put together a great team. One of the newer members of the team this year Kei Igawa or Iggy whom has been the topic of some interesting conversation; in one of the Yankee groups that I am in. The question as to whether Iggy should start the season in the minors or in the majors has come up quite a few times. The argument is simple. Japanese pitchers have a tendency to come into the Majors with tones of hype and potential, and thus far all have eventually fallen short. Yankee fans see Iggy and wonder if he is ready for the Major Leagues and I for one think he would benefit from a few months playing Triple A ball to be honest. The flip side to this is that the Yankees have spent 26 million dollars just to talk to him then another 20 million over 5 years to retain his service. The thought is that’s not money you spend on a guy to start the season in the minors. The thought process here is flawed thou, because the Yankees signed him for 5 years so their not thinking short term here. Looking at the big picture they are hoping Iggy can be a part of the Yankees pitching staff for the next 5 years. So with that said there has to be a plan in place to achieve that goal. Basically, Iggy needs to develop like any rookie coming into the Majors.Consider this. Chen Ming Wang was a star pitcher from Taiwan, that helped his country win the silver medal in the Olympics. All things considered when the Yankees signed him, his
performance SHOULD have had him pitching for the Yankees that first year. Instead the Yankees sent him to Triple A, had him work and develop into a Major League Pitcher and then when he was called up he became one of the biggest impact players to come up from the minors in the Yankees organization in a long time. Why is this?? Simple Wang was given time to develop, time to learn about pitching in this country, and allowed to develop the skills he needed to pitch successfully in the Majors. Iggy some will argue has been playing pro ball in Japan and should already poses those skills. The argument is a fair one until you compare the Japanese Pro ball to the major Leagues. Considering that many ball players from Japan can’t cut it in the majors should be all that needs to be said. This is not a slight on Japanese baseball. There is TREMENDUS talent in that league, but the culture is very different, and they just don’t’ play the same kind of baseball that’s played in the Majors because 
of that. For a hitter the adjustment is not to big look at Itchro, or Matsui. Pitching on the other hand is a different story. The mentality of a Major leaguer pitcher is very complex especially for a starter. Most starters will go over scouting reports, study tapes, and have a game plan going into every start. That game plan is shared with their catcher, and is constantly changing as the game progress. This means good communication is needed, as well as a strong working relationship. When a Japanese pitcher comes to the states to pitch here all this prep work I believe is a hard adjustment for them. Then add the Language barrier to the mix makes it difficult if not impossible. Think about it if a pitcher and a catcher mix up their signals and have a miscommunication the results can be dangerous. A Catcher expecting a curve but receives a high and tight fastball will be out of position causing a pass ball. Or have to lunge for the ball causing the ump to call a close pitch or a ball. More importantly if a catch interprets a scouting report one way and his pitcher sees it differently their approach to pitching any batter will not be on the same page and that’s how mistakes that end up in the stands happen.For any Rookie to move to the majors there is always an adjustment period, but for a player unfamiliar with American baseball the
adjustment can be a lot bigger. I have always believed that Japanese pitchers like Iggy need to start the season in the Minors and to give them time and a good feel for what baseball is like here in thestates. Let them get comfortable, and learn how to make the adjustments that they need to make away form the spotlight of the majors. If you apply this rule to any number of the Japanese pitchers that came to the Majors, I believe a number of them would not have performed so badly and the results would have been vary different.In Iggy’s case there’s a money factor but for me the money spent to bring him to the Yankees (26 million dollars) was nothing more then a tool 
to achieve a goal. The 20 million over 5 years is allot for a Minor leaguer to be paid but the plan is not to have him stay in the minors. We brought him in to pitch for the Yankees but to have him start in Triple A makes adjustments and get more comfortable gives him the time to understand how we play the game here. We put our money in stock so that in the future it will give a big return, well giving him time to adjust will allow the 20 million the Yankees invested in him to give them back a big return in his performance. Rushing him to perform in a strange League in a different country surrounded by teammates that can’t speak to him and to work with a catcher that is desperately trying to get on the same page as him but can’t will only hurt their confidence and eventually effect them on the mound.
