chitownsportsfan

This is one of my favorites but hard to find outside of Japanese grocers: I don't drink a ton of Sake as I prefer it heated and don't have an ideal method (I'm sure Japan makes one I should look into it) but it really is a smooth way to get buzzed. Nothing like eating a bunch of fresh fish and washing it down with a hot sake. Japan does sensory things well.

a culture of shame misaligned with Japan’s competitive integrity Chicagoan's too to be fair.

The unbuttoned oxford with the blazer is such a douchebag look and one he shares with Hahn.

Yea I kinda just feel like this is the "we had a seat at the table" headline. Saving face is big in Japan.

Headline: Sox Sign Imai as Cubs Fans Scream Itai

It's cold AF here and dark. A warm summer evening with some brews and baseball sounds nice.

He has such a noodle arm for a MLB corner guy. Him and Juan Pierre are the worst I've seen on the South Side but at least Juan had some range even as a 30 something.

JR:

he had .2 fWAR and a wRC+ of 103. He's like a 1 WAR player at best at this point with no future here. I'd rather give 100% of his PA to someone like Brooks. He's also a butcher but he's also got some pop and is 25 with some development left.

It's remarkable how bad he is in a small LF at G-Rate. He is mildly useful as a bat, but his terrible LF defense means he's a 1 WAR player at this point.

"people ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball: I tell them I stare at the screen and argue on Soxtalk."

That the consensus #1 on 12/26/25 wasn't the consensus #1 on 12/26/24 is an odd thing to fixate on imo.

Much better Sox X-Mas this year, Merry Christmas to all.

Another example of a "poor" team spending money and a reliever at that. I don't think the public finances are accurate.

Well we got a "Pacific Rim" scout now! Getz is For real tho, it's about time we starting finding asian players again. The silly thing is the Sox got useful seasons out of Shingo and Iguchi so it's not like JR didn't know the value of Japanese players. Or maybe he just forgot honestly.

I mean he was 52nd percentile in sprint speed last year, was -.6 runs below avg on the bases according to fangraphs and on most hitting metrics is 60th percentile or higher the last three seasons. He's also 32 until late next July. It's not like he's 35 and ready to fall off an athletic cliff. The last thing the Sox need is a 32 year old FA 1B projected for 2 WAR -- but as a player O'Hearn has plenty of things going for him and the Pirates spending some money here is a good thing for their team and MLB in general.

Some strange ass stats last year. Had a HR/9 rate of .49 but a BABIP of .344. 1.7 bWAR but basically replacement level prior season. He's a reliever so yea, let's hope we get the middle case and he can provide 70 innings of around 3.25 ERA relief.

Eh, players don't start getting checks until March. No rush here although I do expect them to trade him in the offseason rather than at the deadline.

Having 6 guys they rate as 50 FV tho is quite encouraging. I'd rather have this then the Hahn era of two or three 55 guys then nothing after that. FWIW I saw most scouts were giving Cholosky a 60 at this point. He'd immediately be a top 10 prospect in MLB and vault our system into the top 10, maybe even top 5.

Never been but from all accounts friends and otherwise Tokyo is a fucking sweat box similar to NYC in the summer. Chicago ain't got nothing on that swamp ass.

I won't stand this Big Nashville propaganda!

"We wanted to establish a presence in the [Pacific] Rim and that starts with hiring a scout, Satoshi Takahashi," Keller said. "Once we were able to get him on board, I think that's where those conversations became more real." "Got Jerry [Reinsdorf] up to speed on the reality of bringing in Mune," said Getz, using Murakami's preferred nickname. "The more he was hearing from me, and Brooks as well on the marketing front and the international impact that it can have in bringing in someone as significant as Mune, led us to get to the finish line. A lot of that was support from Jerry in the end." That is both promising and pathetic.

I really love this aspect of the signing, can never underestimate how these signings can create new fans and renew old bonds:

If you can't be bothered to know enough about the team you're covering to write such an obvious misinterpretation of a FA signing -- I can't be bothered to read your article. Mune is gonna have an Area 51 like runway to take off or crash here: and that's exactly why it makes a ton of sense for both sides, at this price tag, at this junction.