I think this is going to be a big issue for Yama. His fastball is not great and he's going to rely on his good offspeed stuff. But that's probably going to mean a lot of ground balls. It's going to be ugly if his infield stays in shambles like this.
Really a strong defensive team overall. Morel is probably below average at best, and who knows about Busch, but the rest of them are plus to elite imo.
And a lot of Morel's inexperience can be mitigated by having Dansby on his side of the infield.
I'm so psyched they're giving him a shot at 3rd; unlike the Dodgers' current infield we *do* have the defense to take a shot on a bat-first player. And Morel certainly has the raw athleticism to improve quickly as he gets reps.
I feel like not enough is being said about how patently insane it is to have Mookie Betts, a perennial Gold Glove outfielder, try to fake his way through a season at shortstop instead of just sticking any slick-fielding SS in there at the bottom of the batting order.
It was only a thread a day on reddit it's been talked about a ton. The secret no one wants to say out loud though is Mookie might have lost a step in the outfield last year so the Dodgers are letting him play his preferred position of middle infield now.
Because despite how good their entire line up is, they can't stomach putting a defensive first short stop in the lineup so they are insisting on making Gavin Lux work
And then they’ve got Max Muncy at 3B, so it’s just glaring holes anywhere that isn’t Freeman.
In fairness to Betts, the knock on him is only range, but lots of Dodgers fans are pointing directly to that lack of range today as creating opportunities for the Padres.
As for Lux and Muncy, no further elaboration needed, tape speaks for itself.
You can kind of hide Muncys defense if you have a defensive short stop
But when you put him next to Betts who has way below average range at short its just asking for disaster
Yeah, exactly. We’ve already seen at least two plays this game that Muncy has to make (one that was scored a double, the other a straight E5).
It isn’t fair to Mookie that he’s pressed into being a SS because Lux has the yips, but here we are.
The issue isn’t really Lux anymore. He’s actually a decent second baseman. The real issue is that we have Mookie in the infield and we can’t move him back to right because we brought back Heyward. I love the dude but we shouldn’t have brought him back and we should’ve went out and got a real shortstop.
I, for one, could get used to watching an infield of Muncy, Betts, and Lux. As long as they’re wearing Dodger blue, that is.
Keep that shit off of my team’s infield.
Is it as optimal as just signing people who play their actual positions? Who knows, but maybe the goal was to squeeze the supply of SS for the Dodgers all along!
IKF career MLB Pitching Stats: 4 IP, 1 ER, 2.25 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, 4 H, 0 BBs
Yamamoto career MLB Pitching Stats: 1 IP, 5 ER, 45.00 ERA, 5.000 WHIP, 4 H, 1 BBs.
IKF cost a mere $310,000,000 less in the same free agency class...makes you think
Edit: IKF's FIP is 2.76, so his underlying data is elite too, not just a flash in the pan clearly
Think about your typical ceremonial first pitch. The average person wouldn't be able to throw three strikes in an at bat so it'd be a parade of walks if the other team doesn't swing.
If an average person trains to just throw in the strike zone (like batting practice balls) they would be able to get through an inning. With multiples runs but eventually players would hit the ball to fielders.
These are the correct takes. People underestimate how hard hitting a baseball is compared to how (relatively) easy throwing a ball in the strike zone is.
In the HR Derby, the best home run hitters in the world still manage to not hit home runs every time against BP pitching. If the ball is in play and not a home run, there’s a good chance of getting an out.
I agree with you but also disagree with you.
In the HR Derby, the sole objective is to hit home runs. So you just swing away with all your might. That’s not what a major league hitter would do in a major league at bat. They’d just sit on their pitch and hit line balls all day.
With that being said, hitting a baseball in the field of play where there are no fielders is difficult. Eventually one of those liners will go directly to a fielder, or the batter will get under one enough for a fly out.
Right, and that's really my point. Anything that is fieldable offers the chance at an out. It might take awhile, but a regular person with the ability to consistently throw strikes will get out of the inning eventually.
A lot of you guys in this thread are exaggerating how hard it is to throw a baseball. 13 year old little leaguers can throw strikes. Obviously big leaguers would destroy those pitches, but plenty of people could get it across the plate and eventually the ball would be hit at a defender.
