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ITL breaks down the comments and debates which ones raise the biggest red flags.
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00:00Because there was a couple of pitchers that talked recently,
00:01one we've talked a little bit about today.
00:03Tatiya Imai, who obviously was dealing with some fatigue.
00:06That was what you were referencing a little earlier in his arm.
00:09In his first public comment since being sidelined with arm fatigue,
00:14he threw, obviously, an interpreter, had more on why,
00:19if you don't mind, Figge here, why some of the adjustments
00:23to American life and pitching in the MLB has been a little difficult for him.
00:27Yeah, so he thinks that it's not the schedule.
00:29It's just he's not used or he's not able to adjust to the American lifestyle
00:34other than baseball as well, but baseball and outside of baseball,
00:39so that's probably the reason.
00:41What's been outside of baseball?
00:43What's been the biggest challenge as far as adjusting?
00:45So, for example, the travel is different from Japan,
00:48and then also the timing when the players eat.
00:51So in Japan, the players, when they get back to the hotel,
00:54they eat their dinner, but in here,
00:56they leave the players at the stadium.
00:59So that's one of the things that he has to adjust.
01:02Yeah, I'm trying not to be really upset at this as much as I was.
01:06Buddy, I want you to understand, we just got done with Judge John Lopez.
01:09I'm coming into this with the mentality of defense lawyer
01:12to see if I can knock you off of this line.
01:13I don't think you can because there are so many things about this
01:17that just hit me funny, hit me wrong.
01:21And number one, that was round two of excuses and why I'm not playing well.
01:26Round one was the mound was hard.
01:28The mound was hard.
01:29It was colder than Japan and, you know, whatever else he said there.
01:34And this is round two, and it just smacks of a guy that is homesick,
01:43which is understandable.
01:44We've all been there.
01:46It doesn't quite fit culturally.
01:49Again, we've all been there.
01:51We can certainly relate.
01:53But to come in the way he did, sort of guns a-blazing,
01:57talking about, you know, taking down Shohei Otani
01:59and all these other things, and then to just a month,
02:04not even a week, just a couple weeks into the season,
02:07you know, already hitting this point.
02:10And then the other thing that really got me,
02:11and some people may not have even really, you know,
02:15made a big deal of it, is either he made an excuse for himself
02:19to go home or the Astros made an excuse for him.
02:22And you say that because, obviously, the Astros were in Seattle.
02:25He ends up going back to Houston with that arm fatigue designation.
02:30And then they come back and say it wasn't.
02:31Yeah, ultimately they say that they've checked him.
02:34There's nothing that is physically wrong with his arm.
02:36And so he should be jumping back into pitching pretty soon here.
02:41The way that I kind of thought about this is, one, I told you,
02:45I espoused the values and I subscribed to the thought process
02:48that there are some things where you just have to realize
02:50there ain't nobody trying to hear that, right?
02:52And this is one of those instances because, as you mentioned,
02:54you're making $18 million, right?
02:56You're a starting pitcher in baseball,
02:57and everybody's had some level of adjustment.
02:59But I do think that there is something to acknowledge
03:01in that pitchers and athletes are creatures of supreme habit, right?
03:06I mean, just thinking recently, Kevin Durant, right?
03:09He was talking on a podcast about how routine it is
03:12where show up to the arena at this time, you know, eat at this time,
03:16get stretched out at this time, hit the floor at this time,
03:18go that, you know, take a nap at this time.
03:20All of these things are like clockwork for them
03:23where I think that he is trying to develop this
03:26in an entirely different place.
03:28That's one.
03:29I think, two, the thing that is weird for us is,
03:33one, also, he's talking through a translator.
03:35Like, I noted when his translator,
03:37whose name is Shio Enomoto, I believe,
03:41is, let me make sure I get this right so I don't,
03:44Enomoto, right there.
03:45Shio Enomoto is the translator there where he says,
03:47for example, when he talks about the food thing,
03:50I doubt that that's, like, the one thing that's different.
03:52And I doubt that it was being purported as this is a big thing.
03:55But it's, like, it's a lot of little things that we all know.
03:58A droplet, you know, a whole bunch of droplets add up to an ocean, right?
04:00It's a lot of little things that are different
04:02from the routine that he has had that has gotten him there.
