That isnt that bad of a contract for the team.

These "Yahoo Contributor Network" yarns are usually nothing more than fanboy raves, so I got a chuckle out of this "How bad are we gonna suck?" rant. Only in Philly, man. Only in Philly.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/bad-2014-philadelphia-phillies-outfield-164700607--mlb.html

Kershaw gets 7 years, $215M from the Dodgers.  New record contract for a pitcher.  Highest AAV for any baseball player contract.

Mike Trout must be salivating.

Tanaka to the Yankees:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/yankees--masahiro-tanaka-agree-on-seven-year---155-million-deal-150329915.html

When you include the posting fee, the Yankees paid $175M for a pitcher who has never thrown an inning in the major leagues. 

The Wainwright deal looks better and better.

forsberg_us wrote:

It's unfortunate that we no longer have a Cubs message board to Troll on days like today.  You just know that Cub fan bought into the notion that the Cubs would not be out-bid and probably already went out and bought their Tanaka jerseys.  I'm sure they never considered the possibility that he might choose to play somewhere other than the dump on Clark.

If the Reds had signed him, Danny would have predicted Tanaka would be the NL's first,30-game winner since Dizzy Dean.

APIAD wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

When you include the posting fee, the Yankees paid $175M for a pitcher who has never thrown an inning in the major leagues. 

The Wainwright deal looks better and better.

I have a hard time understanding why teams pay this much for overseas players. There has been some good players come over but for the money it seems like a unbelievable risk.
 

Ichy obviously has HoF credentials, and Darvish looks like he's the goods, but most of the other Asian players who have come over have been ordinary. Matsuzaka had one good year for the Red Sox, but he didn't even come close to earning what they paid for him.
Still wish I had bought me a So Taguchi jersey when they were available, though. That homer off Billy Wagner in the 2006 NLCS was an epic moment.
 

Garza to the Brewers. If he makes 33 starts for the Brewers in any one of the four seasons he's under contract to them, I'll walk to Milwaukee and congratulate him.

http://news.yahoo.com/free-agent-rhp-garza-brewers-reach-4-deal-193151408--spt.html;_ylt=AwrBJR6cxOZSzHAANbvQtDMD

APIAD wrote:

I dont think asian baseball is as compatible with the mlb as latin baseball.

I agree, but Japan won the first two WBCs, and the Koreans finished second and third. I acknowledge winning the WBC makes you a "world champion" about as much as having the best pre-season record in the NFL makes you the favorite to win the Super Bowl, but Asian baseball isn't a joke the way it was say 20 years ago.  
There's also something to the team chemistry and national pride components that the Asian teams rely on more than the USA team, which tends to be made up of a bunch of guys who feel like playing in the WBC instead of spending a couple of weeks in spring training.
 

artie_fufkin wrote:

APIAD wrote:

I dont think asian baseball is as compatible with the mlb as latin baseball.

I agree, but Japan won the first two WBCs, and the Koreans finished second and third. I acknowledge winning the WBC makes you a "world champion" about as much as having the best pre-season record in the NFL makes you the favorite to win the Super Bowl, but Asian baseball isn't a joke the way it was say 20 years ago.  
There's also something to the team chemistry and national pride components that the Asian teams rely on more than the USA team, which tends to be made up of a bunch of guys who feel like playing in the WBC instead of spending a couple of weeks in spring training.
 

I dont think asian baseball is worst...just different.  They lack power hitters and power pitchers for the most part.  There are a few exceptions.  However the mlb isnt looking for slappy left fielders. 
 

Without trying to foster any stereotypes, don't you think some of the differences are due to the physical differences between the players?  Hideki Matsui was nicknamed "Godzilla," but he's listed as 6'2, 210.  Other than Arabu, who was just fat, every Asian player I think of is a smaller, slender guy. 

The Dense Korean theory being a rare exception to that rule