https://i.imgur.com/hOIuAdK.gif
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 20:03 (six years ago) link
yeah I thought I'd just erred but i've consistently been seeing Ohtani and Otani in different media.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 20:09 (six years ago) link
Breaking: players union sets Monday deadline to resolve posting issue. So in 4 days otani could know if he'll be able to jump to mlb in '18.— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 16, 2017
― mookieproof, Thursday, 16 November 2017 15:54 (six years ago) link
Brian: Where does “the Mets are CONSIDERING pursuing Ohtani” rank among saddest baseball offseason rumors? Is there anything to consider? Dave Cameron: Any team that doesn’t have, at minimum, an intern putting together a powerpoint to send to the agent just in case should be embarrassed.
It’s a free lottery ticket. All 30 teams should make a bare minimum “we’re interested if you are!” pitch
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 16 November 2017 20:33 (six years ago) link
Elementary brain: OtaniExpanding brain: OhtaniGalactic brain: Ōtani— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) November 22, 2017
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 22 November 2017 14:55 (six years ago) link
Over the weekend, executives across baseball hunkered down in their offices to fill out a document. One general manager called it “the most important paper I’ve written since college.” Another scrambled to find someone to translate his version into proper Japanese. An executive, short on sleep, long on frustration, said: “This is so stupid.”In anticipation of Shohei Ohtani’s posting, the agents for the 23-year-old Japanese star sent a memo to all 30 teams, asking them to explain why Ohtani fits in their organization. Some executives rolled their eyes. Others saw it as an opportunity to differentiate themselves. Each wound up doing the same thing: Putting together their best sales pitch for what everyone agrees is a once-in-a-lifetime player, not simply because of his talent as a pitcher and hitter but the absurd discount in which teams may realize well over $100 million in surplus value.“Shohei Ohtani,” one agent said, “is like the baseball version of the new Amazon headquarters.”
In anticipation of Shohei Ohtani’s posting, the agents for the 23-year-old Japanese star sent a memo to all 30 teams, asking them to explain why Ohtani fits in their organization. Some executives rolled their eyes. Others saw it as an opportunity to differentiate themselves. Each wound up doing the same thing: Putting together their best sales pitch for what everyone agrees is a once-in-a-lifetime player, not simply because of his talent as a pitcher and hitter but the absurd discount in which teams may realize well over $100 million in surplus value.
“Shohei Ohtani,” one agent said, “is like the baseball version of the new Amazon headquarters.”
https://sports.yahoo.com/four-reasons-mlbs-hot-stove-lukewarm-022841950.html
― Andy K, Wednesday, 29 November 2017 03:38 (six years ago) link
oh man, if you're a team submitting only a "paper" in response to the ohtani request, you are so not going to be chosen
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 29 November 2017 03:40 (six years ago) link
yeah u gotta have holograms at a minimum these days
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 29 November 2017 03:49 (six years ago) link
we need a mod to change the thread title (otani > ohtani)― Karl Malone, Wednesday, November 15, 2017 11:39 AM (one week ago)
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, November 15, 2017 11:39 AM (one week ago)
yeah no, should we start spelling Osaka "Ohsaka"?
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 29 November 2017 07:55 (six years ago) link
One general manager called it “the most important paper I’ve written since college.” ... an executive, short on sleep, long on frustration, said: “This is so stupid.”
I really see both sides of this. On one hand, he's a great young talent that will sign for far below his market value. On the other hand, almost every Japanese player who made the jump to MLB was overhyped and underdelivered.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Wednesday, 29 November 2017 08:59 (six years ago) link
is it true that the ball in the Japan leagues is smaller, because if so that seems like it could make a world of difference
I am sure this dude will be pretty decent in the majors but "once-in-a-lifetime"...idk they were saying that about Yu Darvish and he's one of the better guys to come over
― frogbs, Wednesday, 29 November 2017 12:36 (six years ago) link
Al R. B. Yeah see the brief discussion on that upthread. A lot of the media has been referring to him with the ‘h’ recently so I didn’t realize that it can other way.
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 29 November 2017 15:54 (six years ago) link
Shohei Ohtani obliterated the Philadelphia Phillies, alas pic.twitter.com/Asam3vY7qt— John Trupin (@JohnTrupin) December 1, 2017
― mookieproof, Friday, 1 December 2017 06:55 (six years ago) link
Some news out on finalists...
