Autumn Dreamin

He does seem like a fun guy ☺️ Some notes from (various translations of) his media session: He's getting along well and having fun with teammates and staff despite being nervous at first. He says everyone has been really nice. Answered "every day" when asked what has been the most fun so far Says the added attention doesn't bother him since he experienced it in Japan too. He wants to keep improving his English, and has to improvise with gestures at times. Has taught teammates some Japanese phrases. He talks with Imanaga, Suzuki, Yoshida, and Ohtani regularly. Ohtani has been encouraging. They haven't decided yet exactly how many ST games/innings he'll play before leaving for the WBC. Looking forward to facing Skenes and Skubal in the WBC since they are reigning Cy winners. Still working on getting more comfortable at 1B, is committed to improving as a defender. The swing change has been in progress since November, and is aimed at adjusting to higher velo in MLB. His goal is to be a big home run hitter here as well. Yes, he got asked about bidets (from both US and Japanese media) and he wasn't shy at all in answering. Has told teammates about the many benefits, including being better for the environment by using less TP Likes to go before a game, and likes to feel clean when he plays At one point he was talking so positively about bidets that a press member joked it sounded like promotion. Mune suggested a bidet sponsorship and when he got laughter in response clarified that he'd be seriously open to it.

Average is just under 72, 75+ is "fast", only one guy clears 80 (Stanton). Burger was 76 even in 2023 and has dropped to 74.6 since.

The Athletic's Spring Training Survey came out today. Some notes: White Sox made the top 6 for Most Improved AL Team with 8 votes. Tigers were 5th with 14. The top 3 were all East teams (O's, Red Sox, Jays). ...but they were also T-3 (8 votes) with the Rays for "Least Recognizable Team" due to the lack of big names. Marlins were 2nd with 10, Rockies first by far with 29. Mune got 2 votes for best FA bargain, tied with 5 others (Bichette, Bader, Arraez, Bleday, Ponce, Matz). Naylor and Suarez led with 4 each. Twins and Guards tied for least improved in the AL, comfortably leading the pack. Mune T-5 with Justin Crawford for rookies/prospects to watch in spring https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7042048/2026/02/13/2026-spring-training-survey-mlb-insiders-on-the-players-teams-and-storylines-to-watch/

A few sources report his max recorded bat speed at 85mph, harder to find what his average is other than vague superlatives. Colson and LRJ were both around 76-78mph average for reference, comfortably in elite territory.

Dad strength Sosa? 👀

More live ABs for Mune after morning 1B reps and cage work

FWIW Venable has said that Hagen is likely to be in Charlotte

Mune is scheduled to speak to the media tomorrow per Sanspo. 6 HR in 30 BP swings today ( @Eminor3rd was very right about their consistency in reporting these results lol) Live ABs against Newcomb (broken bat single to right) and Shane Smith (grounder to 2B).

Feels weird to have a 1 year deal with over half deferred

Another angle here

The 20th rounder that wasn't

What an idiot

I kinda think fixing Fedde a second time, even if not quite back to his 2024 form, could have benefits outside of his actual production just by continuing to build a reputation as an org with a pitching lab that can unlock or recover a guy's best stuff. These guys talk to each other, Newcomb has mentioned asking Vasil and Smith about the team and pitching staff before signing in the offseason because they were all working out at the same gym. Eventually we (hopefully) won't have the same amount of open runway available for guys, but might as well try to get some reputational gains while you do. It's clearly a focus of Brian "get pitchers paid" Bannister at least.

The 2025 sub should be good through the end of the month, the new one will probably come out around March 24. Assuming the ESPN situation hasn't impacted their deal with T-Mobile, which is supposed to run at least through 2028.

Mune, man of the people! 8 HR in 28 BP swings today reportedly. Japanese media says he'll leave on the 27th for the WBC, a few days later than the rest of the Team Japan MLB contingent, to give him more ST game reps with the Sox.

I guess it's fun(?) to imagine Getz being shocked to find out Acuna is right handed, but I'm pretty sure he just misspoke. Four times is embarrassing, but also not that many in the context of how much he's talked to the media. Only so many ways staff and coaches can phrase the same "excited to see what he does" spiel to a bunch of different outlets, so if a mistake slips in once then I can see it being replicated on autopilot. But if someone had stopped him after one of the occurrences and said "Acuna is a switch hitter?", I think his response would have been more "wait did I say that?" and less "yes, absolutely!" His interviews include several instances of providing detail on Acuna's work in VWL and their plans for him that make it very obvious he didn't just find out who they acquired. The amount of energy being spent on this is a bit silly to me.

The only place with public access is the Driveline facility in AZ. Costs $100 for an hour session, could be a fun add to a ST trip. https://www.drivelinebaseball.com/trajekt-hitting-sessions/