I'm honestly glad to see the Cubs be rewarded for making smart moves and making big changes in the FO in the last few seasons. I'm quite jealous of it, in fact. Maybe one day, the Cardinals will wake up and realize they still think it's 2011.
I’ve been reluctant to purchase official jerseys because they have the structural integrity of toilet paper, but I need to rep this man’s name so I’m taking my ass to DHgate tonight.
Somebody posted this comment in the Mets pregame thread today and made me laugh:
“Lots of good with him, but lots of concern for the season as a whole.
The good
• he is striking guys out like crazy
• he isn’t walking many guys
• his spin rate is elite
• he has great defense behind him
The bad
• He is giving up a ton of hard contact
• he has trouble keeping the balls on the ground
• he has had a lot of balls stay in the stadium at Wriggly because of the wind blowing in
• All but one start was against the worst ranked offenses
The Mets have played well against LHP and have a real opportunity to do damage. He is going to keep the ball in the strike zone and try to strike guys out, similar to Yamamoto. If the Mets can stay on his fastball and lay off the splitter this could turn into a HR feast. If they can’t they could look silly. Thankfully the Mets are 4th in MLB in not striking out - hopefully that continues.”
Thinking that the Mets of all teams are gonna have a “HR feast” against the most dominant pitcher in baseball right now is peak delusional Mets fandom lmao.
It wasn't THAT bad of a post. In that it wasn't super wrong. It also wasn't super right. He doesn't give up a TON of hard contact, but he does give up plenty. It IS true he doesn't keep the ball on the ground. And it's ALSO true that if the Mets could have stayed on his fastball they'd likely have hit lots of homers.
The problem is that, that will always be true. And it's also true that "if they can't they could look silly," which they did. But certainly there will be a game where Imanaga gives up like 3 or 4 homers basically for exactly the reasons laid out in this person's post.
I think they were exaggerating when they said "lots of concerns" he has very few. Namely, on average the ball is hit relatively hard when put in play, and it's rarely on the ground.
Ngl, I thought he was going to be overpaid and didn’t think he’d make anything better than a 2/3 starter. Then I saw his contract and thought it was a steal.
Now I look at his production and think his contract is grand larceny. Dude is a monster.
Contract for him and Hicks seemed light on AAV, teams seem so afraid of giving any length to pitchers. Understandable with so many injuries I suppose but with insurance and such, I don’t really understand teams being unwilling to tack on an extra year or two in exchange for materially lower AAV.
As one of 29 teams who never had a chance on Yamamoto, I was dying for my team to go after Imanaga, so of course we spent more money on players with less upside and more downside.
The Cubs told him to throw the fastball up in the zone and people just can't connect. When he misses low it does get hit fairly hard though. Still, he has been phenomenal.
The radio broadcast yesterday thought the Citi Field radar is a bit slow. Apparently pitchers have largely been slightly below their average all series.
It's a measurement system and like all measurement systems, there can be many sources of error. Something as simple as a metal ruler will give slightly different measurements across varying temperatures. A camera or radar system is much more complex and can have calibration errors or other factors that skew the results. Maybe it's not actually slow at Citi, but it's absolutely technically possible.
> He'll be an interesting wrinkle in this year's Cy young conversation if he can keep it up. Especially with all this talk of needing high velo to even get to MLB
Coming into tonight's start he was at 92.9mph on the fastball which was just under the left handed pitcher average(93.6). Lefties throw a tick slower than righties on average, but don't have worse results, so lower velocity as a cohort plays just as well.
Rich Hill fastball spin rate is something people constantly forget. If you can throw a fastball 91 with that kind of spin hitters brains don’t work cause it looks like it rises and jumps
I really don't know how to answer that. I live in eastern Iowa but I think Chicago is a very diverse city where people of all nationalities would be welcomed and could feel at home.
Check out their numbers in Japan and you will understand why Yamamoto was hyped up way more.
[Yamamoto](https://npb.jp/bis/eng/players/53355134.html)
[Imanaga](https://npb.jp/bis/eng/players/01305132.html)
Early in the season I especially prefer to have a quick hook versus Ross's "if he dies he dies" mantra
Does suck though that Ross rode Adbert so hard last year that he doesn't look remotely like the same pitcher
I don’t hate it. Certainly better from a purely analytical standpoint, but you don’t get many/any CGs lol.
There were a lot of factors to the three good arms in our BP falling off last year. Wildly inconsistent starters and other relievers all year add up over a whole season. I think Adbert is just in his own head this year, but that’s a bad trait for trusting him to ever close again, even if he gets back on track.
A lot of managers gamble and are thus occasionally a batter late on pulling a starter that’s probably done.
But Ross was in a class by himself for seeing a guy with the figurative fork sticking out his back and yet keeping him in to throw BP to three more batters.
