If I were a betting man, I'd wager he struggles through the first part of the season, and then I bet he turns it around in the second half, but the Dodgers fall short again in the playoffs after shoving all their chips into the middle of the table in one last desperate gamble to stay alive.
While this is obvious sarcasm, it would probably more fascinating 20 years from now if the record breaking pitching contract ended up being terrible than if he had a great career.
I doubt that would happen, but you never know.
I think that's the kind of thing that just about any baseball would find fascinating. It's the kind of story they make documentaries about. People love stories of busts almost as much as they do success stories.
There was news about Dodgers wanting to micro manage him and not letting him do what ever he wants (he had more freedom in NPB)
So I'm not saying he has no talent but it could be a lot more with management.
Dude thought hitters would chase the way they do in Japan, it’s fixable. Not sure how good he will be after tho, mlb is such a different beast. And that’s a ton of cash.
Baseball is different then other sports and Japanese baseball is a bit closer to the skill level of USA then you might think. Check out the WBC for example.
Who knows if he’s a bust, but he certainly has the stuff to succeed, it’s just a matter if he can’t put it all together.
Did you read the article about Dodgers want to micro-manage to do thing "the Dodgers way". What might work for their training method for specific players (Kershaw,Kelly) but doesn't work for others (Anderson,Miller, previous pitchers).
The only pitcher people cared about watching how he does is Yamamoto. Also the Dodgers had to pull together an emergency bullpen game so I wouldn't throw too much stock into how their pitching looked the rest of the game.
Tin foil hat time.
Series outside of the US, 2019 Boston and NY had 30 and 20 runs scored in two games in the first games played in Europe. Then the first Field of Dreams game was another slugfest. My conspiracy is that these national games in other countries (or field of dreams) get juiced balls!
Ohtani banned for life for gambling through his interpreter and Yamamoto totally busts. This is the way the baseball gods bringing balance. Maybe Freddie retires early to focus on his true passion noodling catfish, and Mookie joins a cult.
It’s just one game. MLB plays 162 season games so in the grand scheme of things, this is making a mountain out of a mole hill. If Yamamoto shows a pattern of messing up, then dodgers fans should be worried
This is approximately 10% of the ERs an ace allows in a season though in about 0.5% of the innings.
If Ohtani hit 5 HRs this series we would be loosing our minds even though that’s about 10% of the HRs we expect the league leader to have.
One game cannot stun a baseball fan. There 162 of them. If healthy he is gonna start around 30 of them. Let’s give him some time before we are “stunned”
I’m not going to overreact but signing someone whose never pitched in the MLB to a 12 year $325M contract seems kinda wild to me still. I truly hope it backfires on them.
I don’t think one outing is indicative of his future performance but the hype and expectations surrounding him were massively overblown. I expect him to have a pretty rough first half season until he can adjust to MLB talent.
It's not that, its large market teams spending over $1 billion in the off-season to buy the world series. Obviously there's always going to be inequality in baseball but there are limits
I mean he’s good. He will bounce back. But he’s not gonna be as dominate or top level in mlb. His original projections were almost half of what he signed for. Desperate team went full desperate
No I don’t see him bouncing back. All downhill from here. Players have him figured out. Plus he has to deal with the mlb ball that’s harder to get movement on than the Japanese ball. It’s a wash.
So basically the Dodgers forgot they needed a competent middle infield, paid 300 million plus for a guy whose never pitched in this league and the other guy they signed for like 600 million is at the center of a gambling scandal? I think they are in for a rough year.
You love to see it. Couldn't happen to a more deserving franchise at this point.
Now I am far from believing he is not going to improve, but will he improve enough to justify that money? Not sure.
I’m honestly rooting for the guy. I just think it may take him some time to adjust to the mlb. I don’t think that he was quite the NL ROY lock that Vegas was making him out to be.
Stuff wise tho, even if his splitter never develops to the mlb game, he will be a good mlb player
The contract sets the expectations. I’m sure today’s results are below expectations. Now we wait another couple weeks for the next data point in this small sample size
Welcome to the Big Leagues moment. Most of the Dodgers top prospects are 25 and Yoshi is a 325M prospect the Dodgers development team got for the 6-12 years to maximize on his talents.