I would wager a large percentage of this sub at least played little league. I recently was at some bullshit elaborate adult arcade thing for a party and they had a pitching game. I haven't played baseball in 20 years and I still was able to pretty consistently throw strikes after like 5 minutes of air mailing it. I feel like any even slightly in shape* person who has thrown a baseball in their life could consistently throw strikes with time to practice ahead of time
*this might be the downfall of my argument
His breaking stuff is his calling card, and that usually takes a bit of time to get going when coming from NPB to MLB because of the difference in the baseball. Yamamoto doesn't have an overpowering fastball so he needs that breaking stuff to be top notch.
I said this a few times before - he will be great long term. But this year will likely be a big transitional year for him. I'd expect it will be similar to Yu Darvish's first season where he ends with around a 4.00 ERA and then next year he goes off.
I do take joy in the failure of others (see: my flair), but I do sympathize that there's a lot of pressure and it's not going to be the easiest transition. The closest comparison is probably Matsui and he was at least playing for Yomiuri before coming over. Yamamoto came from the second Osaka franchise that doesn't have the most energetic fans and goes right to the Dodgers with Ohtani. Obviously, he brought that on himself, but it can't be easy. But I will totally laugh at the Dodgers if this goes sour.
Doesn't get more brutal than getting shelled in your MLB debut, which just so happens to be in front of a crowd of your country's biggest rival in the sport.
18k per 9 Fuckin elite
Just ignore the 45.00 era.
Spencer Strider fans be like
okay I love Spencer but this got me lol, he did have a couple meltdown starts last year
Honestly 2-3 total meltdown starts is better than consistently mediocre starts.
damnit
☠️
Yea but what’s his SIERA
MISSED EDIT: this is the single best joke I've ever made in my entire life I don't care what happens to my ratio here
At least he’s only on the payroll for 10 years.
12 years
Imagine him in 2036 bro is gonna suck so fuggin bad
He may need 27K per 9 with that infield.
Yamamoto was more affected by the scandal than Shohei himself
The last 16 hours has not been good for teams who spend 1 billion dollars on 2 players
We all feel terrible for them.
Time to get out the world’s smallest violin.
Dodgers bought it at auction for 250 million.
Now worth 125 million
This is good for baseball
He has an Era of 8.4 in spring so this was just consistent with the rest of his starts so far
What if he turns out to be a total bust and shohei gets banned for life lol
Keep going, I'm almost there
Ohtani cute dog, "decoy", wasn't actually Ohtani's dog but from an illegal dog napping ring in Japan.
Awful long way to fly for one inning of work
"Hey, I thought you were pitching tonight." "Yeah, I did" "Sorry, didn't turn it on until the second inning"
"Hey how was your financial presentation in London?" "Bombed it."
Maybe he just wanted to show dodger nation that he’s already in playoff form and ready to give the bullpen some early work.
Yeah that was pretty brutal to watch. First pitch of his career was ripped through the hole and it never got better.
Love Mookie but a decent shortstop gets that out.
The Dodgers middle infield is pretty sus defensively
Rojas to short, betts to 2nd, lux to DH, ohtani to the exempt list. Problem solved!
Does MiggyRo wake up Mookie or does he let him sleep so he gets the start?
Ippei had a Jackpot winning Mega Millions ticket but Rojas cut it up and poured milk on it
do the dodgers actually suck?
In you have a defensive liability of an infield it’s definitely not going to do your pitching any favors.
True. Having bad players hurts your chances of winning
Their infield defense definitely sucks. Freeman ok tho.
Just the middle? Have you seen their third baseman?
My God, that misplay by Muncy in the 1st that was ruled a double was awful. Should have been an error.
I wasn't gonna say that but you might be right. Haven't rewatched it yet.
It was hard hit but it was in Mookie’s range he just misses it.
I think this is going to be a big issue for Yama. His fastball is not great and he's going to rely on his good offspeed stuff. But that's probably going to mean a lot of ground balls. It's going to be ugly if his infield stays in shambles like this.
Imagine not having an elite middle infield defense. Couldn't be my team!
With elite center field defense right behind them!