04:06And it did make me think, before I get to my last thing,
04:09I do wonder, how much of this is about Tatsuya Imae himself?
04:14Because we've seen Japanese pitchers come over,
04:16and maybe you could say, hey, this is Imae showing
04:19that he is different than other Japanese pitchers,
04:22some of whom have had a little bit of early struggles.
04:23But how much of this is also, remember,
04:25this is the Astros' first time dealing with a pitcher coming from Japan
04:29and the cultural differences specifically therein.
04:31How much is it that the Astros don't have the feeling
04:34of how to make him comfortable as he lands
04:36versus the Boston Red Sox who have done this,
04:39the Los Angeles Dodgers who have done this,
04:41that have some of the understandings of,
04:42how do I ease this transition for this pitcher?
04:45I wonder how much of that factors into this.
04:47Yeah, I don't put a lot of stock into that at all.
04:49I mean, they're a Major League Baseball team
04:50that I'm sure did their homework,
04:52certainly have surrounded him with the right people,
04:55clearly the interpreter, as we know.
04:57Have they?
04:57And there's no way the Astros just didn't do their homework on this.
05:02You know, because they were very...
05:03I wouldn't say no way.
05:04I think sometimes we give professional sports teams more credit
05:06than sometimes they are due.
05:07I think you're right on that, but there is no way
05:09you're going to bring in a...
05:10You think they want to end blind on this?
05:12Yeah, you're going to bring in a pitcher from Japan
05:14and hinge a lot on him, you know, maybe as your number two
05:18and not have eyes wide open on what you need to be doing.
05:21Hubris is possible here, right?
05:22This is a team that's dealt with, like, Dominican pitchers and stuff
05:25and pitchers from Central America and South America even,
05:29and I do wonder how much of that...
05:31I could see his case.
05:32I'm not saying that that's definitively what happened,
05:34where I could see a case where they go,
05:35oh, international pitcher, we bring him in,
05:36we treat him like these other international pitchers,
05:39and that's different, right?
05:40I could see that being the case.
05:41And again, I'm not saying that this is the only thing,
05:43but I do wonder how much that possibly could have factored in
05:45to what has been an uneven start for him.
05:48Yeah, I don't agree with that,
05:49but that, to me, is not the bigger point.
05:51To me, the bigger point here is you have to say the word.
05:55You have to say the word,
05:57because I think a lot of people are thinking it.
05:58Soft.
05:59Oh, okay.
05:59I thought, soft.
06:01I mean, he's not the first.
06:02He's grown up with Japanese players coming to here.
06:06He's grown up in the system.
06:09He made the decision.
06:11He signed an 18, you know, big contract,
06:13making $18 million this year.
06:15He knows what he's up to.
06:17Something is burning in the building.
06:18And so this is not,
06:22I don't think it's unfair to say,
06:24or at least ask the question, is he soft?
06:27I think it's a question that can be asked.
06:29I don't know that I can say definitively that's what it is,
06:31but I do wonder how much that factors in,
06:34how much the translation and just a lack of understanding of his culture,
06:36which I wonder is the last thing that I'll mention at least here,
06:39is how much of this is just,
06:42in Japan, they are much more open about these things,
06:45and these are things that a lot of pitchers probably go through
06:47where they're not willing to say out loud,
06:49and that's the thing that's more bothering us than anything.
06:51Well, I won't say than anything.
06:52What's bothering more than anything is that you're not pitching well.
06:54But these are the things that might go through any pitcher's mind.
06:57He's just more willing to say it out loud
06:59because culturally he don't realize that ain't nobody trying to hear that.
07:01Yeah, you shouldn't, you know, appreciate his candor.
07:04Probably shouldn't have done it in this case,
07:06but I can appreciate it.
07:08But I also appreciate that he did say it in this sense.
07:11You know, it is a reflection of a problem.
07:15It is a reflection of a problem that maybe is his own emotional state.
07:20You know, I mentioned, you know, is he soft?
07:22But it's also just angering because you invested so much in him.
07:28He invested, you know, he came in investing in this team
07:32and knowing that, you know, he had these big ideas of what he's going to be,
07:36and he's not that.
07:37And he's not that.
07:38It's just frustrating, and I don't blame any Astros fan for being mad at him.
07:42No, and this probably won't help.
