The yanks sign Matsui, will he end up to be another Irabu or is this one worth the hype? I don't know much about him so I can't say much. All I remember was bonds giving him a back rub overseas during the homerun derby when bonds spanked him.
I think he'll be a 7 million dollar ballplayer (which is what he is) - a good player, but no 90 foot dragon.
forget the homers and rbi's, they wont translate. i am hoping that the fact that he led the jap league in OBP stays with him.
I think he will produce over the first year and then fizzle out like that fat fuck Irabu did.
he is good for ratings on YES, for merchandising and tapping monster money revenues from Japan and japanese fans in the states.
If he can play and hit that would be a big plus.
Well I figure it like this, he's getting paid the same amount of money that rondell white was getting and if he can produce better than white which he should then he is worth it.
He's a fucking great hitter. I'll be shocked if he doesn't hit at least .300-25-85 in his first year. Fuckin Yankee fans, don't know how good you have it...
Do you know how many Japaneese are going to come to Yankee Stadium now? We better not start serving sushi like at Shea...hot dogs and beer...let them learn to eat it.
Japanese marketing is MAJOR part of this. He should be a very good player, and his pay isn't much, but the biggest part of him is marketing. Think Irabu times 5.
Rob Neyer at ESPN found someone who attempted to adjust Japanese stats for US. His adjusted stats for Matsui for the past few years are:
HR OBP Slug
2000 30 .402 .531
2001 25 .412 .514
2002 35 .418 .551
If those turn out to be real, he'll be really good (ala Bernie Williams), but no superstar like Arod or Bonds.
And again a bargain at his salary.