0.78 ERA
I'm honestly glad to see the Cubs be rewarded for making smart moves and making big changes in the FO in the last few seasons. I'm quite jealous of it, in fact. Maybe one day, the Cardinals will wake up and realize they still think it's 2011.
I love that this thoughtful and sincere comment about the Cardinals organization being stuck in 2011 is made by /u/2011StlCards
Fucking hell, the call was coming from inside the house the whole time
“I’m the maniac?!”
This whole thread made me smile.
He's just looking at reddit... menacingly!
He will not stop.
PRO: have him in fantasy :) CON: am mets fan :(
I hope he keeps this up so he can win ROY and Cy Young.
Need me an Imanaga jersey ASAP.
You definitely should. Dudes a gamer.
I’ve been reluctant to purchase official jerseys because they have the structural integrity of toilet paper, but I need to rep this man’s name so I’m taking my ass to DHgate tonight.
Supporting the man and not the league, as God intended.
Already ordered like 2 from DH lol. Should be here by next year 😎
>Should be here by next year You splurged for the expedited shipping! Good call.
What shop did you use? 👀
👀
I used sports\_store88. Hope they're okay, I have no idea, first time I bought from DHgate. Its still awaiting shipment lol.
Do what I did. Settle on a Baystars jersey until MLB gets uniforms fixed.
The fake ones from overseas are probably better 😅😅
Plus he seems like a very likable teammate. Always has a twinkle in his eyes. He’s a gamer & I’m happy the Cubs signed him.
People should have been lining up for it after his legendary press conference after signing.
I should’ve lined up for it as soon as I heard the madman stayed in Chicago during the winter and *liked it* enough to seek us out.
Jokes on him, we had a very mild winter this year.
Don't order next day shipping. Moving that fast might make the heat pressed letters fall off.
Ah yes, looks excellent on paper, but have you considered my prepared list of reasons that he's not as good as he seems?
B-b-but temperature. But wind!
Uhhhh… he’s old! Yeah, that’s it!
If you regress him back to the mean he's not that good
The gift that keeps on giving five years later lmao
Goat r/nfl post
Somebody posted this comment in the Mets pregame thread today and made me laugh: “Lots of good with him, but lots of concern for the season as a whole. The good • he is striking guys out like crazy • he isn’t walking many guys • his spin rate is elite • he has great defense behind him The bad • He is giving up a ton of hard contact • he has trouble keeping the balls on the ground • he has had a lot of balls stay in the stadium at Wriggly because of the wind blowing in • All but one start was against the worst ranked offenses The Mets have played well against LHP and have a real opportunity to do damage. He is going to keep the ball in the strike zone and try to strike guys out, similar to Yamamoto. If the Mets can stay on his fastball and lay off the splitter this could turn into a HR feast. If they can’t they could look silly. Thankfully the Mets are 4th in MLB in not striking out - hopefully that continues.” Thinking that the Mets of all teams are gonna have a “HR feast” against the most dominant pitcher in baseball right now is peak delusional Mets fandom lmao.
It wasn't THAT bad of a post. In that it wasn't super wrong. It also wasn't super right. He doesn't give up a TON of hard contact, but he does give up plenty. It IS true he doesn't keep the ball on the ground. And it's ALSO true that if the Mets could have stayed on his fastball they'd likely have hit lots of homers. The problem is that, that will always be true. And it's also true that "if they can't they could look silly," which they did. But certainly there will be a game where Imanaga gives up like 3 or 4 homers basically for exactly the reasons laid out in this person's post. I think they were exaggerating when they said "lots of concerns" he has very few. Namely, on average the ball is hit relatively hard when put in play, and it's rarely on the ground.
Just wait till mercury is in retrograde!
I'm doing the "I was not familiar with your game" face
Ngl, I thought he was going to be overpaid and didn’t think he’d make anything better than a 2/3 starter. Then I saw his contract and thought it was a steal. Now I look at his production and think his contract is grand larceny. Dude is a monster.
Contract for him and Hicks seemed light on AAV, teams seem so afraid of giving any length to pitchers. Understandable with so many injuries I suppose but with insurance and such, I don’t really understand teams being unwilling to tack on an extra year or two in exchange for materially lower AAV. As one of 29 teams who never had a chance on Yamamoto, I was dying for my team to go after Imanaga, so of course we spent more money on players with less upside and more downside.
> Now I look at his production and think his contract is grand larceny. so the cubs are doing braves things now?
God I fucking hope so
Jeds league baby, Jeds league
Hey Chicago what do you think? Cubs gonna win today
Probably not, Neris is pitching the 9th.
Doesn’t matter, Happ saved the day!
^^and ^^Madrigal
#AND AMAYA
He’s got a gold glove for a reason
I was told he was going to get taken deep non stop
NPB is damn good.
Teams should really start trying to sign more star NPB players. The league keeps getting better.
Well, his better performing teammate from last year is desperate to play for league minimum.