07:43This is another quote that has just come down from Chandler Roman
07:46talking about it to Foul Territory TV,
07:48that Tia Imai is already on his third different interpreter,
07:51saying, reading between the lines,
07:53it sounds like a guy who is struggling to adapt.
07:54And that's a story that we have.
07:55Remember when Ryan Weiss, who also has spent time in Korea, I believe,
07:59he understood that fish-out-of-water feeling.
08:01That happened in spring training where he tried to take him out to dinner.
08:04Like, how much further has Imai gotten from that place of feeling
08:07somewhat lonely, somewhat fish-out-of-water, to now,
08:10it's possible that that has only gotten worse for him or what have you.
08:13Again, not necessarily a blanket excuse,
08:16but an interesting portion of the conversation.
08:18But there's that.
08:19That's one quote.
08:20There's another pitcher quote that you could take issue with,
08:23and it's actually a response.
08:25Now, this is Hunter Brown, your ace, right?
08:27Maybe the first time he's actually been injured.
08:29And he's responding to Dana Brown,
08:31the general manager of your baseball team,
08:33who I believe this was,
08:35was this on the flagship that he said this?
08:37But he basically got into talking about the substantial workload that Hunter Brown had early,
08:45saying, quote, that the pitcher was built up for that.
08:47But he said, quote,
08:48quote, I just found it fascinating that he was 96, 98 miles per hour in spring training.
08:54I would have liked to see a little slower buildup.
08:57He was fired up.
08:57I would attribute it more to maybe throwing too hard too soon.
09:00That's always a concern.
09:01You don't want guys gunning it the first few weeks of them getting built up.
09:05He was literally 97, 98 often in all of his games that he pitched.
09:09I would have liked to see him dial it back maybe 95, 96.
09:12This is your general manager talking about your ace.
09:14And this is the quote that Hunter Brown had just yesterday, I believe.
09:17Any speculation is warranted when you get injured.
09:20But my job in spring training is to get ready for the season.
09:22I did nothing different this spring training than I've done any other one.
09:27And I'm going to be honest.
09:29I understand where you're coming with the Tatuya Imai.
09:31This one is the one that concerns me.
09:32Well, I think they're equally as concerning
09:34because I think they're equally as important to what you were planning this year.
09:39But that's neither here nor there.
09:41We talked about it as it happened.
09:43What did he throw, 102 pitches?
09:46In the first game, yes.
09:47In the first game.
09:48It's not so much the velocity to me as the where,
09:50you know, as the number of times that he, you know, he pitched at that level.
09:57That is maybe Dana Brown deflecting a little bit
10:01because Dana Brown and Joe Spada were the ones that had him out there for 102 pitches.
10:06Right.
10:06And that's the thing is like there's an institutional rift.
10:09Yes.
10:10It's either Dana Brown does not have institutional control
10:13because what you're talking about, I would have rather,
10:15hey, man, it's your operation.
10:16It's your job.
10:16Right.
10:17Your name is on the marquee when it comes to like at least what is happening
10:20with the way this thing goes.
10:22Is it that him and Joe Spada are not on the same page?
10:24This is not the first time that a player on this Astros,
10:27maybe not this one specifically,
10:29but on the Astros has basically kind of come out and counterbalanced
10:32or counterspoke towards Dana Brown and what he has put out here.
10:36Right.
10:37Like, is there a rift between him and his, him and the players on this team?
10:39But either way, that is deeply concerning.
10:42And it felt weird from the Dana Brown perspective,
10:45considering Hunter Brown ain't never hurt.
10:47Like, this is the first time it happened.
10:49And we talk about pitching, which is a, which is a, um, a position in sport or a practice
10:53or a thing that is done in sports that is kind of made to be injured,
10:56especially nowadays, the way that it's hammered, uh, that is done high torque,
11:00you know, huge, uh, RPM focus.
11:03Your body is not meant to throw overhand like this.
11:05The idea that Hunter Brown has basically not dealt with injuries to this point
11:08is somewhat of a mini miracle of sorts.
11:10So to immediately go and see this injury and then kind of question the dude publicly,
11:15that's a little disconcerting.
11:16So it's either disconcerting from the level of,
11:19did they overuse their starting pitcher,
11:20which might be the more comfortable one of these,
11:22which is the more uncomfortable one is,
11:24do they have a problem with like just organizationally top to bottom synergy?
