JPN
Like many people, I had heard rumors (mainly in the form of the headlines of articles I did not read) that grilling foods might cause cancer. But I had dismissed it as being another example of the alarmist nature of the 24-hour news cycle. ("Everything is going to kill you! 12 weird ways your food is toxic! Steak is cancer, you won't believe why!")
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This from MLB Trade Rumors:
The operative phrase being, --- > "and his wife." Probably some of you amigos is married. :- )
If you were moving to, say, Mongolia, maybe your wife signed off on it with "Can we at least get an area that speaks a little English somewhere?" We went through this with Kenji Johjima, who early on signalled a desire similar to Tanaka's.
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In Euro football, it's an industry, their wagering on the destinations of popular "free agents." Right now my Gunners are odds-on to land Dimitar Berbatov. If SkyBet had a Tanaka listing, I'm guessing it would look something like the one on Luke Shaw (which see). The M's being at 3:1.
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A Fangraphs article insists that Taijuan Walker, Archie Bradley and quite a few other AAA prospects are comparable in value to Masahiro Tanaka. The conclusion is that teams should be much more careful about trading prospects for stars, which is a position the author has maintained for many years.
The Exec Sum of his argument is as follows:
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Late last week, Shaikin and Hernandez reported that MLB would make sure that Tanaka was not donating to Rakuten. A donation would violate MLB's deal with NPB, which stipulates that Japanese teams not receive any money beyond a player's posting fee, which has a $20MM limit.
Rakuten's president, Yozo Tachibana, had reportedly said that Tanaka would "cooperate and donate . . . starting with improving the environment for the players and to make sure it’s the kind of stadium that can be loved by [local] fans." Rakuten has considered adding a dome.
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Poster EA, and Mojician was it? ... pointed out that the Nintendo company and Rakuten do business in Japan. How in the world would MLB police that? Here are Dr. D's cornball thoughts on the matter:
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1. The "invisible hammer," out of the Commissioner's office, is never to be underestimated.
Pick up the newspaper in any given week, and you'll find stories about this player or that club official who never worked in his sport again. This extends even to the most famous celebrities -- Barry Bonds, Barry Sanders?, Michael Jordan, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Holmgren, whoever. They'll find something you did wrong, or they'll get pictures of you in private, and they'll feed a "cover story" to the public.
If the Commissioner's office thought that Howard Lincoln arranged a Nintendo-Rakuten deal, it might do who-knows-what to him. Lincoln is well aware of this.
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The Right Yujin, Dept.
As usual, the vibe from inside the industry makes 29 kinds of sense to SSI. This from MLB Trade Rumors:
You might be surprised at the tendency for large Fortune 500 organizations to develop personalities. That second sentence captures the M's front office perfectly, as a corporate organism that emphasizes comfort and enjoyment.
The Ichiro factor, and the Felix factor, those were the two main sources of baseball "enjoyment" for Lincoln and Co. since Gillick and Piniella left. Both players are/were "good actors," were a pleasure to have in class, players that the executives could embrace wholeheartedly and joyfully.
Both were, of course, ballplayers that the front office could market to rabid fan sectors. You can see for yourself how much gusto the Mariners have shown in catering to those fan sectors - turning all of Safeco Field into a giant yellow King's Court, wallowing in his "Felix Dance," and so on.
Scouting On Site
Super-NPB-Poster Taro sees Tanaka as an impact starter in the majors, "but on the Kuroda, Iwakuma level" rather than on the Yu Darvish level. Taro recommends Kenta Maeda as a more cost-efficient choice, capable of pitching at 90% the success level for 30% of the price.
IceBreakerX, who also lives in Japan, says not so fast on Maeda. He's quite short, as was Ian Snell for instance, and much more of a roll of the dice. Though a worthy roll.
Dr D's quick takes?
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Check out this super-slo-mo of Maeda-san's delivery. The first pitch is normal speed, but the second one is at 1:10 tempo.
Point A: Maeda has a Lincecum-class leap towards the plate -- a truly preposterous crotch split that leaves him landing as far forward as, say, Doug Fister.
A small RHP's main disadvantage is that his fastball is "short" -- that is, the arm action, body action, spin on the ball, etc., triggers the batter's brain to time the pitch as (say) 94 MPH. But because it is thrown from 1-2 feet farther away, it creates a type of "hanging fastball" effect as it "slows down" on its way to the plate. Erasmo Ramirez has to battle this problem.
Tim Lincecum did not battle this problem. His fastball, already fast, was also "sneaky fast" because it traveled such a short distance.
Maeda's landing spot is a very important secret weapon, and it translates beautifully to the majors. In fact Dr. D would opine that the effect is amplified in the majors, because Japanese hitters are not greedy and do not overswing.
Chicago is known for its signature dish: deep dish pizza, which is basically a big round calzone. (To quote Leslie Knope from NBC's Parks and Recreation, "Calzones are pointless. They're just pizza that's harder to eat.") Most of the country is, I think, at least a little intrigued by the concept of a Chicago-style deep dish pizza, but when you get right down to it, most people just want a regular normal pizza.
Turns out the same is true for Chicagoans.
The largest city in
Confessions of a Homeschooler has a Christmas Traditions Around the World guide you can download for free. I’m so glad I ran across it because we had to miss out on a class with the same theme last week. There are nine different countries included in the packet, including China, France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Mexico, Russia and Spain. There are recipes, activities and information about each country.
