Episode 001: Friendship History, Position Battles
Bro, I am so glad to do this with you! We definitely had a blast doing the Top 10 Games last year!
Always a pleasure man. That was definitely fun. Glad to do this once again.
Let’s fill everyone in a little on how we first met – after all, I was here in Japan but you were in Brazil at the time…
Sure. So, back in 2014, during the Climax Series to be more precise, I was already checking your website for a while and when the playoffs were about to start, I turned to you and offered to provide some infographics for the series to come. You accepted, we started talking and never looked back. It’s been almost 6 years of a solid friendship, that’s for sure.
And dude, as someone who had just started the blog in late May of that year, it was beyond exciting to hear that someone IN BRAZIL was following me! (And your infographics were pretty cool and way better than anything else I was using at that time.)
Thanx man. I was glad that you accepted. After all, I really wanted to provide something good for a project that I believed was promising at that time.
Oddly enough, at that time I had no idea how long I would keep doing the blog, or how big it would get. (I still don’t feel like it’s “BIG” but compared to 2014, it is!) I kind of forgot if we collaborated on anything in 2015 or not, but we got to meet up for the first time in person in April 2016, near the start of the Kanemoto regime. And I think it was at that time that we started doing recaps, right?
You’re right. We met for the first time in April of 2016 and by then we had already everything set up for infographics and every possible recap. I even brought my laptop to Japan so we could keep up with it while being there.
Man, we also did our first Vodcast on that day, after a disappointing loss to the Carp. Then from that time on, I feel like we really went deep in our following of the Tigers. I am sure we started talking Tigers with each other on Facebook Messenger after that, and it’s never really stopped these past 4 years!
I’m pretty sure our talks really got deeper and deeper after that game. It became something very natural not just about Tigers but about everything and that’s pretty cool.
Yeah bro. We’re not just Toratomo anymore! I should definitely also mention that you have been designing H-TEN’s logos since around that time as well. We had the Tiger with a baseball for a body (kind of) with the 阪虎英報 in it… then I think after that was the one we have now, which I really like. Iconic design. But tons of other headers and the blog category “images” (Podcast, Recap, etc.) too. Tons of work that has made me look a lot better than I actually am!
True story. After the infographics, I realized that it would be cool if the website had a more professional look, and by that I mean visually. The content was there but it needed some fine-tuning, so we talked about it and I came up with the first logo and first touches like headers, background images, fantasy logos, etc. We kept the first logo for about a year and then you decided to revamp it. We did a contest to choose between 3 logos and put them out there for the readers to choose. The result is the one that we have right now (which I’m really fond of <3)
Yeah and truth be told, I didn’t vote for it! I liked one of the other ones better, but I listened to the people’s voices! Speaking of voices, I am currently listening back to your podcast debut – Episode 16 way back in January 2016. Man, I won’t even speak of you… *I* was not very good at this podcasting thing back then! But I’ve got about 100 more episodes under my belt since then, and I think I’ve fine-tuned some.
To be fair, the logos were all pretty cool but this one with the silhouette of Koshien’s scoreboard is really something. You’re just fine, man. At least you improved a lot which is not the case to me. I still suck at it big time. LOL. Truth be told, it seems like yesterday that you came up with the idea of doing a podcast in the first place and look at it now. More than 100 podcasts are out there for the entire world to listen to. And by the way, top-class material. Good job bro!
Thanks. Actually I just got a comment on Twitter from someone who said, “I could listen to you guys talk about Tigers ad nauseum.” I appreciated those kind words too, but man, I have to be the biggest nerd about the Tigers out there, and I don’t want people to be turned off from me as a person because they hear too much of me, the Tigers fan! Haha.
Well, you’re the only gaijin to have that Tigers certificate and sometimes I wonder if you know more about the Tigers than any other hardcore Japanese fan. I doubt people would be bothered by listening to you. I mean, there’s no way.
True, the Tigers Proficiency Level 1. Well I have always said that I don’t want to be “pretty hardcore for a gaijin” but rather, pretty hardcore, period!
You’re right. We’re all fans in the end.
Yeah, don’t need the gaijin label, do we? Anyways man… what’s your take on the Hanshin Tigers 2020?
Well, the Tigers were pretty busy during the offseason and I’m glad that we came up with a good number of promising players. Don’t really know how Yano will handle both players’ and fans’ expectations since there’s so many options and few spots to place everyone. I think we have a gaijin situation like never before. I wish we could have a DH spot so we could use at least 3 of them in the lineup. Apart from our performance in Okinawa, I’m really confident.
Cool, bro. Man, I wonder sometimes who Yano’s gonna go with, like at almost every position! Me, JD and Sanjay talked about this on the last podcast episode, but… Marte vs. Ohyama? Sands vs. Takayama vs. Fukudome? Kinami vs. Hojoh? Itohara vs. Uemoto? Lots of question marks with very little time to make these decisions.
