Yu Darvish apparently intends to pitch in the Major Leagues next year and it would be surprising if he doesn't draw interest from ten-plus teams. The 25-year-old right-hander has a 1.54 ERA with 10.6 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 175 innings this season. Those numbers are typical for Davish, who entered the season with a 1.81 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in four years with the Nippon Ham Fighters.
Here's a list of which teams have been linked to Darvish in the last calendar year:
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos is in Japan and saw Darvish pitch, according to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun.
- The Nationals maintain interest.
- The Yankees have scouted him heavily.
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels watched Darvish in June.
- The Orioles had interest last offseason.
- The Red Sox have been linked to Darvish.
- The Rays watched Darvish about a year ago.
At this point, we don't know whether the clubs above were simply being diligent or whether they intend to make serious bids for Darvish. This list can't be considered comprehensive because other teams have likely been covert about their interest. What we can say at this point is that Darvish would be a welcome commodity in a starting pitching market that's light on top-of-the-rotation pitchers.
I remember that the Diamondbacks were interested last season, but with all of the young arms guess they quit in the pursuit. I wonder how Yu will do in the USA, will he be an Ichiro or a Kazuo?
or an Igawa? 😛
LOL You can’t compare them … Igawa never dominated that way in Japan and doesn’t has the stuff Yu has
Haha catch up man, I wasn’t comparing them 😛
haha yeah that’s why I put the LOL and I get your :p
Or a Dice-K?
Touche.
Yeah man!! Dan Hudson, Ian Kennedy, Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs, Jarrod Parker … that’s a hell of a future rotation … one of the tops in the game if the kids live up to their potential
…or a Nomo…
The Rangers have to be a favorite to land Darvish with their connections, but it comes down I guess whether they keep Wilson or not.
Do teams have to bid on Darvish for negotiating rights? If so, then we’ll probably see a team like the A’s overbid just to keep the Rangers from getting him since they get their money back anyway if they fail to sign him.
No one is a favorite, unless you are convinced the Rangers will post a large bid than anyone else.
Have to bid. What “connections” do the Rangers have over anyone else? I know JD went out there personally a few months ago, but that’s not necessarily a “connection.”
I’d expect Texas to work hard on CJ while everyone else fights over Darvish.
This is what I’m thinking also. The fight would only last 4 days though, since that’s how long the silent auction lasts. That’s good because I don’t like to wait.
I believe the connections MadmanTX is referring to are the two Japanese pitchers the Rangers already have on their staff. Tateyama was a former teammate on the Fighters for six seasons and still keeps in touch with Darvish and Uehara was a teammate on Team Japan.
You are right though. None of this matters unless the Rangers win the bid in the auction process. However, it would likely help in the negotiating process after the bid is won.
Ah, okay. I knew about Tateyama, but I thought he was referring to front office connections.
There’s only one problem: There are lots of rumors that Uehara is coming back to Baltimore. And Darvish apparently likes Baltimore.
Darvish likes Baltimore? Umm, why?
fells point!!! thats why there new yawk….
Jays need this. Money aside… We can’t miss out and face him 10 times a year. Come on AA this has your name written all over it!
I think he also puts tons of fans in the seats — and that has to be a serious consideration in Toronto right now.
I agree completely. Even if Darvish doesn’t turn into a front of the rotation stud, there will be such a huge increase in ticket sales for his starts and a ridiculous number of his jerseys sold, it would be worth the risk in Toronto.
With the track record Japanese pitchers have in the MLB, I’d rather see the Jays sign CJ Wilson.
High risk high reward. Not sure if teams should go for him or CJ Wilson.
I’m hoping the Blue Jays get Darvish.
Aside from the obvious flame out and drama he’ll cause in the Blue Jays clubhouse (reportedly, he has the same prima dona attitude as Matsuzaka), it’ll tie up 100 million in Blue Jays funds and make it that much easier for the Rays to get playoff spots.
Why sow discord in the house of your enemy when the Blue Jays will do it to themselves?
I wonder if the Red Sox will be a bit gun shy on Darvish after how much they’ve paid (and are paying) for Matsuzaka. Is there a posting fee?
Yeah
I hope not.
There are fans on the Red Sox boards who want to hire all the Japanese players to make Yu Darvish “comfortable”.
Imagine that.
Racist Red Sox fans want to get players based soley on race rather than performance.
Again, the more stupidly the Jays, Yankees, Sox, and O’s spend their money, the more embarressing it’ll be to get beaten by the Tampa team with 1/10 of their overall cashflows.
Zing!
Let’s go Blue Jays!
yes, there’ll be a posting fee because Darvish is no international FA.
btw: why wouldn’t the Red Sox (or the Yankees) bid for Darvish? Japanese guys are pretty underrated just because some of them didn’t make it. Look at guys like Kuroda that are even better than they were in Japan (not saying that Darvish will even be better because that’s impossible). Will the Red Sox never sign an American pitcher again because Lackey sucks? Or a position player because of Crawford?
Just because you’re playing in Japan doesn’t mean that a player sucks or that he can’t make it here. When you look at the players that didn’t make it you’ll realize that they had some flaws in their games before they came to the US. There are always some risks of course but you have risks no matter who you sign or where that player played before (see Crawford, Dunn). That’s a part of baseball.