In the end I’m am Proud that the Yankees have not thrown Iggy completely into the fire thou. Truth is he will be the Yankees 5th starter which means that he is expected to take the ball every 5 days and simply pitch well enough to keep the Yankees in the ball game. Basically he
doesn’t even have to win all his games. He just has to keep things close enough to give the Yankees a chance to win the game. There honestly is not a lot of pressure on him, and he will be taking the roll that is usually reserved for Rookie pitchers breaking into the Majors for the first time. Now the same can not be said for Dice K (Daisuke Matsuzaka) who is practically being given the Rookie of the year award and has the “Experts” claiming he will carry the Sucks to the World Series this year. All that for a guy that has never thrown a pitch in a major league baseball game in his life. It blows me away that they expect so much form this guy who can’t speak to his teammates, much less his Catcher who hasn’t even TRIED to learn Japanese. He is in a strange country where the fans are expecting the moon from him and when he makes his first start if he doesn’t do well the fans will be calling for his head. Very different from the Japanese leagues where fans are expected to act properly and booing is looked down upon as harshly has committing a crime. Then there are the outside factors. What happens when the Sucks have their first on field brawl?? In Japan nothing like this ever happens. What about the first time Schilling opens his yap and rips Dice K for a poor performance to the Media?? Again in Japan players that talk trash against opposing teams are looked down upon. Imagine what the reaction will be when it’s Dice K‘s teammate doing it?? Look don’t get me wrong Dice K has a lot of Potential in him and he could very well be the real deal, but the truth is the deck is stacked against him due to the Standard the Media and the Suck have set for him. After he does not 
meet expectations which will not take long ( just Ask Josh Becket about this) it will be nothing but down hill from there. This season is going to be interesting to say the least. For the Yankees we have Iggy as our fifth starter, perhaps starting the season in Triple A. The Sucks have Dice K who will be considered an Ace of their staff even thou he has never faced any Major League hitting. He will be expected to win close to 20 games. He will be on a team where players turn on each other at the drop of a hat, and all of the media will be criticizing you as a pitcher good or bad. (Iggy faces a similar problem but with his expectations less intense) These guys are going to be cursed with Media pressure to perform but in the end I believe Iggy will be the better pitcher because he was supported by his team. For example three years ago who was Chen Ming Wang?? I know who he was last year. He was the guy that finished second in the Cy Young voting. Tell some of these experts that three years ago when Wang hit the Majors and you would have been laughed out of the ball park.
to achieve a goal. The 20 million over 5 years is allot for a Minor leaguer to be paid but the plan is not to have him stay in the minors. We brought him in to pitch for the Yankees but to have him start in Triple A makes adjustments and get more comfortable gives him the time to understand how we play the game here. We put our money in stock so that in the future it will give a big return, well giving him time to adjust will allow the 20 million the Yankees invested in him to give them back a big return in his performance. Rushing him to perform in a strange League in a different country surrounded by teammates that can’t speak to him and to work with a catcher that is desperately trying to get on the same page as him but can’t will only hurt their confidence and eventually effect them on the mound.In the end I’m am Proud that the Yankees have not thrown Iggy completely into the fire thou. Truth is he will be the Yankees 5th starter which means that he is expected to take the ball every 5 days and simply pitch well enough to keep the Yankees in the ball game. Basically he
doesn’t even have to win all his games. He just has to keep things close enough to give the Yankees a chance to win the game. There honestly is not a lot of pressure on him, and he will be taking the roll that is usually reserved for Rookie pitchers breaking into the Majors for the first time. Now the same can not be said for Dice K (Daisuke Matsuzaka) who is practically being given the Rookie of the year award and has the “Experts” claiming he will carry the Sucks to the World Series this year. All that for a guy that has never thrown a pitch in a major league baseball game in his life. It blows me away that they expect so much form this guy who can’t speak to his teammates, much less his Catcher who hasn’t even TRIED to learn Japanese. He is in a strange country where the fans are expecting the moon from him and when he makes his first start if he doesn’t do well the fans will be calling for his head. Very different from the Japanese leagues where fans are expected to act properly and booing is looked down upon as harshly has committing a crime. Then there are the outside factors. What happens when the Sucks have their first on field brawl?? In Japan nothing like this ever happens. What about the first time Schilling opens his yap and rips Dice K for a poor performance to the Media?? Again in Japan players that talk trash against opposing teams are looked down upon. Imagine what the reaction will be when it’s Dice K‘s teammate doing it?? Look don’t get me wrong Dice K has a lot of Potential in him and he could very well be the real deal, but the truth is the deck is stacked against him due to the Standard the Media and the Suck have set for him. After he does not 
meet expectations which will not take long ( just Ask Josh Becket about this) it will be nothing but down hill from there. This season is going to be interesting to say the least. For the Yankees we have Iggy as our fifth starter, perhaps starting the season in Triple A. The Sucks have Dice K who will be considered an Ace of their staff even thou he has never faced any Major League hitting. He will be expected to win close to 20 games. He will be on a team where players turn on each other at the drop of a hat, and all of the media will be criticizing you as a pitcher good or bad. (Iggy faces a similar problem but with his expectations less intense) These guys are going to be cursed with Media pressure to perform but in the end I believe Iggy will be the better pitcher because he was supported by his team. For example three years ago who was Chen Ming Wang?? I know who he was last year. He was the guy that finished second in the Cy Young voting. Tell some of these experts that three years ago when Wang hit the Majors and you would have been laughed out of the ball park.The Yankees Fan
Well thats my two cents......
Who wants there change?????
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