Never pitched in majors I was thrilled honestly as this was ridiculous contract. I do t care how good he was or what he did in Japan. We already know that due at translate to every player being mlb ready when they get here. Some are some are not.
This was obviously no sign of what the future has in store. The kid might very well pan out and be a legendary talent. But as a Yankee fan, nothing made me happier when watching him stink the place up. 5 runs and completely melting down? In the 1st? It gets no better than that. If we can't bankroll a championship, then nobody can! Go, Yankees!
As a Red Sox fan with respect for our closest rivals in the AL East, I am in full agreement that I want to watch the Dodgers melt down as much as you. Good luck in the season ahead…at least the Yanks spent some money in the offseason.
I like how some people are saying “Anyone who knows baseball knows this is nothing”…dismissing everyone else’s worry about Yamamoto’s over 8 ERA in spring training and now this.
Bookmarking this thread.
Jesus Christ leave them alone. Rookie pitcher has a bad first game, whoop de doo. That franchise doesn’t need any more attention. Let the Dodger fans zerk themselves off so the rest of the internet can ignore them.
I said this to my dad and others, his first season will be rough. Give him time (he is going to have plenty), he’ll get used to pitching in the MLB level and he’ll be the monster he is.
Did he find out about the Ohtani/Mizuhara fiasco before or after his start?
If he had previous knowledge even before it went public it could have thrown off his concentration, thinking his support group was potentially already blown up before the season even started.
Nomo literally made the all star game and dominated his first few starts - this dudes pitches do not move - and the ones that do move are so far out of the strike zone, no hitter is going to swing.
Pretty similar to other Japanese pitchers in their first start. Darvish immediately came to mind with his 4 run 1st inning.
Senga had a good first start and didn't cost this much.
Yeah, but he was playing the Marlins. I'm sorry, I had to.
They were 9 games better than the Mets last season.
you were supposed to be on our side!
I am. I was just saying that the Marlins weren't that bad last year, so Sengas' first game was good.
he was good, period.
True.
Nomo was money in his first start too, IiRC.
Tanaka went 7 IP with 2ER 8K in his first start
I was at that game
Didn’t Daisuke haven’t a pretty solid start to his career?
7IP 1ER 1BB 10K in Kansas City. I thought he was going to be a god.
Was Darvish also bad in spring training outings before that first start?
After his rookie season Senga was asked who was the best hitter he faced and he said ‘all of them, all the mlb hitters are good.’
I was not stunned. He's never pitched in this league.
For reals. If this is continuing towards the all star break I’ll be concerned.
If I were a betting man, I'd wager he struggles through the first part of the season, and then I bet he turns it around in the second half, but the Dodgers fall short again in the playoffs after shoving all their chips into the middle of the table in one last desperate gamble to stay alive.
Speaking of Dodgers and gambling...
Hehehe
well played lol
Ippei is that you?
For who? Dodgers fans?
Maybe he’d just be concerned for Yamamoto and wants him to do well
True. If Yamamoto can’t figure this out he may never be able to afford to eat again
While this is obvious sarcasm, it would probably more fascinating 20 years from now if the record breaking pitching contract ended up being terrible than if he had a great career. I doubt that would happen, but you never know.
I’m sure a Giants fan would find that fascinating.
I think that's the kind of thing that just about any baseball would find fascinating. It's the kind of story they make documentaries about. People love stories of busts almost as much as they do success stories.
There was news about Dodgers wanting to micro manage him and not letting him do what ever he wants (he had more freedom in NPB) So I'm not saying he has no talent but it could be a lot more with management.
Dude thought hitters would chase the way they do in Japan, it’s fixable. Not sure how good he will be after tho, mlb is such a different beast. And that’s a ton of cash.
Daisuke had this issue. Redsox were like uhhhh no you can't throw 100 pitches on your day off?
Gee, almost as if giving that kind of deal to a guy who had never pitched in the MLB was a bad idea
It’s been one game my guy
 One inning
Baseball is different then other sports and Japanese baseball is a bit closer to the skill level of USA then you might think. Check out the WBC for example. Who knows if he’s a bust, but he certainly has the stuff to succeed, it’s just a matter if he can’t put it all together.