― timellison, Monday, 4 December 2017 00:41 (six years ago) link
It would be pretty cool if he ended up going to someone totally unexpected.
I noticed Houston was not listed as out.
― earlnash, Monday, 4 December 2017 01:18 (six years ago) link
not the Yankees!
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/shohei-ohtani-has-narrowed-his-list/
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Monday, 4 December 2017 02:42 (six years ago) link
The angry twitter comments were so great.
― Mad Piratical (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 4 December 2017 04:31 (six years ago) link
it's definitely an odd mix of teams ... he wants west coast, but cubs and rangers still in play; he wants a smaller market, but LA and chicago and dallas are still in play. it would be so weird if he went to the padres.
― na (NA), Monday, 4 December 2017 15:20 (six years ago) link
hahahah that would be awesome
― frogbs, Monday, 4 December 2017 15:21 (six years ago) link
it seems pretty he'll actually end up on the cubs so i'm just hoping he doesn't go to the dodgers.
― na (NA), Monday, 4 December 2017 15:26 (six years ago) link
pretty unlikely, that is. meant to delete "pretty" because i overuse it and deleted the wrong word.
If ohtani goes to the cubs and stanton says no to the cardinals because stl is a shithole, I am going to be so cranky this off-season
― Karl Malone, Monday, 4 December 2017 15:35 (six years ago) link
kinda hoping he goes to the mariners only in part because they're one of "my teams" but mostly because before the posting i called mariners to my friend and i would love to be right for ONCE
― flippy bard (Will M.), Monday, 4 December 2017 23:16 (six years ago) link
mariners would be pretty boring tbh
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 5 December 2017 01:10 (six years ago) link
padres padres padres
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Tuesday, 5 December 2017 01:18 (six years ago) link
it is going to be the Dodgers and you know it.
― Van Horn Street, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 04:38 (six years ago) link
I think Ohtani goes to Seattle. There are Japanese there. And if they had Ichiro make a call, my God, to a Japanese kid that's like hearing Ruth and Dimaggio and Mantle and God.— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) December 4, 2017
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 5 December 2017 04:44 (six years ago) link
The key now for the Mariners is to make sure Ohtani doesn’t visit Seattle until the sun comes back out in June— keithlaw (@keithlaw) December 3, 2017
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 5 December 2017 19:11 (six years ago) link
this is something
On Shohei Ohtani, @jimcallisMLB reports grades of "80 raw power, 65 speed, 80 arm, [and] 50 hit," in a @mike_petriello article: https://t.co/wySSnmiKnwHere are some hitters with similar grades: pic.twitter.com/R61g519MsF— Jeff Zimmerman (@jeffwzimmerman) December 6, 2017
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 6 December 2017 21:10 (six years ago) link
It's real nice in Seattle right now.
― JoeStork, Wednesday, 6 December 2017 21:12 (six years ago) link
I mean the Mariners will find a way to waste his potential if they do sign him but it would be cool to have something to be stupidly optimistic about.
― JoeStork, Wednesday, 6 December 2017 21:14 (six years ago) link
65 speed seems low, people were saying the kid can really fly
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 6 December 2017 21:36 (six years ago) link
Angels landed him.
― Mad Piratical (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 8 December 2017 19:24 (six years ago) link
unexpected!
― mookieproof, Friday, 8 December 2017 19:30 (six years ago) link
where did y'all think he was gonna go
― frogbs, Friday, 8 December 2017 19:31 (six years ago) link
i thought either padres or mariners i guess? i'm not really sure why
― mookieproof, Friday, 8 December 2017 19:32 (six years ago) link
I mean I would have loved for him to go somewhere strange like that but idk when these hyped up prospects go to teams w/o huge payrolls or a shot at contention
― frogbs, Friday, 8 December 2017 19:34 (six years ago) link
Angels finally have some protection for Trout.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 8 December 2017 19:35 (six years ago) link
god bless mike trout but it just seems weird that someone would move to orange county or play for mike scioscia unless they absolutely had to
― mookieproof, Friday, 8 December 2017 19:38 (six years ago) link
does this mean Pujols will be playing some 1b?
