Which is, nothing other than the posting of Masahiro Tanaka.  I'm torn on Tanaka myself.  He's not as good, overall, as Yu Darvish.  Darvish clearly had the make-up, build and stuff to be an ace.  Tanaka is smaller but has a decent build, has fewer and weaker pitches except for his excellent slider, relies on his change-up more which could affect his durability, and has a lot of mileage for a twenty-five year old.  He projects to a middle-of-the-rotation starter; his excellent slider has some predicting him to be a TORP, or at least *almost* a TORP.


Put another way, when some scouts claimed Darvish pitched like Daisuke Matsuzaka, I never saw it.  Even trying to command the strike zone with Darvish's array of physics-bending pitches is a challenge.  With Tanaka, I *do* see Daisuke.  If scouts honestly believe Tanaka has the control of a Hernandez or Lee, then Tanaka will get paid way more than Darvish and the guy will probably be worth every penny.  But the Japanese professional league is generally compared in ability to American AA minor league ball, or maybe a step between AA and AAA.  That means Tanaka's control better be near-perfect *now*.  Because if he relies on whiffs to get people out, he's going to end up being a very expensive relief pitcher/ number-five starter.

Anyway, Joe Lucia breaks down each MLB team's interest in Tanaka.  The Dodgers, Angels, Yankees, Rangers, Diamondbacks, Cubs and Blue Jays are the go-getters in Lucia's opinion.  I just don't see the Rangers in on Tanaka.  I can convince myself that he's a #2 guy, but it just won't stick.  I really think Tanaka is going to bomb in America, and I don't want the Rangers messing with that kind of stink.  "Yeah," you might be thinking, "but if the Rangers are willing to spend mad money, which the Choo signing indicates, then why not spend on Tanaka as well, in the hope that he *is* that good?"  And I answer, "Choo was expensive, yes, and the last couple years of his contract will probably be a massive overpay; but in my opinion on-base skills like Choo's aren't given the regard as elite skills that they deserve.  Choo got the money he was worth; Daniels got the best deal a team could have got on Choo, and even though Choo won't do much that excites the average stadium viewer; I wager that Choo does as much as or more than Fielder to get this team to the World Series next year."

Speaking of which, Buster Olney ranked the Rangers as the #1 lineup in baseball.  Unfortunately, it's behind the pay wall.

UPDATE:  I started to get into this, but decided to move on:  "If the Rangers' lineup is the best in baseball, then the scouts are right and the stats are wrong."  I posted something like this in comment to a blog post about projections for the Rangers' starting nine.  If the starters all play at their expected level, then, in last year's terms, the team will be #7 instead of #8.  Not really what Rangers fans are expecting, is it?

And the best MLB stadium to survive a zombie apocalypse in is Tropicana Field.  Sounds about right.

Posted by: Ben at 01:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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