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And Michigan TN Missouri. They hardly had a soft schedule. MI was very highly ranked at the beginning of the season. Mateer was just never really the same after that hand injury...and they never developed a consistent ground game. Defense/turnovers and special teams were the reasons for most wins. Never got to face Vandy.

I’ve been a Sox fan over 7 decades and I think that Robert is the best centerfielder we’ve had in that time and we’ve had guys like Busby, Landis, Berry and Lemon. What drives me crazy with him of course is he can’t stay healthy and he continues to have lousy at bats, I haven’t seen him try to adjust, I’m sure the coaches have worked with him but for some reason it’s not working. It’s really a tough decision to make with what to do with him, the guy has so much talent, I keep hoping that he finally figures things out. At this point, I would keep him and if he doesn’t improve with the bat, they can trade him at mid-season and get whatever they can for him. Of course some team might come up with a deal that we can’t refuse but I’m not holding my breath on that happening.

Another reason to watch the WBC. At least the Japan games.

846 ops there is far from bad. We shall see.

This is a nice surprise. Hope he translates.

I'd rather have him kill RHP.

Use the Popemobile for pitching changes.

Holy Moses! We have reasons to watch this team and be interested in the future. Wow.

"Splitters particularly give Murakami fits, as he’s done very little damage against them. Despite some of the worst contact rates in NPB..." Very few splitters/forkballs in MLB. Roki Sasaki with one of the most hyoed/famous ones. Creates significant health concerns for pitchers.

He had a reverse split which is encouraging. Hit LHP slightly better. https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/player/1700084/top

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/scouting-report-munetaka-murakami/

Helpful against Skubal and Ragans...to name a few.

Any mention of platoon splits?

That's pretty much a given. Will probably get tired of them. Which is a good thing, compared to the last three seasons. See Ohtani generating an extra $100-150 million per year in revenue for LAD. One would guess Close has a very strong sense how much Suzuki and Imanaga earn in additional opportunities on the Northside from Japanese companies.

BA's scouting report suggests fastballs aren't an issue and won't be once he acclimates. It's the spin and the offspeed stuff that is the bigger concern.

Not well though...LF arm and basically a statue out there..

His swing doesn't look particularly long to me I think it was probably just a product of being one of the most scouted players in the league and how in Japan almost every pitcher has an arsenal of off speed junk even if they are topping out at 92. If a Japanese pitcher is hitting 93+ he's probably on the verge of being good enough for MLB. He's gonna strike out like 200 times. But can he hit 240/300/500? We'll see.

Amazing

Throw in king Sosa and it should be enough for Griffin.

It's hard to run in sandals, but I'm okay with it.

It's almost a Soxtalk meme at this point.

Robert being injured 50+ games at his salary does nothing for me, nor this team. Eat money, package him if you have to, and trade him.

It's technically like a late 1st round talent. So there is real value there and it affects your bonus pool, which arguably is even a better value that the pick itself. There were rumors last year the Sox tried getting the Reds comp pick for Robert. I honestly don't know if Robert has that much value remaining unless the Sox absorb so salary in the deal.

I still feel like Robert to the Pirates makes so much sense for both sides. I’d take Thomas Harrington tbh