Rakuten Clinches Last Place
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Re: Rakuten Clinches Last Place
[ Author: Guest: John Brooks | Posted: Aug 30, 2005 9:50 PM
]
- I'm not so surprised that Rakuten finished last, though I am a little surprised that it happened so quickly.
I'm also surprised that it has happened this quick to the Eagles. I thought they would play a little better this year. Though this is a expansion year and most expansion teams (if not all) have had a bad first year record.
The good thing is Rakuten posted a big profit, and Mikitani plans on spending this off-season. They plan on possibly dispatching a scout in the United States (as their foreign player selection was downright terrible), and the fans are showing up in great numbers. So even with the bad record, it isn't a complete loss for Rakuten. They just have a long winter ahead of them to build a competitive team.
- What I'm really surprised about is how much better Orix has been. With the personnel they lost, I thought they could be worse than Rakuten, but I was horribly off the mark there.
Except for the losses of Iwakuma (who's been less than stellar), Isobe, and Norihiro Nakamura, Orix got the better part of the merger, taking players from both sides of the merger.
I'll say one thing, it's not what I expected after the merger and at the beginning of the year.
I'm also surprised that it has happened this quick to the Eagles. I thought they would play a little better this year. Though this is a expansion year and most expansion teams (if not all) have had a bad first year record.
The good thing is Rakuten posted a big profit, and Mikitani plans on spending this off-season. They plan on possibly dispatching a scout in the United States (as their foreign player selection was downright terrible), and the fans are showing up in great numbers. So even with the bad record, it isn't a complete loss for Rakuten. They just have a long winter ahead of them to build a competitive team.
- What I'm really surprised about is how much better Orix has been. With the personnel they lost, I thought they could be worse than Rakuten, but I was horribly off the mark there.
Except for the losses of Iwakuma (who's been less than stellar), Isobe, and Norihiro Nakamura, Orix got the better part of the merger, taking players from both sides of the merger.
I'll say one thing, it's not what I expected after the merger and at the beginning of the year.
Re: Rakuten Clinches Last Place
[ Author: Something Lions | Posted: Sep 2, 2005 2:41 AM
| SL Fan
]
Eagles are winning almost 30% of their games. This is actually better than I feared. I mean, this is a scrap team of BlueWave and Kintetsu rejects (except Isobe and Iwakuma), full of over-35 players. They have to get their scouting team in tip top shape very quickly though, otherwise they have no future.
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I'm not so surprised that Rakuten finished last, though I am a little surprised that it happened so quickly. What I'm really surprised about is how much better Orix has been. With the personnel they lost, I thought they could be worse than Rakuten, but I was horribly off the mark there. As long as Seibu doesn't get hot all of a sudden, Orix even has a realistic shot at making the playoffs.
Who'd've thunk it?