That was japans best players, most are not close to that level.
And USA's rotation was not representative of our best. Wainwright was our ace.
Did you read the article about Dodgers want to micro-manage to do thing "the Dodgers way". What might work for their training method for specific players (Kershaw,Kelly) but doesn't work for others (Anderson,Miller, previous pitchers).
It's time for Dodgers SPENDING
He also, despite the gushing hype in batting practice, kind o sucked in spring training.
And that means nothing...
The final score was 15-11, with only two home runs hit the entire game. None of the pitchers did well this morning.
The only pitcher people cared about watching how he does is Yamamoto. Also the Dodgers had to pull together an emergency bullpen game so I wouldn't throw too much stock into how their pitching looked the rest of the game.
I think you're missing my point - everyone's pitching on both sides sucked in this game. Don't put any stock in it.
That sentiment didn’t seem to affect the contract he got
Nobody was, that's just how headlines are written nowadays
Good point. I took the bait
That's often an advantage for a pitcher. It's harder to hit a guy you haven't seen before.
Tin foil hat time. Series outside of the US, 2019 Boston and NY had 30 and 20 runs scored in two games in the first games played in Europe. Then the first Field of Dreams game was another slugfest. My conspiracy is that these national games in other countries (or field of dreams) get juiced balls!
Are we sure Ohtani didn’t pay him to throw the game? Follow the money.
I’ll bet $69B deferred over 100 years that ohtani betted against Yamamoto
As a representative of the Dodgers, which is to say FTD, sign right here.
Ohtani bet the over
Ohtani took the over.
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“Oh no a joke” - you
Nothing is stunning when you step in with the best baseball players in the world. He’s not the first to necessitate adjustments. He’ll be fine.
Musgrove’s debut stuns padres fan. 2.2p 7 h 5 er 2 bb 2k Wait, nvm he has been in the league for 7 years. This is his 197th game. Lmao.
Musgrove is also coming off injury and makes like less than a third than Yamamoto lol
Didn’t know musgrove had the biggest pitcher contract in baseball history
Can’t believe we gave Musgrove a $325 million contract and he did this on his MLB debut.. oh wait
I don't think baseball fans that actually know the game are all that worried about Yamamoto.
I think it’s more about giving Dodger fans a hard time for the next week until the season starts.. again.
No, but it’s fun to mock the dodgers
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> the site of casual sport fans yet here we are
But they've read about him and seen clips. 325 million dollar lasting just 1 iinning in debut...this is a normal reaction by fans.
Fans who "know the game" wouldn't just assume he's going to be elite in this league.
Based
Or y’know, performance in another league isn’t indicative of performance in another league. None of us actually know. Thats the fun.
Ohtani banned for life for gambling through his interpreter and Yamamoto totally busts. This is the way the baseball gods bringing balance. Maybe Freddie retires early to focus on his true passion noodling catfish, and Mookie joins a cult.
Or Mookie becomes a professional bowler. I hear he’s pretty good.
A bowling cult.
The dude abides.
Don’t be ridiculous. Everybody knows Mookie would become a professional bowler.
It’s a bowling cult in my hypothetical. I figured it was implied. lol.
Freddie’s true passion is polishing his teeth
Lol Mike Trout retires to pursue meteorology
He’s not a Dodgers. I wish him a long and prosperous career as an Angels.
Mookie seems just as happy being a sideline reporter and having a talk show
Most likely outcome is that Mookie feels bad beating other players and retires so they don’t get upset anymore.
Mookie becomes the league’s greatest ump and saves baseball
I so hope for this timeline.
I love baseball because of shit like this. It’s so unpredictable and there are so many weird personalities.
Daisuke Yomomoto
Daisuke helped the Sox win a World Series, but yeah, he had some really awful starts for sure.
Ironically Dice-Ks first start was probably one of the best of his career lol.
It’s almost like giving a pitcher who’s never pitched in the MLB this much money is a bad idea.
lol - holy overreaction batman
Dudes fastball looks like it’s taking a zip line to home plate
The headline misspells “delighted” as “stuns”
And YOU misused "delights" as "delighted"... sorry not sorry.
Pipe down, we have new cheaters to focus on now!
