Tokyo Story

You've Got to Get Up Pretty Early

Mar 18, 2025

∙ Paid

TUESDAY MORNING BASEBALL

In Tokyo, it was a night game. In Brooklyn? First pitch at 6:05 AM.

I’m not usually up that early, but what the heck. It’s Opening Day! Night! Morning!

It was fun to watch a game that counts. The pitching was mostly excellent, especially Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s splitter, darting out of the zone and away from bats, and Shota Imanaga’s rhythmic stop atop the rubber before he drives toward the plate, which seems to distract and disrupt timing.

Shohei Ohtani had two hits, yawn, including a golfed double down the right field line, after which he did that goofy armwaving thing the Dodgers do, and then grinned seemingly a little embarrassed.

Will Smith had excellent at bats and drew three walks. He also singled crisply into left field. The Dodger announcers emphasized repeatedly how he played last year while hurt, and how that hurt his performance.

Michael Conforo jerked an inside pitch foul into the right field seats, then on the next pitch went with a high outside pitch and drove it down the left field line. It showed terrific bat control and plate coverage, though maybe not the best discipline. The pitch was definitely a ball.

Miguel Amaya drilled a rare hanger from Yamamoto into the gap to drive in the Cubs only run on the day, which at the time gave them the lead.

I was most interested in seeing Matt Shaw play. He’s in Japan with the Cubs while the team has a 31-man roster but struck out three times and looked overmatched on some pitches. But the reason he might not make the 26-man roster next week is because of the error he made. A bounding ball to his left, he reached and grabbed it deftly, spun around and hurried his throw, jerking the ball onto the grass to the outfield side of first base. The replay showed he had time to get settled and make a better throw. Experience will improve his play at third, where he’s a relative newcomer, but will that experience come in the majors or Triple-A, where he’s played only 35 games?

As for Max Muncy, he was busy being Max Muncy, walking twice and striking out twice. Maybe tomorrow he’ll homer. The announcers said he recognized that he needed to be in better shape to play third base every day, because there are no at bats on the Dodger team at DH or 1B as while Ohtani and Freddie Freeman are there, so in the offseason he dropped 20 pounds and now looks like a male model. The announcer’s words, not mine.

We’re underway!

PITCHER CATCH-UP

Hey Peter,

Wondering if you could comment on Simeon Woods Richardson (Min) and Hayden Wesneski (Hou) in your next newsletter? No write ups on them in the Guide. Just lost Gerrit Cole in my AL only keeper, need some deep late auction arms.

“Wild Pitch”

Dear Wild,

Who gets written up in the Guide and who does not is a bit random. SWR and Hayden Wesneski, both young hurlers of some promise, should have been covered.

Two things to note. Baseball Reference considers SWR’s last name to be Woods Richardson, so he is filed alphabetically under W. In the Guide he’s filed under R, because I figured Woods was a middle name. Wikipedia calls him Woods Richardson, so in next year’s Guide he’ll be written up (he’s been named the Twins fifth starter this year) and filed under W. That’s not for wins.

The first major league ballplayer named Hayden was Hayden Penn, who between 2005 and 2006 started 14 games for the Orioles, with an unsightly 9.51 ERA. He came back a few years later with the Marlins and the Pirates, working in relief, and was similarly ineffective. Hayden Wesneski was the second ML player named Hayden, and last year Hayden Birdsong of the Giants was the third.

Simeon Woods Richardson, Twins: He’s made the Twins rotation, relegating David Festa and Zebby Matthews to Triple-A, after a solid spring. He’s gone four-seamer, slider, change as a major leaguer, with a curveball mixed in from time to time. He’s had terrific success with the heater and the slider, a positive profile with the curve, and after some solid success early in the season he gave up home run derby-like results with his changeup. Maybe he ran out of gas. This year in camp he has flipped his Fly Ball profile into a Ground Ball profile, but over 11 innings that could mean something but more likely doesn’t mean anything except small sample. With talented arms like Festa and Matthews behind him he’s not going to have a long leash, but given his good command and three good pitches he has a chance to succeed and is worth a small bet. $1.

