Yep. A lot of MLB teams are really good at stealing stuff. It is just hard to duplicate something to the same effect even 3 years later as others have already begun prioritizing those things as well.
2030 lineup: C Walker Janek 1B 2027 1st round pick (#4 overall) 2B 2026 PPI pick (#28 overall) SS 2026 1st round pick (#11 overall) 3B Xavier Neyens RF Cam Smith CF Brice Matthews LF Kevin Alvarez DH Jose Altuve
Is Imai not ready, or is he not good? We signed him because he wasn’t getting the offers he thought he would from other teams. Maybe those teams were right
It is very possible other teams predicted he would have mental struggles and that’s why they didn’t make better offers. But his stuff is there and it’s nasty when his head is right. His velo in his AAA start was good. In his small MLB sample he is elite at generating whiffs and ground balls.
That’s all fine and well But it’s obvious that other teams didn’t think he would be good at getting mlb hitters out, or he would have received much bigger offers
It is not obvious. All Japanese pitchers need time to adjust to the MLB and American culture. It is not a given that they will, but most do. Nobody thought that Imai would easily make the transition. Let's see what is what by the end of this season. Imai may have to pitch most of the season in AAA.
Oh, so all the other teams did think he would be good, they just didn’t put in big offers because no one needs pitching?
