Per Nikkan Sports and yakyubaka the following pitchers will make up the Dragons starting rotation to begin the year:
Daisuke Yamai - Coming off the best season of his career, hopefully he can follow it up with another quality season
Raul Valdes - New foreign player, he has been very impressive throughout the preseason.
Kenta Asakura - Not sure why he was included, he hasn't had a successful season at ichi-gun since 2009
Yudai Ohno - Currently the most promising young starter Chunichi has
Tomoya Yagi - Free agent pickup, most recently with Orix. He's had a nice preseason and earned his spot. My wife has been rooting for him since she saw him on the TV show "Senryokugai Tsukoku," He's the father of five children.
Yudai Kawai - Solid last year in 18 starts, should be a good end of the rotation guy
Overall looks to be an improvement over last year. It seems unlikely that Asakura will remain in the rotation for long. Tatsura Hamada, Shinji Iwata, Junki Ito or someone else will probably take his spot sooner rather than later. Former ace, Kazuki Yoshimi, has pitched frequently and fairly well this preseason but is still working his way back from injury. Hopefully he will return to the rotation at some point this year.
Showing posts with label If I Were the Manager.... Show all posts
Showing posts with label If I Were the Manager.... Show all posts
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Opening Day Lineup Announced
The Opening Day lineup for Friday night's game against the Carp has been anounced.
It's been posted by yakyubaka and Nikkan Sports.
Here is the lineup and my thoughts on it:
CF Yohei Oshima - He's had a good preseason and it's once again his job to lose. I don't think he will.
2B Masahiro Araki - I've seen enough of Araki, but he's been with the team for a long time. Let him start the first game then sit him on the bench the rest of the season.
3B Hector Luna - Hopefully he can get off to a hot start like he did last year.
RF Ryosuke Hirata - He's earned his spot.
1B Masahiko Morino - Michihiro Ogasawara and Alexis Gomez are other options, but Morino is the logical choice. Gomez didn't show enough in the preseason and Ogasawara will probably be in more of a pinch-hitting role. I think Morino will get most of the time at first at least to start the season.
LF Kazuhiro Wada - Still crushing the ball at the age of 41, hit .382 for the preseason.
SS Anderson Hernandez - Veteran player, seems to do things the right way in the field. Too early to tell how useful he'll be at the plate. I'd like to see him at second and Naomichi Donoue at short in the early season. Donoue has a much higher upside than Araki though he hasn't put it together at the plate yet. Hopefully Shuhei Takahashi will be in the mix sooner rather than later as well.
C Motonobu Tanishige - Like he would sit himself on Opening Night.
P Kenshin Kawakami - A bit of surpise pick as Yudai Ono looked like he'd pitched his way into this start. I like the choice though, Kawakami has done a lot for the Dragons and I wouldn't be surprised if this was his last season.
It's been posted by yakyubaka and Nikkan Sports.
Here is the lineup and my thoughts on it:
CF Yohei Oshima - He's had a good preseason and it's once again his job to lose. I don't think he will.
2B Masahiro Araki - I've seen enough of Araki, but he's been with the team for a long time. Let him start the first game then sit him on the bench the rest of the season.
3B Hector Luna - Hopefully he can get off to a hot start like he did last year.
RF Ryosuke Hirata - He's earned his spot.
1B Masahiko Morino - Michihiro Ogasawara and Alexis Gomez are other options, but Morino is the logical choice. Gomez didn't show enough in the preseason and Ogasawara will probably be in more of a pinch-hitting role. I think Morino will get most of the time at first at least to start the season.
LF Kazuhiro Wada - Still crushing the ball at the age of 41, hit .382 for the preseason.
SS Anderson Hernandez - Veteran player, seems to do things the right way in the field. Too early to tell how useful he'll be at the plate. I'd like to see him at second and Naomichi Donoue at short in the early season. Donoue has a much higher upside than Araki though he hasn't put it together at the plate yet. Hopefully Shuhei Takahashi will be in the mix sooner rather than later as well.
C Motonobu Tanishige - Like he would sit himself on Opening Night.
P Kenshin Kawakami - A bit of surpise pick as Yudai Ono looked like he'd pitched his way into this start. I like the choice though, Kawakami has done a lot for the Dragons and I wouldn't be surprised if this was his last season.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
What to do with Masahiko Morino?
Masahiko Morino has been Chunichi's starting third baseman the last several years and has started most of the games at first base so far this year. Early in his career he played outfield and as recently as 2010 was one of the Dragons' main offensive contributors, part of the big 3 along with Tony Blanco and Kazuhiro Wada. Maybe it's his age, he's 34 now, but it seems more like he hasn't been the same player since the new NPB ball was released in 2011. He's hit below .250 the last couple years without a lot of power as he's had under 30 total extra-base hits in each of the last two years. Morino is still a solid corner infield defender and until this year his role has been well defined as there hasn't been a better player on the roster to displace him. But it looks like that changed with two of Chunichi's foreign player acquisitions this past offseason.
Over the winter Chunichi signed corner infielder Hector Luna and first baseman Matt Clark. Luna has been given the third base job to start the season and so far has done well. With Luna at third Morino has been moved to first and Clark has mainly been a pinch-hitter. The problem is that Clark has a much higher offensive upside than Morino. That was clear last night as Clark seemed to square up about everything he swung at, including a HR, a single to center that he hit right on the screws and two hard hit breaking balls that we pulled foul down the line. The difference in pop is significant because Chunichi doesn't have a lot of it in their lineup. The main question about Clark is how much trouble he'll have making contact, but Morino has been somewhat prone to strikeouts as well. So it's pretty clear that Clark needs to be given a shot to start at first in the very near future and I'm fairly sure that Takagi will give him that shot as he did with Blanco eventually starting over Yamasaki last year.
