Sounds like Craig needs to invest in Rosetta Stone
Counsell wants to communicate better with Seiya, the Red Sox infield is going to be a problem and how sustainable were PCA and Amaya's improvements
For so many weeks now the talk about the Cubs has been on whether Jed has the stones to make one more big move before the season starts. We talked about Alex Bregman, Dylan Cease, Michael King, Robert Suarez and Justin Turner. OK, Turner doesn't fit "big move", which is why he's likely the move they'll make. But there are other things going on in camp now, so let's shift our focus and check out a few.
On Sunday, Craig Counsell said a point of emphasis for him was going to be to improve communication with Seiya Suzuki. Counsell was open about how easy it is to let the language barrier make you "lazy." Seiya speaks Japanese and Counsell speaks Wisconsin, so sometimes it's easiest just to not bother and hope the other guy understands what you probably would have said.
How do you speak Wisconsin? You pronounce "bags" with a y in the middle of it. "Milk" has an e instead of an i. You say, "Aw jeez" a lot, and qualify everything with a well placed "no" or "for sure" or both. I can see how the last one might have confused Seiya at the end of last year.
"So, Seiya. Yeah, no, for sure, you're gonna be the DH now. Aw jeeze, have a fun winter."
How does that translate to Japanese?
Seiya has been clear that he's not wild about being a full-time DH, but he's going to do it because it will help the team. I personally think his defensive challenges are overstated, but at the same time the guy they're going to play in right field is a legit Gold Glove winner. Where I'd be pissed if I were Seiya is that the guy in left has three Gold Gloves, but has earned none.
By comparison, Ian Happ was worth -2 outs above average in left last year. Seiya was worth -3 in right. Kyle Tucker didn't have enough games out there to qualify after he destroyed his shin with a foul ball, but if he had he'd been worth +1 in just 70 games in right. I get that outs above average can fluctuate for weird reasons. From 2020 to 2022 Tucker was +4, +4, +5 and then suddenly -6 in 2023. I can only assume it was because Dusty Baker positioned him in the visiting bullpen for long stretches of games.
By any measure, Seiya is not an inferior fielder to Happ and so you'd like to see Counsell satiate him by giving him ample run in left to afford Happ more time to stare at the magic dots in his batting helmet.
