So sad to think he won't make the post-season.
― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 20 May 2021 00:45 (two years ago) link
his velo is way way down tonight
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Thursday, 20 May 2021 00:48 (two years ago) link
I'm reading 89 mph fastballs?
― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 20 May 2021 00:52 (two years ago) link
he's throwing up to 95 now in the 4th
― ✖, Thursday, 20 May 2021 01:12 (two years ago) link
2 HRs tonight (Angels are down by 5)
― frogbs, Wednesday, 30 June 2021 01:02 (two years ago) link
a pittsburgher i follow drove to nyc specifically to see ohtani tonight and lol
― mookieproof, Thursday, 1 July 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
2 more HRs tonight
― frogbs, Saturday, 3 July 2021 03:48 (two years ago) link
I would never in a million years bet on Ohtani having the season he’s having right now.
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, 3 July 2021 14:42 (two years ago) link
Folks need to stop comparing Shohei Ohtani to Babe RuthShohei Ohtani is the first Shohei OhtaniNobody’s ever done what he’s done in a half season, and it’s somehow still not getting enough media coverage https://t.co/cGY2CzpeUn— joon 이준엽 (@joonlee) July 8, 2021
― Andy K, Thursday, 8 July 2021 00:41 (two years ago) link
I agree that there aren't enough superlatives to describe what he's doing.
However, when it comes to Ohtani, there can never be enough comparisons to Babe Ruth. Babe f'n Ruth!!
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 8 July 2021 08:22 (two years ago) link
The need for the angels to make the playoffs only grows more and more urgent
― Michael F Gill, Thursday, 8 July 2021 15:51 (two years ago) link
when is he a free agent? he will be an LA dodger or a boston red sock or a new york motherfucker in a couple years
― Z_TBD (Karl Malone), Thursday, 8 July 2021 16:01 (two years ago) link
yea he seems like one of those players who could singlehandedly rescue the sport but having him play on the West Coast on a team that's 4th in their division sucks. crazy if the Angels miss the playoffs yet again despite having 2 generational talents on their team
― frogbs, Thursday, 8 July 2021 16:49 (two years ago) link
it's a team sport
which consists 95% of moments of individual skill
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 8 July 2021 16:54 (two years ago) link
this is one of the hardest hit balls I've ever seen
Ohtani to the MOON. 😳 pic.twitter.com/BeZ3Ek9gF6— MLB (@MLB) July 10, 2021
― frogbs, Saturday, 10 July 2021 03:14 (two years ago) link
fucking absurd man
― k3vin k., Saturday, 10 July 2021 03:22 (two years ago) link
I don't know about you but I cannot see the ball post-impact with Ohtani's bat. I think he hit it so hard it disintegrated into fucking quarks.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 10 July 2021 03:26 (two years ago) link
you can just briefly see it shoot straight up, it kind of looks like the 600-foot pop up from Major League
― frogbs, Saturday, 10 July 2021 03:29 (two years ago) link
463 feet
― k3vin k., Saturday, 10 July 2021 03:31 (two years ago) link
It feels like he should be more talked about.
― Van Horn Street, Tuesday, 20 July 2021 02:20 (two years ago) link
Not here, but in media generally.
― Van Horn Street, Tuesday, 20 July 2021 02:30 (two years ago) link
watching so many people discover Giannis even though he's been 2x MVP kinda tells me you need some playoff success for that to happen
― frogbs, Tuesday, 20 July 2021 02:48 (two years ago) link
Thinking about DiMaggio's streak and Richard's 50 in 50, I have the feeling we used to have national conversations about specific athlete in a way we don't anymore? Maybe I'm wrong. But it seems conversations about sports are much more macro and/or focused on the past (how much can we still create content around Michael Jordan, I'm certain more people are aware of Jeter than of Trout or Ohtani).
― Van Horn Street, Tuesday, 20 July 2021 03:38 (two years ago) link
tom pagnozzi
― Z_TBD (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 20 July 2021 03:40 (two years ago) link
haha, mais encore?