― Mad Piratical (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 8 December 2017 19:45 (six years ago) link
will be even more depressing when the angels miss the 2018 post-season
― Van Horn Street, Friday, 8 December 2017 19:57 (six years ago) link
@ChrisGimenez5So does this mean I’m not the best hitting pitcher in the AL anymore
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, 8 December 2017 19:57 (six years ago) link
Agent (not from CAA) on Ohtani signing: “Eppler made this happen. 100% all him. He has been on Ohtani since he was in HS and I will bet he absolutely crushed the presentation. This is a credit to him.” Eppler visited Japan while with NYY and after becoming LAA GM in Oct. 2015.— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 8, 2017
― mookieproof, Friday, 8 December 2017 20:33 (six years ago) link
excited by this news, pumped for trout to hopefully get a shot in his prime
― k3vin k., Saturday, 9 December 2017 02:45 (six years ago) link
we'll see how far 2 stars can carry a team, maybe
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 9 December 2017 03:23 (six years ago) link
don't forget simmons
― k3vin k., Saturday, 9 December 2017 03:39 (six years ago) link
ugh for a split second i thought you meant bill
― mookieproof, Saturday, 9 December 2017 03:40 (six years ago) link
lol
― k3vin k., Saturday, 9 December 2017 03:46 (six years ago) link
ask randy johnson and curt shilling xp
― YouTube_-_funy_cats.flv (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Saturday, 9 December 2017 04:06 (six years ago) link
...Luis Gonzalez was pretty good too.
yeah sure, but damn LAA looked bleak 24 hrs ago
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 9 December 2017 04:29 (six years ago) link
so I guess that begs the question, if he has TJ tomorrow can he still hit in 2019?
― frogbs, Thursday, 6 September 2018 14:19 (five years ago) link
Angels saying it depends what the doctors say (ie they aint saying)
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 6 September 2018 14:51 (five years ago) link
Weiters didn't
― YouTube_-_funy_cats.flv (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Thursday, 6 September 2018 14:58 (five years ago) link
Ohtani's Elbow:
Why would LAA want, or let Ohtani pitch this season after the elbow injury? Is there ANY reasoning behind this?
Jay Jaffe:
The Angels had almost nothing to lose by testing Ohtani's elbow. If he has the surgery now, there's a reasonable shot he can still DH for most/all of next season while not pitching, but if they waited until spring for the surgery, he'd be unable to do either.
Jeff Fletcher, who covers the Angels for the Orange County Register, put it well in a tweet:
"If Ohtani had TJ surgery on June 7, 2018 -- the day the sprain was discovered -- he'd be out till 2020.
"If he has it tomorrow, he'll be out till 2020.
"If he has it a week from now, he'll be out till 2020."
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 6 September 2018 17:01 (five years ago) link
absolutely scorching: 240 wRC+, 10 homers in 90 PA since august 1st
https://www.fangraphs.com/splitstool.aspx?playerid=19755&position=DH&splitArr=&strgroup=season&statgroup=1&startDate=2018-08-01&endDate=2018-09-08&filter=&statType=player&autoPt=true&players=&pg=0&pageItems=30&sort=-1,1
― k3vin k., Monday, 10 September 2018 03:43 (five years ago) link
official
https://www.mlb.com/news/ohtani-to-undergo-tommy-john-surgery/c-295987406
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 26 September 2018 15:56 (five years ago) link
in games where he pitches, does he get defensive credit for being a pitcher? his defensive adjustment is largely negative because he's played DH 90% of the time, but I would assume that for the plate appearances where he's listed as the pitcher, he'd get a generous positive adjustment
this is from bbref:
Pitcher Positional Adjustment. Now, pitchers also bat, so we need to calculate their Position Player WAR as well. Since pitcher fielding is included in Pitcher WAR, we do not need to consider it here. Pitchers are almost guaranteed to be below replacement hitters and likely no one uses a particular player as a pitcher because they are a good hitter. If that were the case, we might see teams trying for an advantage by routinely using Wilson Valdez as a pitcher or an NL team would always value Jon Lester less than an AL team. Rather, any pitcher hitting is gravy, so the pitcher position adjustment is set so that all pitchers taken together produce zero WAR as position players. As position players, we say a pitcher's games played equals PA/4.To set the pitcher positional adjustment, we add together every pitcher's Batting Runs, Baserunning Runs,and GIDP Runs = Runs_sum_lg. We also add up their Plate Appearances, PA_sum_lg. The league-wide pitcher positional adjustment is then (-600 * Runs_sum_lg/ PA_sum_lg) which is runs per plate appearance. For a particular player, this number is then multiplied by their plate appearances for their individual positional adjustment.The top and worst pitcher as position players in 2011 were: best: Carlos Zambrano 7.6 runs, worst: Ryan Dempster -4.8 runs.note: Some pitchers like Red Ruffing, Bob Lemon and Jim Kaat (as a pinch runner) appeared in many games as a position player, pinch hitter or pinch runner. If we credit them these PA's as just a pitcher then we overvalue their offense, so to handle this we compute a percentage of time as a non-pitcher for all pitchers and they get credit under runs_replacement for this number of games and their runs_position as pitcher are reduced by one minus this factor. Since many of these occurred prior to full play-by-play data, we just use games played data for this adjustment. non-Pitcher factor = (Games Played - Games Pitched - .63 * Games as PH or PR) -------------------------------------------------------- Games Played.63 is a factor so we value Games Played in the field differently than as a PH or PR which are likely just a single PA.