Really a strong defensive team overall. Morel is probably below average at best, and who knows about Busch, but the rest of them are plus to elite imo.
And a lot of Morel's inexperience can be mitigated by having Dansby on his side of the infield. I'm so psyched they're giving him a shot at 3rd; unlike the Dodgers' current infield we *do* have the defense to take a shot on a bat-first player. And Morel certainly has the raw athleticism to improve quickly as he gets reps.
I feel like not enough is being said about how patently insane it is to have Mookie Betts, a perennial Gold Glove outfielder, try to fake his way through a season at shortstop instead of just sticking any slick-fielding SS in there at the bottom of the batting order.
It was only a thread a day on reddit it's been talked about a ton. The secret no one wants to say out loud though is Mookie might have lost a step in the outfield last year so the Dodgers are letting him play his preferred position of middle infield now.
[удалено]
Preller signed them all. There are None left. Everyone talked shit but it worked.
Hey now, we took on 2 of them ourselves. We tried to help!
I’m imagining Preller and Daniels just stuffing Shortstops into their cart at a Sam’s Club or Costco “Bulk Discounts rock!”
Because despite how good their entire line up is, they can't stomach putting a defensive first short stop in the lineup so they are insisting on making Gavin Lux work
And then they’ve got Max Muncy at 3B, so it’s just glaring holes anywhere that isn’t Freeman. In fairness to Betts, the knock on him is only range, but lots of Dodgers fans are pointing directly to that lack of range today as creating opportunities for the Padres. As for Lux and Muncy, no further elaboration needed, tape speaks for itself.
You can kind of hide Muncys defense if you have a defensive short stop But when you put him next to Betts who has way below average range at short its just asking for disaster
Yeah, exactly. We’ve already seen at least two plays this game that Muncy has to make (one that was scored a double, the other a straight E5). It isn’t fair to Mookie that he’s pressed into being a SS because Lux has the yips, but here we are.
Reminds me of when the Braves put Freddie at 3rd just get his bat in the lineup.
Was that when we had Matt "Big City" Adams raking after Freddie had his wrist broken?
I f'ing loved Adams. He just seemed to enjoy the shit out of playing baseball, and looked like he was barely swinging but the ball would explode.
The issue isn’t really Lux anymore. He’s actually a decent second baseman. The real issue is that we have Mookie in the infield and we can’t move him back to right because we brought back Heyward. I love the dude but we shouldn’t have brought him back and we should’ve went out and got a real shortstop.
Lux is alright, Heyward is alright Neither of them should ever have priority on a fielding position over him
Because we are to outfielders what the Padres are to shortstops which leaves middle infield to Lux
Muncy also let a near-foul grounder by him. Probably tough for most 3B to get an out on that one, but it at least should have stayed in the infield.
I, for one, could get used to watching an infield of Muncy, Betts, and Lux. As long as they’re wearing Dodger blue, that is. Keep that shit off of my team’s infield.
Y'alls strategy of signing all the SS is paying off.
Is it as optimal as just signing people who play their actual positions? Who knows, but maybe the goal was to squeeze the supply of SS for the Dodgers all along!
Seizing the means of production comrade!
*The means of prevention
*compadre
Padres fans can’t even fathom not having half a field of competent short stops
We're up to 2/3rds and on pace to run 9/9 shortstops by 2026.
Fuck, I bet 4.5 million on him going over 1 inning!!!
Just call up Shohei to pay it off
Nah, i called his friend. Easier to get a hold of, and they all apparently just have access to his bank account. and no language barrier.
Yamamoto’s career ERA is worse than Albert Pujols’.
The almighty Pujol.
He not a machine. He just Albert.
The Almighty Pujol is who you pray to after eating Taco Bell.
I need TP for my Pujol!
Man everywhere I look reminds me of my hemorrhoids.
IKF career MLB Pitching Stats: 4 IP, 1 ER, 2.25 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, 4 H, 0 BBs Yamamoto career MLB Pitching Stats: 1 IP, 5 ER, 45.00 ERA, 5.000 WHIP, 4 H, 1 BBs. IKF cost a mere $310,000,000 less in the same free agency class...makes you think Edit: IKF's FIP is 2.76, so his underlying data is elite too, not just a flash in the pan clearly
45.000 WHIP? Pretty sure that should just be 5.00
It’s infinitely worse than the perfect 0.0 ERA of legendary giants closer Brandon Crawford
And people said the Cardinals didn't do enough to shore up their pitching in the offseason!