― Van Horn Street, Tuesday, 20 July 2021 03:42 (two years ago) link
...
matt pagnozzi :(
― Z_TBD (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 20 July 2021 03:56 (two years ago) link
ohtani is the first player to be named AL Player of the month in back to back months (June and July) since josh hamilton in 2012
― Z_TBD (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 3 August 2021 06:22 (two years ago) link
40 HR, 2.79 ERA
Angels are still .500 though
― frogbs, Thursday, 19 August 2021 04:08 (two years ago) link
that’s fucking crazythis season is historic
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 19 August 2021 09:06 (two years ago) link
Orange County doesn’t deserve this dude
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Thursday, 19 August 2021 12:46 (two years ago) link
i honestly would never have expected him to have a season like this. just did not think this was possible.
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 19 August 2021 14:14 (two years ago) link
well it's never been done before!
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 19 August 2021 14:18 (two years ago) link
What a joy this guy is
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 19 August 2021 15:54 (two years ago) link
he's on pace to make the top 10 single season WAR list, which is basically all guys like Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds, plus those insane Yaz & Hornsby seasons
― frogbs, Thursday, 19 August 2021 15:58 (two years ago) link
there are a bunch of guys having monster seasons and he’s 2 wins ahead of them
― k3vin k., Thursday, 19 August 2021 16:49 (two years ago) link
even though ppl, like, intuitively understand this, it's still an under discussed story that the angels have had one of the greatest baseball players in 100+ years on their team for a decade, and now have an international superstar putting up one of the greatest seasons in 100+ years... and still LITERALLY CANNOT MAKE THE PLAYOFFS MORE THAN ONE TIME!!! you can make a very reasonable argument that this fact alone has contributed to baseball's decline as a national interest and cultural phenomenon. you could also make a very reasonable argument that it's in the best interest of baseball to forcibly remove arte moreno as owner and find someone who could maybe run a franchise in LA w/ 2 of the best players in baseball and get them into the playoffs, like, one time before the world implodes. it's not asking for much!
― J0rdan S., Thursday, 19 August 2021 17:08 (two years ago) link
its a uniquely frustrating scenario...idk if the Angels ownership/management just sucks but I can't really point to a single thing they've done over the last decade that's worked, outside of maybe the trade for Andrelton Simmons. they also happened to grab those two players during the years where they knew Pujols was gonna be an albatross - they signed him knowing full well that they were likely going to be punting the last 4-5 years. they've also had a lot of bad luck - Trout's hurt, Rendon's hurt, they just cannot seem to develop a decent pitcher who doesn't overdose on fentanyl. its a shitty situation and I agree its bad for the game.
― frogbs, Thursday, 19 August 2021 17:58 (two years ago) link
they give big free agent contracts to older and/or injury prone players and rarely have homegrown talent, it's a really bad mix that comes from the top down. josh hamilton contract was a disaster, rendon contract isn't looking much better. they haven't had a good pitcher since like jered weaver. it's just a poorly run franchise.
they actually have some younger talent now... jo adell has looked good recently, brandon marsh is a top 50 prospect tho he flopped after being called up. reid detmers is finally a pitching prospect they have. if they had a healthy trout, rendon, ohtani, plus a good season from adell, and made some additions, found some pitchers.... it's still so many ifs. and trout is at the point now where he's prob more of a 130-140 game player -- at best -- than a 160 or 180 game player. the fact that they're 5.5 games worse than the mariners this year is insane.
― J0rdan S., Thursday, 19 August 2021 18:36 (two years ago) link
it’s a team sport
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 19 August 2021 19:25 (two years ago) link
i wonder if any other team's management would have done anything differently about the "pujols problem", especially the 2017-now version of the problem. i guess it's easier said than done to bench him, because he truly always believes he's about to turn the corner and is vocal about it. i guess they just couldn't face the spectacle of releasing him years early and eating the cost?
― professional anti- (Karl Malone), Thursday, 19 August 2021 19:36 (two years ago) link
i mean, i think the marlins would have done something drastic for some reason. and the padres. although they haven't exactly done anything about their "eric hosmer problem"
― professional anti- (Karl Malone), Thursday, 19 August 2021 19:37 (two years ago) link
how many other teams would have even signed a stupid contract like that? I mean I guess I'll cut them some slack because 2009-2012 was like the prime era for teams giving fat contracts to fat players, despite the fact that IT HAS LITERALLY NEVER WORKED OUT A SINGLE TIME. to his credit Pujols has not been downright awful since that 2017 season but I still can't believe they didn't find some way to engineer a trade to some bad team that needs to get fans in the door. even if they had to eat like $80 mil
― frogbs, Thursday, 19 August 2021 20:05 (two years ago) link
how many other teams would have even signed a stupid contract like that?
