While that may be correct, I believe you can correlate players who played in a certain environment to one another. The Nationality has nothing to do with the issue, rather the differences in the players and types of players, the schedule, the size of the ball, and many other differences between Baseball in Japan and MLB.

This is not about stereotyping players, but about assessing conditions that help evaluate stats accumulated in Japan, and how they might correlate to MLB.

I also think we have a pretty educated crowd here, and we should be careful about being the Politically Correct Police everytime any kind of mention is made that references someones race, creed or color.

If a RHB hits 60 HRs in a year, 52 at Coors field and 8 on the road, do we expect him to hit 60 HRs if the Yankees get him? If not, are we prejudiced against people in live in Colorado?

I do think Yu will do very will here, as his personal tools translate to MLB better than many other Japanese players. But I’ll bet that just like many other Pitchers that have come from Japan, his BB and HR rate will be significantly higher than in Japan, and that it will also take a year or 2 of scouting and familiararity (SP???) before we can assess how he will do over the long term.

In terms of not signing him, I think the cost, our propsed $189m budget, and that fact that there were more unknowns with Yu than with a MLB Pitcher we know well, had more to do with passing on him, rather than his ‘nationality’.

I thought Darvish looked good last night, but not as great as 8.1 shutout innings would predict. He got pretty lucky, actually — 7 hits and two walks typically produces a couple of runs. Still, his true outcomes totals were very impressive.

What the Yankees needed with Igawa and Darvish was boots on the ground, getting a very good idea of what his stuff was like. I hope the Yankees learned enough from Igawa to have lots of scouting on Darvish and were lukewarm because of those scouting reports. And I also hope those scouting reports were correct. Last night, obviously, it looked like the Yanks missed the boat.

Watched some of the game this evening. His stuff is stupid awesome..really, he should be wearing pinstripes. The Yankees are a team of stars, and Darvish is going to be a big one.

[9] Darvish is half-Japanese, half-Iranian, quasi-technically speaking

I don’t think that’s obvious at all. The performance of one Japanese pitcher is evidence for the performance of others. The fact that several highly-touted Japanese pitchers turned out to be hugely overpaid (well, not exactly overpaid, but the teams paid way too much) is a perfectly sensible reason for deciding not to bid high, or at all, for the next highly-touted Japanese pitcher. (And I agree that it’s not in any way racial — Darvish is not even racially Japanese, is he?)

Also, I love the word “gunshy”. It seems like it should be a Japanese word. Or else maybe a childish adjective — like “darvish”. Gosh, you were looking a little gunshy this morning; are you sure you’re feeling quite darvish?

[3] Boat, as you know, I usually am pretty radical on issues like this..ahem..but not 100% sure I agree with you this time. It’s not that fact the the guys are “Japanese”, it’s that they are coming out of the “Japanese leagues” (NPB) that give people pause. Same was said about Roberto Petagine and Tuffy Rhodes. “Great seasons and they show talent..but it’s the Japan leagues..” Merely a quesiton about the level of play. I think Ichiro and Matsui proved that Japanese guys can excel in the majors.

That is completely different from your hypothetical comparison about not signing a black player after a black free agent bombed.

Some of the statements on the Banter and in U.S. sports media are bordering on racism or at least prejudice. “After Kei Igawa, the Yankees are gun shy about….” Well, Kei Igawa was Kei Igawa. That’s all. He just happens to be from Japan.

Imagine hearing this, “Well, after what happened with LaTroy Hawkins, the Yanks are gun shy about singing another African-American pitcher.”

It’s ludicrous, I know, but that’s the same kind of lens through which many people seem to view Japanese players.

Uh, nevermind…

I did get some great pics of Mo and Swish during BP, so I guess that’s something. Oh well, I’ll be there tomorrow too, so hopefully there will be a better outcome.