Roki Sasaki

Hirooka takes aim at Sasaki, Marines

Tatsuro Hirooka, who as general manager of the Lotte Marines in 1995, hired Bobby Valentine, and then fired him when he did well, arguing that Valentine had cost the rag-tag team he inherited the pennant, on Monday sharpened his attack on his former club and pitcher Roki Sasaki.

Much of the criticism of the Marines has been leveled at the club for posting a player who can only earn them a few million dollars at most in transfer fees, when two years from now could earn them 20 to 30 times that much as a 25-year-old. But Hirooka isn’t going that route.

“There is nothing one can do about the existence of the posting system rules,” Hirooka said. “It’s the team’s decision to make. But it just seems that the team is once more doing its all to baby the selfish Sasaki.”

“Maybe the team simply got tired of him, since Sasaki complained that ‘this hurts’ or ‘something’s wrong’ over and over throughout the season.”

“The 25-year-old rule? Forget about it. The team will be stronger without such a selfish player. The sooner they get rid of him the better.”

“Honestly, it’s so said and regrettable. More and more, Japan’s star players are leaving for MLB. Sasaki was a pro for just five years, and did absolutely nothing his first year, so it was really on four. How many games did he win?”

“In MLB, where contracts need to be earned, he will get fired and end up back in Japan, where some players, like Yakult’s Norichika Aoki produced upon their return, while others, such as Daisuke Matsuzaka, just got a ton of money without doing anything to earn it. It’s time for the commissioner to take the lead on this and fix the rules that allow for this.”

“He’s going to fail, no doubt about it. In MLB now pitchers have to work on four or five days’ rest, and if he tries that, he’s going to break down. He lacks the physical strength now. Even Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who won three straight Sawamura Awards got hurt.”

“When Sasaki goes over there, he’s going to get a reality check. MLB teams sign Japanese talent so they can be of immediate use. They give no thought to signing them in order to develop or bring them along.”

“At the time of Sasaki’s perfect game, he threw some absolutely amazing pitches, and made us wonder just how great a pitcher he could become, but he hasn’t improved a lick since then. He hasn’t built himself up, and then before you know it he’s complaining of how something is wrong or something hurts, and then doesn’t practice.”

“But blame must be placed at the door of Lotte for not making him take part in strenuous training, and this might too have been an agreement with him, not to do anything too much that would put his fitness at risk.”

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One thought on “Hirooka takes aim at Sasaki, Marines”

  1. Tatsuro Hirooka is a dumb ass and a hater lmao. Who cares what this ancient has-been says? Typical old loser irrelevant POS hating on the younger generation acting like a know it all. Roki is so smart to leave this loser hater culture behind. Bet he can’t wait to join the Dodgers now lol!

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