Luis Gonzalez Headed to Yomiuri

Interesting. Rockies re-sign Kaz Matsui, and sell Gonzalez to Kyojin.

- Interesting. Rockies re-sign Kaz Matsui, and sell Gonzalez to Kyojin.


Yeah, the Rockies re-signed Kazuo and insist on having people like Clint Barmes and Jamey Carroll (who's very unlikely to repeat his 2006 season), and have no room for a successful Rule V pick with decent power, who hits for average, has a good OBP, and a good SLG percentage.

It mainly came down to a lack of roster space, though it was a poor decision by Colorado to sell Gonzalez, who has more talent than Barmes (who was a big bust last year) and Carroll (who is quite overrated).

Anyway, Gonzalez has me intrigued on what he can accomplish in Japan. Hopefully the pressure of playing for Yomiuri doesn't become too much like it did to Tuffy Rhodes and others.

Was it the pressure of playing for Yomiuri that did in Tuffy Rhodes, or just the combination of old age and the Japanese Leagues' tendency to get rid of foreign players after their first bad year?

Tuffy was in the league for a long time and made a lot of friends. He was basically treated like a no good money hungry foreigner by the Giants. I can see why he got frustrated. Unfortunately, as a foreigner, he's super vulnerable when he makes remarks like he did against his organization. It would be difficult even for a Japanese star to regain faith from the front office.

Tuffy had a great tenure in Japan. He left Osaka to get a final multi year, big money deal and no surprise. The Giants offered it. However, being away from the US for the majority of 10+ years had a toll on his family life. I believe it cost him a marriage and he wanted to finish up after 2 seasons with the Giants to return to the US to be closer to his son who was quite big now. As a last effort to keep playing ball he tried out for the Cincinnati Reds but, simply put, was too old.

I read Warren Cromartie's book a few years ago, and playing in Japan cost him a marriage, too. Cromartie's wife was a French Canadian (Cro came up in the Expos' system), and I guess she wasn't willing to come with the kids to Japan. Too much of a change. If you're married, it must be complicated to come play in Japan.

Still, given the fact that ballplayer's careers are short and the money is huge, it strikes me that their kids could stand a few years experiencing a foreign culture.

I expect Matsui to have a big year in Colorado in 2007. By the end of the year, there will be talk of him as come-back player of the year and having "learned" the American game, when in fact he'll be the same player he always was, just in a much better situation. He's not a big man, and Shea Stadium completely swallowed up his power. For a middle infielder in that ball park, there was nothing wrong with his numbers, except that Mets fans and the New York media expected him to have the impact of Ichiro or Godzilla. Now he'll be playing in the best hitters' park in baseball, and people will think he's regained his batting and power strokes.