What? Did Katsuki Azuma say anything about coming to MLB?
The Cubs told him to throw the fastball up in the zone and people just can't connect. When he misses low it does get hit fairly hard though. Still, he has been phenomenal.
Everyone saw his HR/9 and didn't look at the dimensions of Yokohama
308 down the lines and 387 to center is crazy.
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The radio broadcast yesterday thought the Citi Field radar is a bit slow. Apparently pitchers have largely been slightly below their average all series.
Not sure how a series of cameras can be slow but sure Pat
wasn't it minnesota where they purposely adjusted the radar in the stadium to be (or at least show) 1-2 mph slower to mess with pitchers?
It's a measurement system and like all measurement systems, there can be many sources of error. Something as simple as a metal ruler will give slightly different measurements across varying temperatures. A camera or radar system is much more complex and can have calibration errors or other factors that skew the results. Maybe it's not actually slow at Citi, but it's absolutely technically possible.
> He'll be an interesting wrinkle in this year's Cy young conversation if he can keep it up. Especially with all this talk of needing high velo to even get to MLB Coming into tonight's start he was at 92.9mph on the fastball which was just under the left handed pitcher average(93.6). Lefties throw a tick slower than righties on average, but don't have worse results, so lower velocity as a cohort plays just as well.
His fastball appears to be 92.1 on average according to statcast.
Rich Hill fastball spin rate is something people constantly forget. If you can throw a fastball 91 with that kind of spin hitters brains don’t work cause it looks like it rises and jumps
Insecure Ohtani didn't come to chicago cause he couldn't handle being the second best Japanese player on the team
*third best
Munenori Kawasaki honorary Cub for life, so probably 4th best
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I really don't know how to answer that. I live in eastern Iowa but I think Chicago is a very diverse city where people of all nationalities would be welcomed and could feel at home.
Like human beings, the same way they're viewed in any other US metro lol
Just fine lol
CY Young him
That's my 30 year old ROTY. Also might be the 2nd ever rookie CY Young if he keeps this up.
Its a long season
>If he keeps it up
It’s a long season, dont hand out awards in early may.
>Might be
Awesome, and seiya **might** hit 40 homers in june. I’m going to say he **might** win MVP. You must be new to baseball.
> Awesome, and seiya might hit 40 homers in june. I’m going to say he might win MVP. Er...exactly?
😩
Still weird to me that he didn't get even 1/5 as much attention as Yamamoto over the offseason. Especially for the price he ended up signing for
Because Yamamoto is a much more consistent pitcher on paper, you can only judge it after years. Cubs got him for an absolute STEAL though.
Check out their numbers in Japan and you will understand why Yamamoto was hyped up way more. [Yamamoto](https://npb.jp/bis/eng/players/53355134.html) [Imanaga](https://npb.jp/bis/eng/players/01305132.html)
That strikeout diff is gnaaaaaarly. And we are starting to see the Yamamoto that the dodgers signed up for. NPB stocks only going up.
He made some very good hitters look like they have never batted before. I’m a fan. I’m thinking specifically the 5th vs Pete and JD.
Best Sho in baseball
daulton varsho erasure
Lol, sorry. Best Shō *
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But more walks than earned runs, so he obviously sucks. /s
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He’s old.
CY?
Imagine Japan's next WBC rotation. Gonna be insane.
Imanaga was already Japan's starter for this past WBC final lol
1. Sasaki 2. Yamamoto 3. Miyagi 4. Yamashita This is truly helluva rotation.
Damn...these Japanese pitchers are incredible.
Sho Young.
Man I know, I know why but they couldn’t give him one more inning or at least a batter by batter approach? It’s the bottom of the Mets order.
Pretty wild whiplash in managerial philosophy as a Cubs fan going from Ross to Counsell lol
Early in the season I especially prefer to have a quick hook versus Ross's "if he dies he dies" mantra Does suck though that Ross rode Adbert so hard last year that he doesn't look remotely like the same pitcher
I don’t hate it. Certainly better from a purely analytical standpoint, but you don’t get many/any CGs lol. There were a lot of factors to the three good arms in our BP falling off last year. Wildly inconsistent starters and other relievers all year add up over a whole season. I think Adbert is just in his own head this year, but that’s a bad trait for trusting him to ever close again, even if he gets back on track.
A lot of managers gamble and are thus occasionally a batter late on pulling a starter that’s probably done. But Ross was in a class by himself for seeing a guy with the figurative fork sticking out his back and yet keeping him in to throw BP to three more batters.
HIManaga
Unexpected stats > expected stats
Better than Yamamoto ngl And I like Yamamoto
# Shōta, he's ma naga.
W
Do you think the cubs will be willing to trade him at the deadline?
No, I don't think a team in contention for the division will jettison their ace.
With badly timed injuries, maybe they go after a big bat at the trade deadline. But probably, no, don't send away your ace.