Hayden Wesneski, Astros: He has an excellent slider and a sinker that has worked, with good control, but his fastball and cutter have been hit pretty hard so far as a big leaguer. This spring he’s jacked up his strikeout numbers and walked a lot more hitters, too. There are some who think the move to Houston is going to give him better ideas about how to maximize his considerable stuff and control. When I hear something like that I don’t believe it until I see it, but I also consider it when making my roster decisions. So, I might roster him for a buck on the off chance he figures it out this year, while knowing that his pitch profile looks more like a quirky reliever’s than a starter’s. $1

Hayden Birdsong, Giants: He has the big swing-and-miss that Wesneski and Woods Richardson lack, but he lacks their control and command. Or has, up to now. This spring he’s pitched 11 innings, struck out 13 and walked zero. When he wasn’t getting whiffs last year he was hit pretty hard, but he doesn’t turn 24 until August, so his future is as yet unwritten. He’s also had a solid minor league ground ball profile, which can help limit the damage if he can reproduce it in the majors. Like the others, he’s worth a shot. And not close to a sure thing. $1

SPRINGS HOPES KIKUCHI

Peter,

i have Jeffrey Springs AL only 4x4 10 team auction at $1. It’s a tough league and he’s my last keeper. My alternative is Yusei Kikuchi, also for $1. Your thoughts? Thank you.

“Dollar Dave”

Dear Double-D:

Springs is back from TJ. The Athletics say he will have no workload limits, but he’s only topped 100 innings in his major league career once, the year before he needed the TJ. He pitched effectively on his return last year, so I’d be cautiously optimistic.

I think he’s a better pitcher than Kikuchi, but Kikuchi has a longer track record of pitching more innings. Since wins and strikeouts come with innings, Kikuchi might earn more this year even if he’s not as sharp as Springs.

More importantly, in the expert leagues we follow, CBS, LABR, and Tout Wars, Kikuchi has gone for about twice what Springs has. Maybe the analysts are worried about the As moving to a Sacramento ballpark with much less foul ground than the Colliseum had. Or maybe it’s something else, but if you keep Kikuchi for a buck you should be able to buy Spring for less than you would pay for Kikuchi if you kept Springs for a buck.

So, there’s your answer.

Sincerely,
Rotoman

NEVER A DOLLANDER DAY

Peter:

I don't see Chase Dollander in the Excel file. Looks like he has a decent chance of making the rotation. Top prospect, and a good pitcher, but beware of Coors.

“Colorado Kool-Aid”

Dear CKA:

Dollander is a top prospect and was profiled in the Guide, which is still on sale.

He’s in the spreadsheet, too. (The hitters and pitchers are separated by league in the spreadsheet, with the NL and Free Agents below the AL.)

Those three zeroes to the right of the number 690 indicate what experts paid for Dollander in CBS, LABR, and Tout Wars, respectively. That’s called “beware-ing of Coors,” where the silver bullet is more likely leaving the yard than missing a bat.

The Rockies are a strange organization, to put it mildly, so they may well be considering breaking camp with Dollander. I’m not sure how much pitchers are able to learn pitching in the PCL, especially in Albuquerque and Las Vegas and a few other parks, so maybe they have a plan. But how much can a pitcher learn throwing in Coors?

It will be fun to see Dollander, a truly excellent prospect, attempt to navigate there when he arrives. So long as he’s not on my fantasy team.

Sincerely,
Rotoman

ROTOMAN’S SHEETS

Rotoman -

I LOVE checking prices on your sheet; do you mind providing the other pages as well?

“An Isley Brother”

Dear Isley:

Why not?

Good luck reading that chicken scratch!

FOR SALE

Rotoman’s Fantasy Baseball Guide A-Z 2025 is out, as you may have heard, and it has nearly 300 Picks and Pans from other fantasy experts. You can buy it now!

Buy the softcover book from IngramSpark by clicking here. It’s $19.99. Order it online by clicking the link and be emboldened to bypass the Amazon monster.

Buy the softcover book ($20) or Kindle book ($10) from Amazon by clicking here. The contents are like the black+white pages of the old Professional Edition, with hundreds of profiles, projections, and bid prices by me, Rotoman. Organized alphabetically, to make it easier to look up players by name, all season long. And with nearly 300 Picks and Pans from fantasy experts like Mike Gianella, Scott Pianowski, Vlad Sedler, Doug Dennis, Phil Hertz, Dave Adler, and injury notes from legend Rick Wilton.

The Kindle version is also available for free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers. Download it to your tablet or computer with Kindle software, it doesn’t work on the smaller readers because of the formatting, but you can scroll through as often as you like for no cost.

Buy the PDF file by clicking here. All the content with little of the carbon. It is $12 and available immediately via a link on the confirmation page, for easy browsing.

HOUSEKEEPING

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