JJ Update?

You'll find a great deal of information on JJ if you use the search box in the upper-right hand corner of every page. I even broadcast his start on June 23rd (although you might want to skip that one if you don't want to hear about his poor pitching performance that day).

As for contract negotiations, I guess it was you who was the anonymous inquisitor who asked that on an unrelated thread, in an inappropriate forum. I posted your question and answered it here.

Please have a look around more of the site. In particular, familiarize yourself with the list of forums (each has a description of what's inside), and brows a couple of pages within each forum before asking questions. The questions about contract renewals were good ones - just posted to the wrong place. Most other questions have been answered multiple times, though.

Thank you for your help. I used to be a bit of a fan of Jason's, but after reading his blog I'm rather disappointed in his character. I don't think he's cultured enough for the likes of Japan and it seems like his mental stamina for the great game of baseball has hit a low. Maybe this is why he's not a good pitcher.

If Jeff Weaver and Adrian Beltre taught me anything here in Seattle, it's that success in baseball is mostly mental. At that level, there really isn't much of a physical difference between all the players, so it's the mental strength that makes a difference. Jason Johnson doesn't have the mentality to succeed in Japan. He's like the anti-Tuffy Rhodes.

Agreed. Jason hasn't been in the "zone" for a while, and I'm thinking not only is he going to fail in Japan, but he'll never play in the bigs again. Hope he saved up his moolah and made some wise investments.

Sorry, I have been with clients this week and was not able to check the forum. Sad say not much has changed! When you get to report on a player (foreign player, such as Johnson this time) you choose to report the negative rather than positive. I don't know if Johnson will do well in Japan or if he will ever play in the USA again. Why not once in a while report something good or at least report his last three games, one very bad and disappointing and two very good. The last one 8 innings giving up 1 run. But no, you would rather bring up his worst game!

Anyway this is just a forum and not information given by an unbiased reporter, but rather by people that don't seem to like Americans.

You're right. There has been too much negative written about Johnson lately. I haven't seen him since that outing, so I'm afraid that I haven't written anything about him since then (positive or negative).

I did want to remind people that failure to adapt in Japan is no indication that a player won't be able to make a comeback in North America. Surely people remember Dan Miceli, the "Real Major Leaguer" who signed with the Giants in 2005. He failed to close all four attempts, allowing 7 runs on 9 hits over 2 and 2/3rd innings, being released after just a couple of months into the 2005 campaign. He then went on to pitch fine for Colorado (5.89 ERA) and Tampa Bay (3.94) in 2005 and 2006 respectively. [Baseball-Reference]

I've found that the best complement I can get sometimes is silence. That is, people seem to be hard wired to complain loudly when something is wrong, yet say nothing when everything is going along fine. It takes something out of the ordinary to get people to complement someone.

I witnessed something I thought was wrong, Johnson drilling Kimura in the back, then coming out and yelling at Kimura as though he'd gotten hit intentionally. Johnson then stated that he was pitching poorly and decided himself that it was time for someone to be hit. I was hoping that somebody could explain that train of thought to me, but it appears that others thought it equally odd.

I haven't seen any of his outings since then. Since you have, how about filling us in on the positive side of Johnson's pitching? Fight his negative press by enlightening us about what he's done well. You perceive a problem and are complaining, just like I did. That's fine. Let's turn that negative energy around with a positive JJ update.

- ... this is just a forum and not information given by an unbiased reporter, but rather by people that don't seem to like Americans.

Please cut out this attitude you seem to have. It's really offensive and I'm surprised it makes it past Michael's moderation.

• First, several of us on this forum are Americans. (You'll notice that there is a "location" field next to registered users' names. Please read it.)


• Second, go check out the praise we've had for Ryan Glynn, CJ Nitkowski, Tuffy Rhodes, and pretty much any other foreign (note - not just American, but any non-Japanese) player who's done a good job of adapting to Japan and to Japanese baseball. Seriously. I don't know if you just read the Jason Johnson threads or what, though I've lately gotten the impression there's a host of people who do just that (and sometimes don't even really read).


• Third, I know that I at least pick on all players equally if they're sucking at baseball. It's taken me 3 months to forgive Satoru Kanemura for his godawful April, for example (and his complete-game win last night is helping). Kanemura has also had a few run-ins with attitude problems in the past, and being Japanese makes no difference, as you'll find.


• Fourth, if you feel like there's a problem with the "biased reporting" here, nobody's forcing you to read it.

I don't know if you're affiliated with Mr. Johnson or what, but seriously, nobody's stopping you from posting about how great he is, rather than about how terrible all of these anti-American people are.

Seriously dude! Are you Jason's dad or something? I'm an American and have a fierce love for the great game of baseball. I've read many messages on here giving kudos to all players including American and Japanese, but right now I feel there are some concerns about Jason Johnson's pitching and his poor attitude. Come on, you must admit he's not at the top of his game and I cringe sometimes when I read his blog, especially when he brags about how he parties it up in Roppongi and how he talks lowly about Japan. He just seems to portray a typical "dumb jock" attitude and I, as a baseball fan, was hoping for a little bit more from him. Oh, well.

Yeah, at the beginning of the year, I gave Jason Johnson the benefit of the doubt. It's a tough transition to make, especially for a sport that can have some of the most closed-minded redneck players out there. However, it's been what? Four months since then? Nothing has changed. The guy is still eating Cookie Crisp, complaining about hotels, and the worst part is that he's regularly going to Roppongi.

Want to know how not to adapt to Japan? Just go to Roppongi on a regular basis. You can just pretend you're back in America.

CJ Nitkowski seems like he's embraced the experience, and his stats pretty much reflect that mentality. Dan Miceli and Gabe Kapler were absolutely miserable in Japan, and their stats were terrible. Kapler admitted the mistakes he made, but it was too late by that time. Miceli still holds a grudge.

Yes, Miceli still is holding a grudge, too bad. You know, I've had the opportunity to see games all over the world as I have an immediate family member who's an executive in the Majors. I've meet many, many players and the ones that stand out seem to have a higher moral code than the others. Perhaps they are more enlightened and realize baseball is just a temporary stage in their lives and there's a much bigger picture to see. I've actually been in Roppongi when Jason's been there and I just want to go over to him and slap some sense into that big head of his. Even I, at this very moment, and ashamed to admit I've been to Roppongi after midnight, but a buddy of mine wanted to check out the scene, and once we realized how pathetic the chicks were, we headed out like a baby. We saw Jason and he really comes across like he just wants to be famous and adored by all. Not sure if he's willing to give up his ego for the greater good of the team and the team's image.