Ahead of this season, Oakland signed two starting pitchers overseas to strengthen their starting rotation. They recruited Fujinami Shintaro (29) from Nippon Professional Baseball and Drew Luchinski (35) from the Korean Professional Baseball KBO League.
The absolute scale itself was not large, with contracts of 1 year or 1+1 years respectively. But for Auckland, who don’t have much money to spend, even two players guaranteed for more than $3 million each were great signings. Auckland wanted two players to fill a spot in the starting rotation, along with former team ace Paul Blackburn. I didn’t expect much, but I still believed that if I rotated the rotation steadily, I would do my part in my own way.
But everything is going back to nothing. Fujinami was virtually kicked out of the starting rotation with the worst performance. Fujinami had the worst performance in his first four games, with 4 losses and an earned run average of 14.40. Luchinski suffered back pain during the demonstration game, which delayed his return to the major leagues, and in the first game, he was hit with 11 hits in 5⅔ innings, allowing 5 runs (3 earned runs) and losing.안전놀이터
The problem is not just the two players. Auckland played 28 games until the 30th (Korean time). In these 28 games, he is recording the worst record ever with 5 wins and 23 losses (.179). In the real point, the reason is clearly revealed. Oakland has given up a whopping 226 runs in its first 28 games. It is too different even compared to the Chicago White Sox (174 runs), which has the second most runs in the league. The profit margin is already -118.
The starting pitchers can’t stand it. Oakland has not won a start in 28 games. All teams except Oakland have at least four starts, and Tampa Bay, which has the most starts, already has 16 wins. The Oakland starting lineup had only 15 losses and an ERA of 8.68 in 28 games. It’s hard to find a starting lineup like this in history.
Kyle Muller has 2 losses and an ERA of 6.28, JP Sears has 2 losses and an ERA of 6.23, Ken Waldychuck has 2 losses and an ERA of 7.82, and James Capelion has 2 losses and an ERA of 12.15. It’s because Fujinami’s performance is so poor, so the rest of the players have nothing to say.
However, there are no top-notch prospects waiting to be promoted to the major leagues, and there are not enough cards to recruit in the trade market. That means Oakland’s starting problems are likely to continue throughout the season. In 1990, when Oakland was at its peak, Oakland’s starting pitchers combined for 90 starts. Even if it’s not the glory of the past, 0 wins in 28 games is too bad.