Matsui Signing, New Rules, Fernando '24 and more...
Happy New Year!
Yuki Matsui Added to ‘Pen
One final newsletter here in 2023, and while I still have some Q&A stuff to get to down below, there’s some on-field fun to address beforehand.
Let’s start with the signing of left-hander Yuki Matsui, who officially inked a five-year deal with the Padres last weekend.
A shut-down closer the last three years for the Rakuten Eagles in NPB, he arrives stateside after 10 seasons in Japan in which he collected five All-Star selections.
A year ago, he saved a career-high 39 games with a 1.57 ERA.
Great numbers there and you have to figure he’ll slot in somewhere towards the back of the bullpen in 2024.
If you’re interested in some more basic info, have a look at the first draft of my broadcast notes for him. Obviously much more will be added once we get to Peoria and we get the opportunity to visit with him and learn much more about him.
Fernando’s Future
At some point late last February, Tony and I were broadcasting a Spring Training game and as Fernando Tatis Jr. came to bat, we got into a conversation about what 2023 was going to look like for him.
As you certainly remember, he was able to play Cactus League games, but had to serve the remainder of his suspension through mid/late April. So to recap: he had not played a regular season game since the end of 2021 and had multiple wrist surgeries as well as a shoulder surgery in that time.
As is always the case, Tony made a great point that turned out to be spot on: don’t expect 2023 Fernando to be peak Fernando. He’ll still put up some numbers (which he certainly did), but it’s just not fair to expect him to be the guy he was after missing an entire year. He alluded to Ronald Acuña Jr. missing time after his 2021 knee injury and said he anticipated Acuña’s 2023 season to be back to that expected MVP level (and guess what?)
That leads us to a really great piece from Kevin Acee in the Union-Tribune last week in which the writer went down to the Dominican Republic to visit with the Gold Glove right fielder.
The entire thing is very much worth a read, but I wanted to pluck out a couple of quotes that pretty much back up Tony’s point from almost 11 months ago:
“It was a good baseball year overall,” Tatis said. “But I can’t lie to everybody. I cannot say I played winning baseball or good baseball. But what everybody knows I am capable of is just a whole different story.”
&
After the season, Fernando Tatis Sr. recalled saying to his son: “It’s not a good year. It’s not a great year. It’s not a bad year. It’s OK. But the talent that you have and the things that you can do on the field, those numbers are not enough.”
Here’s to hoping Tony is right yet again and that 2024 Tatis resembles the MVP-type guy we all know he’s capable of being.
Rule Changes! (Adjustments?)
Last week MLB officially announced the rule changes/adjustments for the upcoming season.
The one that got the biggest headlines was probably the pitch clock being reduced from 20 to 18 seconds with runners on base. And while I understand the urge to roll your eyes and say “Really?” I actually think this makes some sense.
There’s no doubt that as the season went on, both pitchers and hitters became much more comfortable with the clock and how to best manage it. And for a lot of pitchers, that meant milking it almost all the way down almost all of the time1. And not to sound flip, but…20 felt like a lot!
In fairness, I’m coming at this from the perspective of a radio announcer who’s literally filling every second between pitches, so my people and I are probably about as sensitive to this as anyone, but I really did feel that the full 20 seconds felt a little bit long in regards to the natural flow of the game. Will those extra two seconds help that much? I kinda think they will. But we’ll see!
I should also mention there are real concerns from the players’ side about pitcher injuries and while there may or may not be enough data collected yet to answer that authoritatively, it’s very much something to keep in mind. My gut tells me, though, that MLB’s response to those complaints is going to be something along the lines of “don’t throw so hard all the time.”
One thing we know for sure is we’re in the midst of the most radical era of modern baseball history when it comes to rules.
The other “major” change, and the one I’m most excited about, is the widening of the runner’s lane on the approach to first base. Why does this excite me? Because a runner can now head towards first base and ya know, actually be allowed to try and touch first base. Check this out (courtesy of MLB PR):
As you can see, if a batter-runner (as the rule book officially calls it) stays in the old lane, they aren’t actually going to touch the bag. Which is…insane. Further complicating this is that for some reason I still don’t understand, these calls were not reviewable, which was one of those dumb little things that drove me absolutely insane2. With the new lane, though, runners won’t really have any excuse and should be able to get to the bag while staying where they’re supposed to be. A nice, simple, common sense adjustment. Five stars.
There are some other minor tweaks involving the clock and mound visits (four, not five now) that you can read about thanks to Jayson Stark of The Athletic, who does a typically wonderful job of breaking them all down here.
Q&A Part II
I want to be true to my word and wrap up the end-of-year Q&A we began last week…
Andrew Jones (not that one): Anything you are excited about/looking forward to (baseball or non-baseball) for the games in Seoul?
Jesse: Oh man, so much. I haven’t started to fully research the city quite yet, but I know I will soon. That said, it’s a world class destination and I love, love, love exploring new places (and foods!). Add on that we’ll be able to spend a nice chunk of time out there and that I’m sure MLB will have some cool events planned, I have no doubt it’ll be one of the most special trips of my life.
From a baseball perspective, I’m thrilled to get a true sense of the baseball culture there and to experience a new stadium, as well. I’m sure the atmosphere for the games will be incredible.
Unsigned: What are you hearing in your ear from the producer?
Jesse: Fun question. Depends on whether I’m working on radio or TV. As I’m sure I’ve written about here before, there’s such a difference in the two mediums, especially when it comes to the size of the crews. For radio: it’s me, Tony, and our producer/engineer Dave Marcus in the booth, plus a “board op” back in the studio to make sure all of what we’re saying actually goes out on the air.
Most of what I hear (aside from Tony) is Dave letting us know how long until we’re back from a break (“33 seconds!!!!!”) or some other cool factoid or nugget he’s working on. He’s also a great safety net if I happen to short-circuit for a moment and say something dumb, he’s often in my ear to let me know so I can correct myself.
On TV, you’re regularly hearing from the producer in the truck, who’s working on a graphic or a storyline or a piece of video, so you can try to set it up or lead into it. Plus the director will chime in at times, as well. Then you’re also talking to them off-air (via the “talkback” button), as is your partner. So there’s a lot going on pretty much all of the time. It’s really a remarkable thing.
Alright, I think that’s going to do it for 2023. I can’t thank everyone enough for subscribing and obviously for listening all season long. Let’s hope 2024 is the most successful season in Padres history and I can’t wait to be there right alongside you all year long.
Have a wonderful and safe New Year’s and let’s do it again soon…
jesse
Avg. time of game in April: 2h36m; avg. time of game in Sept: 2h44m
I just deleted like three more paragraphs about this rule and how it’s called and what goes down, but it just didn’t seem fair to you guys to go off on that sort of rant during the holiday season