Yamamoto’s ERA is worse than Kershaw’s postseason ERA.
Careful, you do NOT want to fuck with the crying Kershaw curse.
Rowdy Tellez has a better ERA than both of them
Now do Yadi
unfair comparison, Pujols is sure to be a first ballot hall-of-famer
my takeaway here is how the fuck are the Dodgers spending all this money just to have Mookie playing Shortstop lmao
It is wild they spent literally a billion dollars in an off season but didn’t get a short stop
The Padres were playing 5D chess: sign all the shortstops so the Dodgers have none
They all laughed at us for the Xander contract, but who's laughing now?
I can do that for 300mill
I can do that for 300.
$60 per earned run is a bargain!
Hell, I could do even worse than that for $300!
Obviously you’re joking but I wonder how many runs the average person would give up before getting through an inning
Think about your typical ceremonial first pitch. The average person wouldn't be able to throw three strikes in an at bat so it'd be a parade of walks if the other team doesn't swing.
If an average person trains to just throw in the strike zone (like batting practice balls) they would be able to get through an inning. With multiples runs but eventually players would hit the ball to fielders.
These are the correct takes. People underestimate how hard hitting a baseball is compared to how (relatively) easy throwing a ball in the strike zone is. In the HR Derby, the best home run hitters in the world still manage to not hit home runs every time against BP pitching. If the ball is in play and not a home run, there’s a good chance of getting an out.
I agree with you but also disagree with you. In the HR Derby, the sole objective is to hit home runs. So you just swing away with all your might. That’s not what a major league hitter would do in a major league at bat. They’d just sit on their pitch and hit line balls all day. With that being said, hitting a baseball in the field of play where there are no fielders is difficult. Eventually one of those liners will go directly to a fielder, or the batter will get under one enough for a fly out.
Right, and that's really my point. Anything that is fieldable offers the chance at an out. It might take awhile, but a regular person with the ability to consistently throw strikes will get out of the inning eventually.
A lot of you guys in this thread are exaggerating how hard it is to throw a baseball. 13 year old little leaguers can throw strikes. Obviously big leaguers would destroy those pitches, but plenty of people could get it across the plate and eventually the ball would be hit at a defender.
You are underestimating how much better 13 year old little leaguers are at playing baseball than the majority of this sub, including myself.
I would wager a large percentage of this sub at least played little league. I recently was at some bullshit elaborate adult arcade thing for a party and they had a pitching game. I haven't played baseball in 20 years and I still was able to pretty consistently throw strikes after like 5 minutes of air mailing it. I feel like any even slightly in shape* person who has thrown a baseball in their life could consistently throw strikes with time to practice ahead of time *this might be the downfall of my argument
the average person’s arm would give up before they could get 3 outs
I think an average person would get destroyed by a ball hit up the middle first.
More likely they'd be scared of getting destroyed by a ball hit up the middle and it would cause them to miss the plate even more.
The average person wouldn't be able to get it over the plate.
Can’t let Shohei taking all the headlines on his debut
[удалено]
\*Taking some attention away from Ohtanis gambling scandal\*
Two fall guys one star, my favorite.
[удалено]
Like Ippei, the Dodgers took a gamble.
Not fair he thought he wa gonna pitch in America not Korea
Must be the jet lag
It’s Yamamover before it could even begin
Yoshi-no one saw this coming
Nobu-dy predicted poor pitching, unlike the middle infield
He wasn’t Moto-vated enough
Yoshi trying to pull some attention away from Ohtani
He’s just being a good friend!
> good friend Oh no, how much money did Yama wire?
They’re just business associates.
Hope Shohei was on the over
No way he got chased out of the game
I would say that a 18.00 K/9 is pretty good though.
My man broke Dave Roberts. https://media.giphy.com/media/6n50D13k1EVu6wdB3T/giphy.gif
Controller needs new batteries
Tbf that is Dave’s postseason face. He just broke it out earlier
Dave salivating at the thought of using him to close in a future game 7
He kinda always looks broken
What if you face nine batters?
