No Chocolate for Gaijin?

I wasn't in favour of Rakuten joining the league in the first place. Of course it's questionable whether Livedoor would've been busted for the financial scandal had Horiemon actually gotten into the NPB old boys network. But then again, Rakuten had much larger market capitalization even before the arrest, so it was probably a good thing that Rakuten got the franchise in the end. Mikitani seemed too hasty and cheap to be building a winner.

Forgot to mention the firings of Tao and Kuehnert.

Forget the gaijin they have signed last year or this year. Look at the worthless Japanese players they have signed. You can put MLB all-stars on that team and they would suffer. It will be interesting to see how Fernandez hits with zero protection or help in the lineup. Why pitch to Fernandez when the next big power guy is Yamasaki? Come on, really, there isn't a Japanese guy on that team that could hold a job in AAA - Iwakuma included. Thank God Mikitani gets his bottom line though.

- It will be interesting to see how Fernandez hits with zero protection or help in the lineup. Why pitch to Fernandez when the next big power guy is Yamasaki?

Forget Rick Short all of a sudden? He should be able to protect Fernandez. Also, we'll see if Koichi Isobe can rebound?

- Come on, really, there isn't a Japanese guy on that team that could hold a job in AAA - Iwakuma included.

We have another scout in the house. It's yet to be seen what Iwakuma would do, as last year he was with an expansion team. What expansion team is good in their first year? A lot of Iwakuma's performance was because of Rakuten being an expansion team.

Oh here we go again, more whining about Rakuten. Pardon me westbaystars, but the level of consistent whining about Rakuten is almost clueless and annoying.

Anyone who expected Rakuten to contend in their first couple of years couldn't be any more wrong. I mean, how many expansion teams compete in their first couple of years? Not many. I mean, their expansion draft consisted of Orix-Kintestu leftovers. Many teams aren't expected to contend with those players. It takes a while to build an organization from the ground up. It doesn't come overnight.

Plus, Rakuten posted a profit in 2005, despite all the hardships. Also, the signings of Fernandez, Short, Bowers, and Lin-Ying Chieh look pretty exciting. Again, an organization isn't built overnight.

- I liked Rakuten at first, but they're giving me a pretty shady vibe lately. The selection of Nomura as manager (and his outbursts since), their weak website, the $1,000 per person streaming broadcasts of home games, horror stories about how they run business from 2005 players who were let go, etc. What is up with this organization?

The early axing of Tao probably wasn't the best idea in the world. I mean, no expansion team is successful in their first year. Their entire overall record can't be pinned on Tao, the same thing with the dismissal of Marty Kuehnert. Kuehnert was barely given a chance, and was re-assigned a month into the season.

Second, about the outbursts of Nomura, they have been indeed childish, especially the ones about Kazuhisa Ishii. The Commissioner ought to punish Nomura for all of his idiotic remarks, or Nomura will just keep on with his idiotic and childish remarks.

Third, as for the weak website, yes it is a big disappointment. A team ought to be able it give fans a detailed and in-depth website, but many NPB teams, including Rakuten, have a problem with lackluster websites. I mean, all you have to do is look at the NPB-BIS website to see this point.

Fourth, the high cost of Internet broadcasts is also disappointing. You'd think in the 21st century, the NPB would get the point of getting Internet broadcasts across to its fans in an easy, affordable way. Preferally, free like Softbank and Seibu, though again, most of the NPB teams have a problem with broadcasting. Most of them still lack Internet broadcasting in the 21st century, which is highly disappointing.

Though, in conclusion, many postive things have been accomplished so far by Rakuten. Yes, there have been setbacks, but still the accomplishments can't be ignored.

What has Iwakuma's record over the past two years been against the Softbank/Daiei Hawks?

Mikitani is definitely not a good man to run a sports team. His J-1 team was relegated to J-2 after winning only four games. His baseball team finished with the worst record in Japanese baseball. He signs unknown players, and people still go to the games. Maybe there's something deeper and he is trying to create a "Cubs" team here, the loveable losers.

He needs to stop. Get back into business where your job is to make other business owners mad because you stole their customers. Stay out of sports, the reason here is to help make your customers winners, not just take their money.

As far as racism goes, chocolate is nothing compared to ORIX. Their best players last year were gaijin, and when you go to their official stores in Kobe and Osaka, you can't find a jersey with a gaijin name on it, much less a cell phone dangle with a gaijin face. They don't acknowledge their foreign help at all.

- His baseball team finished with the worst record in Japanese baseball.

They were an expansion team, of course they were going to peform bad. All expansion teams do, espically when the team is full of Orix-Kintestu leftovers.

- He signs unknown players, and people still go to the games.

Iwakuma and Isobe sure aren't unkown players, and Mikitani signed them. Neither is Rick Short (who previously played with Chiba Lotte in 2003), Cedrick Bowers (who has been with the BayStars since 2004), and Jose Fernandez (who's been with Lotte and Seibu since 2003). All of them also have been highly successful in their time in Japan.

I stand corrected, given.

But it's still obvious that he didn't put together a quality team. Who advises him on these things?

- As far as racism goes, chocolate is nothing compared to ORIX. Their best players last year were gaijin, and when you go to their official stores in Kobe and Osaka, you can't find a jersey with a gaijin name on it, much less a cell phone dangle with a gaijin face. They don't acknowledge their foreign help at all.

I think it's probably got more to do with commercial considerations than racism. I'm sure if you visited all the various team stores you'll find that Orix is not the only team that does this. The feeling seems to be that foreign players come and go so frequently that it's not worth the effort producing merchandise featuring their names.

BTW, I don't necessarily agree with this approach (and there are exceptions to the rule), but that's my understanding of how it works.

I don't even remember Iwakuma throwing against Softbank! They must save those games for the gaijin.

Coincidence he missed them last year - think again!