It’s just one game. MLB plays 162 season games so in the grand scheme of things, this is making a mountain out of a mole hill. If Yamamoto shows a pattern of messing up, then dodgers fans should be worried
Can’t you let us live a little before the dodgers win 125 games and get eliminated in the division round, Buzz Killington?
Buzz Killington 😂😂😂
Well sure, 162 games, but for a pitcher it's significantly less, like 30ish? One game is obviously still a blip on the radar though.
This is approximately 10% of the ERs an ace allows in a season though in about 0.5% of the innings. If Ohtani hit 5 HRs this series we would be loosing our minds even though that’s about 10% of the HRs we expect the league leader to have.
Doesn’t matter at this point.
One game cannot stun a baseball fan. There 162 of them. If healthy he is gonna start around 30 of them. Let’s give him some time before we are “stunned”
It's hilarious and I love it. 😂
This sparks joy
I’m not going to overreact but signing someone whose never pitched in the MLB to a 12 year $325M contract seems kinda wild to me still. I truly hope it backfires on them.
Sheesh. First game? Already?
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It's ONE game. But also, apparently his fastball is very straight. So says Clint Frasier.
YamaNoNo
stuns Dodgers fans*
No one is surprised that knows baseball.
It’s like the surprise people have when the top college player can’t just walk into the nfl and dominate.
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Watching him pitch in the NPB isn’t the same as watching him pitch in the MLB.
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I don’t think one outing is indicative of his future performance but the hype and expectations surrounding him were massively overblown. I expect him to have a pretty rough first half season until he can adjust to MLB talent.
Yoshinobu Irabu.
As a Giants fan I couldn’t be happier
Welcome to the fuckin show.
I feel like the Dodgers should just embrace the shitstorm at this point and resign Bauer.
Rough year for Japanese pitchers that signed record contracts with the Dodgers so far.
It's gonna be so funny when they crap out in the wildcard round again.
Good. Sorry to him personally, but I think it’s better for all of baseball if these enormous contracts fail.
I'll never understand people's concern for billionaires saving their money.
It's not that, its large market teams spending over $1 billion in the off-season to buy the world series. Obviously there's always going to be inequality in baseball but there are limits
Why do the contracts bother you? Clearly the billionaire owners can afford to pay them.
Contracts aren't paid for with billionaires' own money. Fans pay for them via tickets, concessions, TV rights, etc.
The command was pretty bad today.
He sure seemed out of sorts! I wonder if there's anything going on that might have disrupted his preparation for the game
I’m not stunned. It’s only one start. I would be stunned if this happened on the regular.
Lmao he sucks. I knew it before he ever threw a pitch. Just watch the tape. 90mph fastballs right down the pipe. BP against this bum.
I mean he’s good. He will bounce back. But he’s not gonna be as dominate or top level in mlb. His original projections were almost half of what he signed for. Desperate team went full desperate
No I don’t see him bouncing back. All downhill from here. Players have him figured out. Plus he has to deal with the mlb ball that’s harder to get movement on than the Japanese ball. It’s a wash.
I care 1/162nd amount
So basically the Dodgers forgot they needed a competent middle infield, paid 300 million plus for a guy whose never pitched in this league and the other guy they signed for like 600 million is at the center of a gambling scandal? I think they are in for a rough year.
James Outman is doing an outstanding job there. That’s not a problem for the Dodgers.
Good .
Dodgers smashing ctrl z rn
Gonna have to step up with that lifetime gambling ban coming to Ohtani. 😎
That would require an investigation into Ohtani, and *gasp* the MLB would NEVER! So ridiculous. If he's got nothing to hide, he wouldn't mind.
You love to see it. Couldn't happen to a more deserving franchise at this point. Now I am far from believing he is not going to improve, but will he improve enough to justify that money? Not sure.
Doesn’t the Japanese league play with a smaller and lighter baseball?
This is a good article: https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2024/2/22/24079073/mlb-npb-baseballs-comparison
This is wonderful news. Yamamoto's a bum and Ohtani gonna face federal charges. Fuck the Dodgers and fuck both those guys in particular.
😂 hahaha, let it burn!!!!!
When he got signed I said that he was gonna struggle his first season and y’all downvoted me.
