The Kansai Independent League held an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss what's been happening with the Kobe 9 Cruise.

Ever since the team fired Yoshihiro Nakata on July 29th, nothing good has happened for the Kobe 9 Cruise. First, Eri Yoshida announces that she's taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team. Then 4 players boycott a game. And now the fans aren't showing up to the games.

Cub president Kazuya Hirota made it clear during the meeting that Nakata basically has no chance of being re-instated as the team's manager.

"It was something we decided at a board meeting," said Hirota. "And that means he won't be returning."

The meeting also covered what should be done with Yoshida, as it is concerned that her absence will only tarnish the team and the league. And since Hirota apparently never made an effort to try and stop Yoshida from taking a leave of absence, the league was considering the option of having Kobe trade Yoshida to another team. But the league switched gears when Hirota admitted for the first time that the team wanted the knuckleballer to return.

So for the moment, the league has backed away from forcing a trade and will take the conservative wait-and-see approach. However, if Yoshida doesn't return to the club in the near future, it may reconsider it's stance and force Kobe's hand.

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In other Kansai Independent League news:

The Osaka 70's announced that they will hold off on joining the league for the time being, citing concerns about the league's stability. The team also stated that they are currently looking into a league concept that could involve teams from the US and Korea.