*stares in chris davis*
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 19 August 2021 20:43 (two years ago) link
I think there are possible universes where the Chris Davis deal isn't awful, the Pujols one was just so doomed from the start. The only way it makes sense is if the Angels were a slugger away from being a championship team which they definitely were not
one that comes to mind that is definitely worse is Ryan Howard, sure it's a lot less money but also possibly the dumbest, most guaranteed-to-fail contract I've ever seen in pro sports. and it somehow turned out even worse than anyone could've imagined
― frogbs, Thursday, 19 August 2021 21:01 (two years ago) link
Yeah, definitely universes where the Davis deal wasn't as bad as it was, not sure there are universes where it was good, I guess maybe if the Orioles don't bring in Ubaldo in the 2016 WC game and win a pennant or WC with Davis contributing before the real decline kicks in?
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 19 August 2021 21:11 (two years ago) link
when the angels signed pujols he was turning 32 and had hit .328/.420/.617 over 11 seasons
when the orioles extended davis he was turning 30 and had hit .255/.330/.506 over eight seasons
the davis contract only went through his age-36 season, so that's a huge plus. but also he just wasn't that good -- and the orioles had seen how it might go in 2014 when he hit .196/.300/.404. i mean both contracts are terrible, but if you're gonna dream on a guy beating the aging curve you might as well go with the one who was the greatest hitter of his generation
― mookieproof, Friday, 20 August 2021 02:17 (two years ago) link
yeah, davis was very much a limited skill, adam dunn* kind of player
*and wasn't nearly as consistent as adam dunn, it turns out
― professional anti- (Karl Malone), Friday, 20 August 2021 02:31 (two years ago) link
holy cow I had no idea Davis's OBP was only .330, yeah that contract might be worse in retrospect
i mean both contracts are terrible, but if you're gonna dream on a guy beating the aging curve you might as well go with the one who was the greatest hitter of his generation
true but I still think it was fairly unlikely that Davis would be downright unplayable for 5 years of that deal, for Pujols it feels like that was one of the most likely outcomes. I can't argue it's one of the worst contracts ever because there have been so many bad ones but none of them involve paying a guy $24 million when he's 42
― frogbs, Friday, 20 August 2021 16:44 (two years ago) link
shit he just got hit in the right hand by a pitch
― k3vin k., Sunday, 29 August 2021 01:24 (two years ago) link
does not look great
― k3vin k., Sunday, 29 August 2021 01:25 (two years ago) link
Tldr: you shouldn't lie to banks or your employer or have an illegal gambling addiction
But also
Rich people shouldn't be stupidly cheap when paying people who work for them. Many rich people problems can be avoided by paying people what their work is worth. Not saying that's what happened here, just that I haven't seen that's not what happened.
The end.
― felicity, Monday, 15 April 2024 02:05 (one week ago) link
Not saying that's what happened here, just that I haven't seen that's not what happened.
That....seeeems like license to believe anything, any old thing. Why speculate?
― Ippei's on a bummer now (WmC), Monday, 15 April 2024 02:10 (one week ago) link
I think because of what I know about employment law and entertainment law, and I keep seeing these takes that want to paint Ippei as the total villain. I think people don't understand the work it takes behind the scenes to make overnight success happen over a period of years.
Baseball players are entertainers in the end. I personally prefer to see a happy story of everyone succeeding as a team. I think social media simplifies things to a point where people are wrongly overconfident about making snap judgments and ruining people's reputations and I had a lot more questions here about what really happened then some of the takes I've seen online.
― felicity, Monday, 15 April 2024 02:17 (one week ago) link
And it's not license to believe in "anything." I wrote an extremely long detailed post laying out the particular pieces that were missing. If you want to take my tldr out of context that could seem like anything, but then why post at all if any piece could be taken out of context at any time.
― felicity, Monday, 15 April 2024 02:19 (one week ago) link
I made a tasteless Parasite joke upthread but after reading f.'s posts I can see how it may indeed apply here...
...also "arbitration" ;-)
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Monday, 15 April 2024 03:11 (one week ago) link
Exactly! Tbh I hadn't thought of the employment law angle until you mentioned Ippei's salary and "arbitration" a few weeks back. It has been bothering me ever since.