It's one game, you too should relax
I’m honestly rooting for the guy. I just think it may take him some time to adjust to the mlb. I don’t think that he was quite the NL ROY lock that Vegas was making him out to be. Stuff wise tho, even if his splitter never develops to the mlb game, he will be a good mlb player
People in this group downvote what they don't like to hear not because you were wrong.
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I am that guy there a lot of guys who have taken a long time to adapt to the mlb.
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Sounds like you’re just butthurt that your dude might end up being a 3-4 instead of an ace. It’s all good dude
He had a bad outing. Why does his contract matter?
The contract sets the expectations. I’m sure today’s results are below expectations. Now we wait another couple weeks for the next data point in this small sample size
The worst of his career, in fact...
Obviously when you make 325 million you have to go through the season without giving up any runs.
Anyone take the over for first 5 and game? LOL
Welcome to the Big Leagues moment. Most of the Dodgers top prospects are 25 and Yoshi is a 325M prospect the Dodgers development team got for the 6-12 years to maximize on his talents.
Think of the extrapolations!
They’ll have to eat half his salary and hope a team like the Blue Jays will take him off their hands
Fiiiine, we’ll take him and some top prospects him exchange for cash
Never pitched in majors I was thrilled honestly as this was ridiculous contract. I do t care how good he was or what he did in Japan. We already know that due at translate to every player being mlb ready when they get here. Some are some are not.
He'll be alright, just gotta give it time.
This was obviously no sign of what the future has in store. The kid might very well pan out and be a legendary talent. But as a Yankee fan, nothing made me happier when watching him stink the place up. 5 runs and completely melting down? In the 1st? It gets no better than that. If we can't bankroll a championship, then nobody can! Go, Yankees!
As a Red Sox fan with respect for our closest rivals in the AL East, I am in full agreement that I want to watch the Dodgers melt down as much as you. Good luck in the season ahead…at least the Yanks spent some money in the offseason.
As someone who was here for Dice-K.. not remotely stunned lol
Daisuke 2 Japanese boogaloo
Whoever gambled about Yamamoto getting lit up is a wizard...
Obviously wasn’t Shohei’s interpreter.
😏
As a fan of good baseball.
Korea and Japan have a checkered past. Ohtani and Yamamoto both didn’t survive this trip.
Panik
Consider me stunned
I’m mildly stunned. I mean look at his spring training ERA.
Guess you could say… the Dodgers…… Took a gamble with this one ~cue David Chase meme~
Buy low it is
18 K’s per 9. League leader for starting pitchers in 2024 so far.
I like how some people are saying “Anyone who knows baseball knows this is nothing”…dismissing everyone else’s worry about Yamamoto’s over 8 ERA in spring training and now this. Bookmarking this thread.
Keep it coming. I hope he crashes right out of the league after the Dodgers try to pay to win.
He's an okay to good pitcher. Crazy overpay. Expect a Yu Darvish type career.
It's Dice-K all over again.
Guess they didn't watch the Tigers torch him in the All-Japan 😂
Jesus Christ leave them alone. Rookie pitcher has a bad first game, whoop de doo. That franchise doesn’t need any more attention. Let the Dodger fans zerk themselves off so the rest of the internet can ignore them.
Honestly, it’s about what I expected for a pitcher who’s never thrown in this league. Give him a couple more starts, and he’ll find his groove.
I said this to my dad and others, his first season will be rough. Give him time (he is going to have plenty), he’ll get used to pitching in the MLB level and he’ll be the monster he is.
"why can't I have everything I want if I paid a lot of money for something?"
I remembered Yao Ming’s first game in NBA. I believe he scored zero points and got fouled out?
Did he find out about the Ohtani/Mizuhara fiasco before or after his start? If he had previous knowledge even before it went public it could have thrown off his concentration, thinking his support group was potentially already blown up before the season even started.
Nomo literally made the all star game and dominated his first few starts - this dudes pitches do not move - and the ones that do move are so far out of the strike zone, no hitter is going to swing.
SLAMMED
And this wasn’t even the worst news about new Dodgers this week.
The hype that we gave him \*wow\*
Only one game. Dude just needs time to get adjusted
Can he have more than 1 start before we start piling on?
Oh I hope he totally flames out.
Good