Pretty tough decisions indeed. In my opinion, Marte already has a spot in this lineup. He proved himself last season by being a reliable hitter and right now he seems even more dangerous. I mean, from what we’ve seen, he changed the angle of his stance a bit and he’s demolishing everything that comes his way.
I agree, Marte’s had a solid spring. Problem with him is, either he plays in place of Bour or Ohyama. Bour is expected to be Randy Bass, and Ohyama is kind of Yano’s pet project (which started with Kanemoto). So it’s going to be hard to fit him in the lineup. Plus, do you think they’re going to go with Sands in the outfield? If so, Marte’s got almost no shot. They could use Fukudome for starters…
I see Fukudome coming off the bench pretty much all the time this season. To me, his body language leans more towards instructing the youngsters and new guys in the dugout than anything. Ohyama has been the project for at least two managers already. He’s gonna come through eventually (I hope). Sands can definitely be a starter from day one. I only see him coming out of it if Yano decides to bring someone to pinch-hit in a critical situation where you need someone clutch like Dome-san.
The gaijin problem is going to be huge this year. I mean, it’s still not yet March, but really, all 7 guys who were in Okinawa looked good. Not sure how Lu is doing. But I’m just not sure how Yano is going to keep them all happy. Maybe the farm has gotten to be a really comfortable place for our gaijin, though? Hague, Campbell, even Rogers, Rosario and Navarro spent tons of time in Naruohama!
Yeah, we spoke about this previously. How to manage expectations is gonna be key for a healthy clubhouse not just on Ichi-gun but also on Ni-gun. What we really don’t need this year is another Solarte-like situation that can undermine everyone’s morale and create distractions. I really expect the team to treat everyone fairly.
I think once Garcia gets healthy they might be able to create a situation in which he and Gunkel each get two starts a month or something. Like, if they are the Wednesday guy, for example, Gunkel starts on March 25 and April 1, then gets deactivated (eligible to return April 11), Garcia starts April 8 and 15, then gets deactivated, etc.
Btw, we just spoke about the new guys! As you pointed out, there’s still Garcia in the mix so this one is gonna be even trickier. Not just everyday lineup but also rotation. Just to try to be in Yano’s shoes right now, I’m already feeling overwhelmed! WOW!
Yep. It will be really hard to do the same with Edwards and Suarez… but my guess is that we will eventually have 2 fielders and 2 pitchers on the top squad. I can’t see us only needing one gaijin arm, and also fans are not patient enough for the “lousy defense” of the foreign fielders, to have 3 of them out there at once. (And I say LOUSY while fully recognizing that Ohyama, Kinami and Hojoh ALL finished in the top 5 for total errors in 2019!) Speaking of which, who you got – Kinami or Hojoh at short?
Tough to call. I really like Kinami but at the same time Hojoh has glimpses of brilliance every now and then, and by that I mean on offense. My call is probably to go with Kinami starting and Hojoh coming off the bench. On second, Uemoto über alles and I don’t care who is fighting for the position. Uepon is and will always be the answer. Hahaha!
So here’s the thing, too – and I hate always thinking righty-lefty and that stuff, but we have Hojoh/Uepon as righties and Kinami/Itohara as lefties. So they can do some juggling like that if/when necessary. They are all good enough to be starters in my opinion. But like you, I think I have fallen for Kinami to an extent. He still has lots to learn, but he definitely has a certain swagger about him that I really like. Itohara and Uepon are pretty much a draw for me. Both are great when they are feeling it, but they are also neither Tetsuto Yamada at the plate nor Ryosuke Kikuchi on the field, so I also feel they are both lacking a little, too.
They are lacking, without a doubt, so that’s why it is so hard to actually make a choice. There’s no dominant force there that would make us not choose them and that’s really not good. Someone has to finally step up and take the reins! I remember us having the same conversation over and over 3 years ago about who would finally be the SS of the future and it revolved basically around the very same guys: Hojoh and Itohara.
Yeah… that is one area that Hanshin lacks – star power. Fukudome and Itoi were stars. Chikamoto and Umeno hopefully will be stars… but we have not really had anyone on Samurai Japan since Fujinami was still throwing strikes, and Toritani was contemplating playing in the majors. It’s been a long time… that having been said, this team has found ways to be relevant more often than not in the six years that I’ve been a fan.
Surprisingly yes.
Well, all I can say is that the 2019 draft has the potential of a few stars in the making… but until then, this year we are going to need a full team effort if we’re to contend. Aight boyee, let’s do this again another time. It was fun, for sure!
I’m really looking forward to seeing how this team turns out. It will most definitely be an interesting and surprising year. No doubt about it. Man, can’t wait to talk to you again. Miss talking baseball and our conversations are really a breath of fresh air especially down here in the Middle East where baseball is not even close to being popular. Catch you later!