So what to do with Morino, can he still play outfield? That is questionable, and probably not the best idea with a 40-year old Wada already in left field. Can Morino play second base? Very unlikely, though I'd prefer to have his bat in the lineup over Araki's. Unfortunately Morino's best spot right now is probably pinch-hitter and maybe late-inning defensive replacement, defending on if he or Clark is a better defender. I'd like to have Morino's bat in the lineup over some of the other guys Chunichi has, but we've all been waiting a long time for him to get back on track offensively and right now there isn't really a good spot for him. It's time for him to be a reserve and prepare for his next opportunity to be a regular, should one come.
Over the winter Chunichi signed corner infielder Hector Luna and first baseman Matt Clark. Luna has been given the third base job to start the season and so far has done well. With Luna at third Morino has been moved to first and Clark has mainly been a pinch-hitter. The problem is that Clark has a much higher offensive upside than Morino. That was clear last night as Clark seemed to square up about everything he swung at, including a HR, a single to center that he hit right on the screws and two hard hit breaking balls that we pulled foul down the line. The difference in pop is significant because Chunichi doesn't have a lot of it in their lineup. The main question about Clark is how much trouble he'll have making contact, but Morino has been somewhat prone to strikeouts as well. So it's pretty clear that Clark needs to be given a shot to start at first in the very near future and I'm fairly sure that Takagi will give him that shot as he did with Blanco eventually starting over Yamasaki last year.
So what to do with Morino, can he still play outfield? That is questionable, and probably not the best idea with a 40-year old Wada already in left field. Can Morino play second base? Very unlikely, though I'd prefer to have his bat in the lineup over Araki's. Unfortunately Morino's best spot right now is probably pinch-hitter and maybe late-inning defensive replacement, defending on if he or Clark is a better defender. I'd like to have Morino's bat in the lineup over some of the other guys Chunichi has, but we've all been waiting a long time for him to get back on track offensively and right now there isn't really a good spot for him. It's time for him to be a reserve and prepare for his next opportunity to be a regular, should one come.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Closing Time?
Only three regular season games left for Chunichi and, as far as I know, Takagi hasn't declared who his closer will be for the postseason. The closer position has been an ongoing question mark since the All-Star break when long-time closer, Hitoki Iwase, was removed from that role. Since that time Daisuke Yamai has been used as the closer on most occasions, though Iwase has had a few save opportunities late in the season as well. Jorge Sosa has four saves this year and is who I suggested to be the closer earlier in year when this whole issue arose. Rookie Shinji Tajima is another option, he leads the team in holds with 30. Now Takuya Asao is back in the bullpen after returning last month from a strained/inflamed rotator cuff, so Takagi has even one more option to go to.
I was pretty surprised that Yamai was chosen to be the main closer for the second half of the season, he's been a starter most of his career and though he's had outstanding moments, his career has also been very inconsistent. Yet he's been up to the challange and kept the job by pitching well, I believe he's converted every one of his save opportunities. Still I don't think he's our best option for closing out postseason games this year. If I were the manager, and under the condition that he's fully healthy, I think now is the time to name Takuya Asao the closer.
Asao has been the closer-in-waiting for a couple years now, but happened to be on injured reserve when Iwase finally faltered. Asao seems to be healthy, he pitched multiple innings last night (unfortunately I wasn't able to see them because the justin.tv poster shut off the feed after the Dragons' 11-run 5th inning), and he's pitched well since returning to ichi-gun. His stuff looked to be close to what it was before the injury when I saw him pitch a couple weeks ago. He's also pitched in a lot of tense, postseason situations and of course he's an excellent pitcher with a good fastball and breaking pitches. An added long-term benefit would be that as the closer he would generally only be called on in save situations. Over the last few years, he's been called on a lot in various situations to keep the lead or keep games close. He's been overused and that's something that needs to change. He'll turn 28 this month (even though he looks 18) and should still have many quality years left. So let's make him the closer now and see if he can match Iwase's Hall of Fame career.
I was pretty surprised that Yamai was chosen to be the main closer for the second half of the season, he's been a starter most of his career and though he's had outstanding moments, his career has also been very inconsistent. Yet he's been up to the challange and kept the job by pitching well, I believe he's converted every one of his save opportunities. Still I don't think he's our best option for closing out postseason games this year. If I were the manager, and under the condition that he's fully healthy, I think now is the time to name Takuya Asao the closer.
Asao has been the closer-in-waiting for a couple years now, but happened to be on injured reserve when Iwase finally faltered. Asao seems to be healthy, he pitched multiple innings last night (unfortunately I wasn't able to see them because the justin.tv poster shut off the feed after the Dragons' 11-run 5th inning), and he's pitched well since returning to ichi-gun. His stuff looked to be close to what it was before the injury when I saw him pitch a couple weeks ago. He's also pitched in a lot of tense, postseason situations and of course he's an excellent pitcher with a good fastball and breaking pitches. An added long-term benefit would be that as the closer he would generally only be called on in save situations. Over the last few years, he's been called on a lot in various situations to keep the lead or keep games close. He's been overused and that's something that needs to change. He'll turn 28 this month (even though he looks 18) and should still have many quality years left. So let's make him the closer now and see if he can match Iwase's Hall of Fame career.
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