11:29Yeah, no, I think, uh, I think you hit it right on the head, uh,
11:32because at minimum there's a disconnect somewhere.
11:36Uh, either he didn't get the message or you didn't deliver it,
11:40uh, in terms of like velocity, number of pitches, you know,
11:43whatever it may be, there's a disconnect that,
11:45that is an organizational issue.
11:47That's not a Hunter Brown issue.
11:49Well, I mean, at least it doesn't seem like, and I actually, you know what?
11:53I think you're right.
11:54You're right.
11:54It's just not a Hunter Brown issue because ain't this what you want in a dude.
11:57And when I say a dude, I don't mean like just general generic.
12:00When I say dude, I think, you know, when we go,
12:01that guy is a dude, Hunter Brown is profiles as a dude.
12:05And what you want in a capital D dude is I don't give a damn.
12:08I'm getting out there.
12:09Yeah.
12:09And that is when it is incumbent upon you as an organization to know what's
12:12best or do what's best for him.
12:14And then reel him back.
12:15Either you didn't reel him back or you did, you let him,
12:18actually it's probably just that,
12:19like you didn't reel him back or there wasn't some level of communication.
12:21And then you ended up in this place or you're blaming the dude for being a
12:24dude.
12:25It's not the player.
12:26No player or very few players are going to say, you know what?
12:29I don't want to throw 95.
12:30I don't want to throw 96.
12:32I feel like I should throw 92.
12:34No, no, no, no, no pitcher is going to say,
12:36take me out at 85 pitches.
12:37And if they do,
12:38that usually comes with the level of experience of,
12:40I kind of know my body, right?
12:42The Justin Verlander of he,
12:44he basically is coaching himself.
12:45He knows what's happening here.
12:46We got it.
12:47Hunter Brown is not in those territories yet.
12:49He's got the stuff and the profile to maybe become that,
12:51but he's not in those territories.
12:52We just leave him to his own devices necessarily.
12:54And again,
12:55I don't even know that he was left to his own devices in this case.
12:58Yeah.
12:58I don't even know.
13:00There was also Josh Hader talking yesterday.
13:03And you know,
13:04the thing that bothered me about since we're on this,
13:07in these quotes,
13:07Oh,
13:08we just complain.
13:08Let's complain,
13:09baby.
13:09Well,
13:09just,
13:10you know how they hit you.
13:11Hader basically said,
13:13yeah,
13:13I threw 40 pitches felt good.
13:16That's all good news.
13:17But the thing that hit me funny is he's like,
13:19I'm really kind of starting my spring training right now.
13:21I went,
13:22Oh,
13:22great.
13:23So that's at least another couple of weeks.
13:25Well,
13:25that,
13:25but he did,
13:26he did get hurt in the midst of training or was not able to,
13:28or not in the midst of it.
13:29He was actually still dealing with the lingering injury.
13:31And he wasn't able to do spring training until he basically,
13:34until we basically got to the season.
13:35So like,
13:36he didn't have as much of that ramp up either.
13:38That one feels a little more natural,
13:39but the,
13:39the EMI conversation quotes,
13:42the Hunter Brown quotes,
13:43there's concerning things that I think that both tie to Dana Brown in various
13:47different ways,
13:47but just generally make you go,
13:49these were supposed to be two of probably your three or four best pitchers this
13:52year that have both had very concerning quotes,
13:55either it's directly towards them or towards the organization in a way that
13:58goes,
13:59this doesn't feel like the Astros of the last,
14:01or maybe,
14:02maybe it does.
14:03Maybe you just,
14:03you had enough winning to where it was a panacea.
14:06It was the,
14:06it was the Febreze or the,
14:08the,
14:08the,
14:09you know,
14:09I guess Eric air freshener that then covered up those,
14:12those things.
14:13But now with a losing team right now,
14:15you look up and you go,
14:16damn,
14:16that doesn't feel good at all.
14:17And it doesn't look good for the near future.
14:19Anyway,
14:20they,
14:20they got to get these guys going without question,
14:22right?
14:22You got to either get Hunter Brown healthy.
14:25Oh,
14:25actually you need to do both,
14:26but you need to get a Brown healthy.
14:27You need to get Tatsuya E.
14:28My right.
14:28And both of those need to happen post haste.
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