive position, and I need to get busy doing that.  So I went out and signed personnel who I know I can count on.  I went out and got some of the best-rated personnel in all of Japan.  I went to the owners and told them, ‘If you expect me to turn this team around, I need help.  I can’t do this by myself.  I need staff who will be supporting and improving the team all along the way.’  The board took my point and let me know they were willing to support me in this turnover.  Not only that, they let me know they were willing to pay top dollar to assure we got the best that was out there.”  With a couple staff members still to be hired, the team has the highest staff expense in the LRS at $1,992,000.

The team still needs to find a pitching coach for the LRS league team and a manager for their AAA affiliate, but for the most part they have staff signed to multi-year contracts.  This should give the new personnel a feeling of permanence and help them work together for a club that they will have a future with.

When asked about the only LRS staff member retained, Scouting Director Tamotsu Yoshida, Jim remarked, “Scouting Director is a different thing.  These guys are on the road most of the year, away from the team, and they just supply input to the staff.  It’s a different thing with these guys.  There was not a better scouting director available on the market; we would have had to take a step down to replace Tamotsu, and that’s something we weren’t willing to do.  Besides that, Tamotsu helped talk his cousin, trainer Yosai Yoshida into joining our club.  He’s one of the best trainers available.”

When asked about the team’s outlook for this season, Jim replied “I think this is going to be a rebuilding year.  We got some players locked up in contracts and, with our finances, we don’t have much wriggle room at all.  I can take a hands-off approach with the staff, let them do their jobs, and I think they’ll make the best with the players we have.  But next season we have some resources freeing up and we’ll be able to make some moves in the free agent market or some big trades.  Look for us to take off then.”  Certainly Jim is referring to starting pitcher Byron “Dog” Verdon, who will be turning 40 before the end of the month and will be earning $16,970,000 in the final year of his contract.