Japanese Players and Consistency
At Bill James Online:
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I'm American, not Japanese.
Also: I personally am not very good at consistency, and don't value it enough. All I'm doing here is making an observation.
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On the Mariners telecasts, Mike Blowers has been quoting HOF'er George Brett, Brett complaining about the lost art of bunting. Nobody works at it much any more, grouses Brett. "Agreed," says Blowers. "The last guy I remember who really worked at bunting was Brett Butler."
Blowers & co. go on to point out that the mentality is, "You don't get on SportsCenter with a bunt." I go to junior-high games and see young American boys "styling" as though there were going to be TV highlights later.
It's a cultural thing. Jack Black complained in School of Rock, we used to have music. Then "The Man" ruined that too, with a little thing called MTV...
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Americans measure you by looking at you on your best day; Japanese measure you by looking at you on your worst day.
How many times was it, again, that Hisashi Iwakuma gave up more than 3 runs? How many seasons, during the 2000's, did Ichiro have fewer than 4.4 WAR, or more than 6.0 WAR? He wound up having the #4 total among all players during the 00's, simply by being consistent. There was Bonds, Pujols, ARod*, and then Ichiro. It wasn't as impressive as it should have been. In Japan, they'd have been noticing, that Ichiro and Jeter led all other AL-only players* by 50% in WAR for the decade.
Do you think that Doug Fister was underrated because of this factor? Even when he does win, it doesn't look as impressive as when Clayton Kershaw wins - even if the stats are the same. Iwakuma could toss another 15 quality starts in a row, and it wouldn't make the impression that CC Sabathia would, doing the same thing. (By the way, had you noticed that Doogie is having his best season, and Detroit has 4 of the 10 best starters in the league.)
This may be one reason that Americans tend to under-appreciate Japanese players. And one reason that Edgar isn't getting into the Hall of Fame. Next time there is a Japanese player who does not look properly imposing, we might want to remember. :- )
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Brendan Ryan is underappreciated on this level. His glove impacts the game every night.
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