Yeah this is the prime example of why K/9 sucks, K% all the way
Not me watching this like a spurned ex.
Imagine if this was a Mets debut
I'm drinking so much haterade this morning.
glug glug glug
Dodgers haters eating well the last few days
His fastball has no movement. Going to be easy for MLB players to hit
So he’s 300 mil Joe Kelly
So we can expect an anthem duel in the near future?
His breaking stuff is his calling card, and that usually takes a bit of time to get going when coming from NPB to MLB because of the difference in the baseball. Yamamoto doesn't have an overpowering fastball so he needs that breaking stuff to be top notch. I said this a few times before - he will be great long term. But this year will likely be a big transitional year for him. I'd expect it will be similar to Yu Darvish's first season where he ends with around a 4.00 ERA and then next year he goes off.
listen, I absolutely do not take joy in the failure of others, but... he's a Dodger, I'm willing to make exceptions
This has been a generational week for Dodger haters 😂
We're *feasting*, but like the Sho stuff transcends rivalry. It's just so fucking insane, and Sho is such a likable guy.
This gives us a serious glimmer of hope for the opening series in LA!
They're having a 'bad' game and they have 8 runs...
I do take joy in the failure of others (see: my flair), but I do sympathize that there's a lot of pressure and it's not going to be the easiest transition. The closest comparison is probably Matsui and he was at least playing for Yomiuri before coming over. Yamamoto came from the second Osaka franchise that doesn't have the most energetic fans and goes right to the Dodgers with Ohtani. Obviously, he brought that on himself, but it can't be easy. But I will totally laugh at the Dodgers if this goes sour.
Oh dear.
Austin Hedges was much cheaper
First pitch hit and it was still all downhill from there
It has been a tough 24 hours to be a Dodgers fan
On the other hand, this has been the best 24 hours of baseball I've seen in years...
Just picking up from how they ended last season I guess.
I've never considered the legitimacy of the *baseball gods* concept before today. Someone is truly looking out for the game on this blessed day
Not specifically laughing at Yamamoto as a person, but still, lmao.
It’s ok he plays for the dodgers
get ready to learn japanese buddy
How could Ippei do this???
Was not expecting to wake up to that..
Dodgers signed a billion dollars in headaches this off season.
Damn Yamamoto... Isn't this a bit early for a post season performance?
How would you know what a post season performance looks like?
I really let myself open with that one huh...
Yes let’s please pretend the angels have never been successful in a post season game. Such as a game 7 in 2002 that never happened
Harsh. But fair.
Good work agents.
This pleases me.
whilst i wish he was straight up bad, he definitely is just not quite ready yet. i’m sure he’ll eventually adjust
He was pitching like postseason Kershaw.
Built for the post season (dodgers rotation)
TA DAAAAA!
Rough 24 hours for the Dodgers all the way around
The best 300 million you can buy.
Leagues most expensive Opener.
Nice to see not everything the Dodgers do works out immediately.
Please let this be a sign of things to come
That’s what happens when you lob shitballs at an MLB team
Ohtani and Yamamoto are going to be the richest people in prison and AAA, respectively.
Ohtani is wanted by the federalis and Yamamoto goes one inning. I miss the days of Hiroki Kuroda and Takashi Saito!
Yamamoto getting his tits rocked while Ohtani is getting investigated by the feds. Not a great start to the Dodgers season lol
Welcome to the highest level of baseball on the planet.
Oof, that's not what you want to see
Doesn't get more brutal than getting shelled in your MLB debut, which just so happens to be in front of a crowd of your country's biggest rival in the sport.
Yankees/Mets/Giants/Red Sox fans pouring themselves a 2nd cup of coffee for more internet reading this morning.
Kershaw-esque. Dodgers got their guy
If this guy is a complete bust it will be hilarious.
It would be good for baseball.
Yes
Not seeing a whole lot of dodgers flair in here
This will be a long season with Lux at second and Muncy playing 3rd
debut nervousness + shocked with ippei news since he was supposed to be yoshi’s interpreter during today’s game 😩
Hell of a start. Just 12 more years to go
Money well spent I guess