To set the pitcher positional adjustment, we add together every pitcher's Batting Runs, Baserunning Runs,and GIDP Runs = Runs_sum_lg. We also add up their Plate Appearances, PA_sum_lg. The league-wide pitcher positional adjustment is then (-600 * Runs_sum_lg/ PA_sum_lg) which is runs per plate appearance. For a particular player, this number is then multiplied by their plate appearances for their individual positional adjustment.
The top and worst pitcher as position players in 2011 were: best: Carlos Zambrano 7.6 runs, worst: Ryan Dempster -4.8 runs.
note: Some pitchers like Red Ruffing, Bob Lemon and Jim Kaat (as a pinch runner) appeared in many games as a position player, pinch hitter or pinch runner. If we credit them these PA's as just a pitcher then we overvalue their offense, so to handle this we compute a percentage of time as a non-pitcher for all pitchers and they get credit under runs_replacement for this number of games and their runs_position as pitcher are reduced by one minus this factor. Since many of these occurred prior to full play-by-play data, we just use games played data for this adjustment.
non-Pitcher factor = (Games Played - Games Pitched - .63 * Games as PH or PR) -------------------------------------------------------- Games Played.63 is a factor so we value Games Played in the field differently than as a PH or PR which are likely just a single PA.
― k3vin k., Saturday, 22 May 2021 13:41 (two years ago) link
for example it looks like shohei has about 12-14 plate appearances as a pitcher this season, and the rest of his 177 PA are at DH (plus one or two in left or right field)
his positional adjustment overall as a batter on bbref is -4 runs
yordan alvarez, who's played DH for all 160 of his PAs this year, has a positional adjustment of -3 runs
max scherzer has had 17 plate appearances, and has a positional adjustment of +3 runs
does this make sense? shouldn't he get credit for these PAs as a pitcher?
― k3vin k., Saturday, 22 May 2021 13:52 (two years ago) link
talking about the positional adjustment for WAR if it wasn't clear
― k3vin k., Saturday, 22 May 2021 13:56 (two years ago) link
I think the DH adjustment still should be applied because the Angels aren’t forced to bat him when he pitches. the replacement for him when he’s hitting as a pitcher would be another DH.
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, 22 May 2021 14:48 (two years ago) link
hmmm that makes sense
― k3vin k., Saturday, 22 May 2021 15:08 (two years ago) link
I wasn't paying attention to baseball at all last year, so I missed that he got shelled in his two starts, leading to a real quirk in his lifetime stats:
2018 - 51.2 IP, 3.31 ERA2020 - 1.2 IP2021 - 47.1 IP, 2.85 ERA
Career ERA: 3.67
He gave up 7 runs in that 1.2 IP. His career ERA would be 3.09 otherwise.
― clemenza, Saturday, 12 June 2021 20:16 (two years ago) link
Caption to a photo that turned up on my FB wall:
John Olerud pitching in college at Washington State. He was 15-0 his sophomore year with 23 homers and hit .464.
