(07-31-2017 05:08 PM)Wiessman Wrote:  

(07-31-2017 04:14 PM)Brookes Owl Wrote:  

(07-31-2017 03:36 PM)Wiessman Wrote:  Well now... The Dodgers just got Yu Darvish. With a larger and more visible Japanese community out in LA, I expect him to settle quickly and thrive.

I really hope he thrives (sounds like he needs to work on not tipping his pitches), but he's just a rental. He'll be a FA at season's end and there's no telling if LA will make an offer - probably depends a lot on how he does the next 2+ months. With travel schedules I'm not sure how much the Japanese community will help him settle in, or even if there's much settling in that can be done, but he does have a Japanese teammate - Maeda - which might help too.

1. It doesn't really matter if he's a rental if the Dodgers win the World Series. He's an expensive insurance policy, sure, but the Dodgers are playing to win. And I think they will. Heck, at this point, they might not even need either Kershaw or Darvish. This is one of the best baseball teams I've seen in the last two decades.

2. If you're Japanese and you need some "home cooking" in this country, there is no place better than LA. There just isn't. Darvish will enjoy being based there, even with all of the travel during the season.

Brookes Owl, if you're a Dodgers fan, you can almost take this one to the bank at this point. The Dodgers are flat-out scary.

All my life. But it's just too much for me to get comfortable. Bad things happen.

Re #1, Yeah, I'm fine with him being a rental especially considering the price they paid - it was very reasonable. The one top 10 prospect they gave up has a MLB-ready bat but is a serious defensive liability. My only point was about settling in. There's not much settling to be done with a rental like him but you're right re #2, it should help him feel comfortable. (I moved from Santa Monica 6 yrs ago and definitely miss Little Osaka, among other things.)