Os acquiring Fujinami for Easton Lucas

[emmett16]

12 minutes ago, Alasdaire said:

Keep up the 9.00 ERA he has with us now? He has had the stuff all year but has presumably made boneheaded decisions like the one to throw that pitch. Maybe our staff can help him with that.

Definitely lots of potential there in exchange for not giving anything up, so really like the move.

Just for clarity.  The “boneheaded decision” was to throw his very first pitch, a 99mph  FB, to the top left quadrant of the zone?  You were thinking splitter to get them off balanced on first pitch of the inning?

Edit: saw earlier post.  Sorry.

Heres the thing.  In baseball, sometimes they hit it, some times they don’t, and sometimes the guys don’t catch it.  And that’s no reason to overthink it and deviate from what works the overwhelming majority of the time.  
 

Nice poke by Siri.

Edited July 22, 2023 by emmett16

[vab]

7 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

I think Fujinami can be an asset, but I hope this isn't the answer to finding a third reliever to pair with Cano and Bautista for the 7-8-9 innings. Hopefully we see another move to strengthen the bullpen before the trade deadline.

Agreed but nice job getting this guy by Elias.

[emmett16]

13 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

I think Fujinami can be an asset, but I hope this isn't the answer to finding a third reliever to pair with Cano and Bautista for the 7-8-9 innings. Hopefully we see another move to strengthen the bullpen before the trade deadline.

I imagine he is the 6th inning guy.  They have to be on the prowl for a legit 8th/9th inning guy.  I’d like to see Cano as fireman early or 7th with two shutdown guys behind him. 

[Alasdaire]

12 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

Just for clarity.  The “boneheaded decision” was to throw his very first pitch, a 99mph  FB, to the top left quadrant of the zone?  You were thinking splitter to get them off balanced on first pitch of the inning? 

I think Siri was sitting dead red on a fastball the whole way, and I think that was pretty foreseeable.

Siri hits a ton of homers but not much else, and he doesn't hit the ball particularly hard. That tells me he's the type of hitter who is waiting on pitches and capitalizing when he gets them. And you could see that during his earlier at bats when he didn't even entertain a check since he has realized it's not what he was looking for.

If I'm Siri in that situation, knowing that this is the first pitch of the first appearance for a pitcher, I'm on alert that this dude might try to get away with throwing a high-probability strike. Sounds like as good of a time as any to sit on a fastball.

Even though there was good velo on the pitch and it ended up slightly elevated/away, it was still a fastball that was crossing middle middle when the hitter had to begin swinging, so it was plenty hittable.

Maybe I'm Monday morning quarterbacking here, but it seemed like Fuji/Adley played right into Siri's hands.

[baltfan]

Very happy with his performance last night. Homers happen.  He throw strikes and nasty pitches.  No opposing team is coming in and happy to be facing him. 

[Sports Guy]

8 hours ago, vab said:

I don't know how Elias could get an arm like that for what looks right now like a pretty ordinary minor league pitcher. Fastball was sitting around 100 with a 94 MPH splitter. I mean, that's Bautista. 

Well he was owed around 1.3M, numbers look bad due to a bad start, high walk rate and he is a rental.

I wouldn’t expect them to have to give up much at all for that.

[RZNJ]

Forget the 1.3M and rental aspect.  1.3M is meaningless to most teams.   You obtained a pitcher who throws a straight 100 mph, with what looked like a very nice splitter who looks capable of being a better version of Bryan Baker.   Fujinami can slot in the 6th inning or I could even seeing him become the 7th/8th inning guy when Cano is unavailable.   I would not be surprised if Hyde put him in a 9th inning save situation before the end of the year.   I had seen Fujinami pitch in relief for the A’s.   He could flop for us but I can’t and couldn’t believe we got that kind of arm and potential high leverage reliever for the stretch run for a minor league lefty reliever who may or may not have been protected in the Rule 5 this winter.

[gtman55]

I really liked his stuff last night (homers happen) and he looks like a good pick up for a 1-2 inning relief specialist.

[banks703]

I hadn’t seen very much of Fuji before last night. The repertoire does have shades of Felix in it. Maybe they can get a little more out of him like they’ve done with Felix. 102 isn’t nothing. Lots of guys throw 95 now but 102 is a different story.  
 

Siri was sitting dead red. He got the better of Fuji there. He guessed and got it right. Yeah, hats off to a guy that has more homers this year than the previous two years combined. There’s two more games in this series. I hope Fuji gets to face Siri again. I’d wager a different result. 

[banks703]

The arm is really live. Can’t live in the middle of the plate though, especially after walking two batters. Walks kill. Lot to like about Fuji. Hopefully they see something that they can correct. 

[RZNJ]

Just now, banks703 said:

The arm is really live. Can’t live in the middle of the plate though, especially after walking two batters. Walks kill. Lot to like about Fuji. Hopefully they see something that they can correct. 

The stuff is plus for sure.  Just needs to throw strikes with the fastball.   Blew two fastballs by Randy A on the outside.   Was the last pitch a middle/middle fastball or a hanging split?

[HakunaSakata]

2 minutes ago, banks703 said:

The arm is really live. Can’t live in the middle of the plate though, especially after walking two batters. Walks kill. Lot to like about Fuji. Hopefully they see something that they can correct. 

I honestly think the walks were just nerves. He really settled down and looked pretty unhittable after the first two batters. Unfortunately Jorge Mateo forgot how to do the one thing he's supposed to do well. 

[banks703]

19 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

The stuff is plus for sure.  Just needs to throw strikes with the fastball.   Blew two fastballs by Randy A on the outside.   Was the last pitch a middle/middle fastball or a hanging split?

101 on the outer half of the plate. 

[RZNJ]

1 minute ago, banks703 said:

101 on the outer half of the plate. 

But down around the belt I think.

[Brooks The Great]

20 minutes ago, HakunaSakata said:

I honestly think the walks were just nerves. He really settled down and looked pretty unhittable after the first two batters. Unfortunately Jorge Mateo forgot how to do the one thing he's supposed to do well. 

Ump squeezed him a couple times, too. Ball 4 to the leadoff batter should have been called a strike.