Parasite is a good reference. And the culture of keeping up and desperation portrayed in Squid Game. There's something so unnecessary here, like this whole Caught Stealing situation should never have happened.
― felicity, Monday, 15 April 2024 03:54 (one week ago) link
f., I would like to declare that I/we are extremely fortunate to have someone of your background, experience and wisdom posting on this silly board.
I may have missed the opportunity to tell you but I always appreciate you!
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Monday, 15 April 2024 04:00 (one week ago) link
You're too kind but it's appreciated nonetheless.
May all your tacos come in 10s :)
― felicity, Monday, 15 April 2024 04:06 (one week ago) link
ah... such simpler times...
!!!!! Just realized I met Shohei's translator a long time ago when he was a fresh faced Red Sox employee... let me go dig up a picture lol.― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, December 8, 2023 3:44 PM (four months ago)You met Ippei? Wow!― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, December 8, 2023 3:47 PM (four months ago)I can't find it (my flickr account is now paywalled?). I sat next to him and Hideki Okajima at a sushi bar in SF when the Red Sox were in town to face the A's.― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, December 8, 2023 3:55 PM (four months ago)
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, December 8, 2023 3:44 PM (four months ago)
You met Ippei? Wow!
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, December 8, 2023 3:47 PM (four months ago)
I can't find it (my flickr account is now paywalled?). I sat next to him and Hideki Okajima at a sushi bar in SF when the Red Sox were in town to face the A's.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, December 8, 2023 3:55 PM (four months ago)
We've since learned that Ippei was only Okajima's translator for his short (and unfruitful) Spring Training stint with the Yankees which means the interpreter I met when Okajima was with the Red Sox was Ryo Shinkawa...
At any rate, here is a picture of Okajima's signature on MY translator lol, my trusty Sharp PW-SH4 which was a constant companion in my oversees biz journeys when an interpreter was unavailable.
https://i.imgur.com/jPik9IE.png
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 21:35 (one week ago) link
You met Ippei? Wow!― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, December 8, 2023 3:47 PM (four months ago)lmaooooo
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 21:38 (one week ago) link
We are all Ippei
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 21:43 (one week ago) link
Wrong Ippei address.
btw I don't think flickr is paywalled. But I seem to remember they did do something funky a while back that required going in and adjusting settings if you want any of your photos to be public.
― felicity, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 21:49 (one week ago) link
Yeah, I couldn't find that pic when I first searched flickr but I was able to find it when I searched by year and location: 2008 @ Sakana Sushi
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 21:59 (one week ago) link
I saw Okajima pitch (LOOGy) the following year @ Fenway...
YOUR baseball photos thread
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 22:10 (one week ago) link
450ftHardest hit ball by ohtani so farHardest hit ball in 2024Hardest hit ball by a Dodger in the statcast eraJust a bonkers bomb
https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/s/OPXxm8nszD
― H.P, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 02:08 (yesterday) link
I know his HR is the big story, but (from Posnanski):
In case you haven’t been staying up for West Coast games, Shohei Ohtani is hitting .364/.430/.677 with 11 doubles in 25 games. As great as Ohtani has been, he’s never been much of a doubles hitter; his career high in doubles was 30 in 2022.
As longtime readers know, I spent a lot of time rooting for someone to hit 60 doubles in a season. It has not happened since 1936. Freddie Freeman ALMOST did it last year (he finished with 59), and Nick Castellanos ALMOST did it in 2019 (he finished with 58), so the dream goes on.
If Shohei Ohtani is the guy who challenges for 60 doubles this year, I might just explode in happiness.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 18:40 (yesterday) link
Yeah, he's hitting 99% of his balls to right field (Source: eye test) and if they're a little further to the right than to the middle of right field, they end up doubles. Happens a lot.
― H.P, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 22:34 (yesterday) link
make it 13 doubles in 26
― H.P, Thursday, 25 April 2024 00:54 (five hours ago) link
On pace for 81. Easy.
― H.P, Thursday, 25 April 2024 00:55 (five hours ago) link
Wtf 14 in 26. He gets a double in the 8th, and the 9th!
― H.P, Thursday, 25 April 2024 01:18 (five hours ago) link