More details here:
https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/article/john-olerud-wsu-baseball-1998-season-was-simply-magical-211886430/
― clemenza, Saturday, 21 October 2023 18:40 (six months ago) link
Facebook/Twitter meme, so I don't know how trustworthy, but:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GBV2oDsW8AAXOYZ.jpg:large
― clemenza, Thursday, 21 December 2023 01:35 (four months ago) link
From the man's owns hands:
"Shohei Otani" is visible alongside various bank account and wire-transfer information and the word "loan."
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 22:52 (one month ago) link
Can we keep our libellous Shohei speculation in one thread please
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 22:54 (one month ago) link
Shohei impending ban from baseball announcement due in 3 days; my sources have confirmed
― H.P, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 22:54 (one month ago) link
The latest on the firing of Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter amid questions about the transfer of $4.5 million from Ohtani’s bank account to a bookmaking operation under federal investigation, from ESPN’s Tisha Thompson: https://t.co/M8qfg9lElk pic.twitter.com/reo8s272Pb— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 20, 2024
the most likely explanation of this is Ippei falling on his sword?
― H.P, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 22:56 (one month ago) link
or getting pushed onto it
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 22:56 (one month ago) link
The story in my head (which is most generous to Shohei) is: Ippei got that gambling gene, Shohei helps him out a bit, Shohei/Shohei's lawyers say "hey, you can't give money to your right hand man to gamble as a top sports player, heard of pete rose?" Shohei says "Ippei, it's time to go "
― H.P, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 22:57 (one month ago) link
^^so yeah, a mix of falling and pushing. Obvs heaps of conjecture but that seems like the simplest explanation with the facts laid out. That said, I am fully ready to laugh into the abyss when Shohei gets banned from baseball and the Dodgers stay on the hook for 700mil
― H.P, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 22:59 (one month ago) link
Can we keep our libellous Shohei speculation in one thread please― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Wednesday, March 20, 2024 3:54 PM (five minutes ago)
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Wednesday, March 20, 2024 3:54 PM (five minutes ago)
This thread is only for people who spell his family name OTANI or 大谷, people like... Shohei Otani himself.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 23:00 (one month ago) link
Surely getting banned from MLB for gambling would be a breach of contract and invalidate the Doyers salary payment obligations, no?
If not, well played *checks notes* Nez Balelo
― felicity, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 23:02 (one month ago) link
Maybe. Dodgers stayed on the hook for Bauer the whole time 'that' mess went down iirc.
The really interesting question here is, suppose my story is relatively correct and with the feds looking into it, mlb/feds can see shohei did transfer to illegal bookies.... Is Ohtani too big to fall? It's obviously in the interest of MLB to sweep this one as deep under the rug as possible, but do they have the levers to do that? Do the feds care?
― H.P, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 23:05 (one month ago) link
Maybe it's a trap to bring him back to the Korean or Japanese leagues. "Banned from MLB, what a shame"
― felicity, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 23:17 (one month ago) link
He and Bauer could finally be bunkmates
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 21 March 2024 01:35 (one month ago) link
So he either goes 5/5 5hr's or 0/5 5k's tonight right
― H.P, Thursday, 21 March 2024 04:44 (one month ago) link
Cannot believe this is happening. Wake me up in a week when he's suspended or when he beats the rap. It's all too much for me
feeling some whiplash after only having just learned about the existence of ippei from the breathless sports illustrated article that calls ippei shohei's bestest and most beloved friend
― 龜, Thursday, 21 March 2024 11:37 (one month ago) link
Verducci’s prose has really fallen off. Are we sure that’s him? I mean this is giving big Allegra Coleman energy:
But like an Italian sports car, even at rest his angularity and aura connotate agility and speed. The power is all under the hood.
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 21 March 2024 11:45 (one month ago) link
I’m bumping this non canonical thread solely for Steve Shastahttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/GJMwnsvXUAEX04s?format=jpg&name=small
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 21 March 2024 14:12 (one month ago) link
I'm kinda curious about who knew what and when between LAD/MLB/Otani's PR dept because Ippei getting fired only AFTER the story broke AND his interview(s) is incredibly sketchy...
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 21 March 2024 14:25 (one month ago) link
I don’t know the exact exact timeline but I think the LA Times story (ippei stealing) dropped right before the ESPN one (two stories). Ohtani’s agents are professionals, I don’t see how the first interview fuckup happened
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 21 March 2024 14:29 (one month ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/K4HSNvI.jpeg
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 23 March 2024 18:37 (one month ago) link