Dice-K cost $100M total. Underrated? Maybe. Overvalued? Probably.
boston made money out of the matsuzaka deal, but by the end of next year he will have pitched ~250 innings over the last four years of his contract. it wasn’t so much the cost but the underwhelming performance that made the deal sour for them
Boston made no money at all.
Just ask the Sox sportswriters and they’ll tell you that the Sox didn’t get any economic benefit from the Dice-K contract.
No new advertising, no sponsors, and no revenue even from the shared system of merchandise from Japan (even split 29 ways, there was actually a decline).
The bottom line was that Dice-K did poorly and his advertising value both here and in Japan never panned out.
You can’t promote a lemon when everybody knows it’s a lemon.
Ichiro is fantastic example of someone that made a successful transition, Matsui as well.
Yeah because he was hitting balls that were bigger, pitchers may not transition as smoothly, it all depends on how he can handle MLB baseballs.
Japanese baseballs have been the same size for a couple of years now.
Ichiro and Matsui are position players. But for every Ichiro, there are 3 Kaz Matsuis or Fukudomes.
Ichiro – incidentally was overrated.
Matsui, however, is quite underrated, and is probably the best position player in Japan’s history.
It’s important to have realistic expectations when finding players for the right price.
Rays fans understand this which is part of the reason why the Rays win; the ownership doesn’t have to spend on fake and overpriced “superstars” to satisfy a fanbase full of fanboys.
The Rays are interested in one thing: Winning.
The BLue Jays and all their $ millions should take notes.
The Red Sox or Yankees could certainly bid on Darvish, that shouldn’t be anything surprising at all.
However, you would have to imagine there would be increased scrutiny in whether Darvish can fit in with American-style baseball. Things like workloads, conditioning, training, and related subjects could be given more focus than they have in the past. Or maybe they always did have a ton of focus on those things, but for whatever reason teams just completely missed with Dice-K.
The workload may be bigger but there is much more conditioning and training in Japan which is why Alfonzo Soriano went to America
I’ve seen this kid pitch on film, and in person 2 years ago while in Japan on a work stint for 2 months. He looks great, has solid stuff, but…..I can’t help but think he’s Hideki Irabu/Daisuke Matsuzaka all over again. You can flush his numbers from the Japanese league down the toilet, history has proven these don’t translate to MLB success. I wish him luck, he has a live arm, but I’ll be happy if my Detroit Tigers stay far away.
I wouldnt mind if the Tigers put in a bid (even though they wont). It will be pretty cool at first for the fans of the team that does get to sign him. But ive watched video on him and…. He throws from the streach!!!! Wtf!!!! Every pitch from the FREAKIN STREACH!!! Not sure why he does that, but Im almost positive that no other pitcher in the majors does that. He also pauses in the middle (after his leg kick) and it seems like it would be very easy to steal off him…
I think this guy is the real deal, I mean look at Dice-k, he did have a strong season when healthy. The only problem has been his ability to go out there every five days. Darvish could be something special.
Matsuzaka had a great ERA when healthy, but that doesn’t mean he necessarily had a great season. Despite his ERA, Matsuzaka only pitched 167 innings in ’08 (Not for significant health reasons, but because he averaged less than 6 innings per start) and he would’ve walked over 100 batters had he pitched a full 32 game slate.
He kept runners from crossing the plate, but his peripherals were absolutely terrible and there are few indications that he would ever have put up 2008 ERA numbers again. Before his injury he was a potentially serviceable pitcher, but he was nothing compared to his Japan stats.
The biggest issues with matsuzaka are allegedly attributed to four things: difference in workout regimen from Japan, the difference in ball size in Japan, the difference in overall hitter quality in Japan and an (Capital A on Alleged here) Alleged attitude/communication issue. Three out of four of those things are things that will apply to Darvish. Maybe he can overcome those differences where Matsuzaka couldn’t, but I’m in buyer beware mode on this one. I’d top out at $25 million on the posting fee and $30 million on a contract. If that doesn’t get the job done, someone else can take the risk.
Sounds like the perfect guy for the Jays, “Alleged attitude/communication issue” he’d fit right in with the other “delinquents” that other teams had given up on.
I’m not sure about some of those alleged attributions. Look at players like Ichiro and Matsui; no one would ever challenge the attitudes or workout regimens. The sample size has been too small to generalize in the way you are doing.
He wasn’t generalizing about Japanese players, he was speaking about a specific player in a specific situation. Daisuke Matsuzaka on the Red Sox. His workout regimen or his side work was vastly different in Boston than Japan, his attitude at times seemed to border on indifferent and he continually refused to attack the strike zone, despite having success when he did.
Teams seem to take a much more focused view on how pitchers workout compared to position players. Trevor Bauer in this past draft is a prime example. I’ve read in a few places that several teams would not pick him since he would not give up his long-toss workout regimen.
In fairness, you’re comparing hitters to pitchers. The workload for a hitter’s going to be roughly the same for a hitter as it is out here. Sure, they’re hitting a smaller ball, but they’re still playing every day and still only playing the same number of innings every time out. The six man to five man rotation and the pitch count differences allegedly had a large toll on Matsuzaka and that’s something Darvish will be subject to. Basically, there’s a larger learning curve (No pun intended, I promise) in pitching in the MLB to Japan than there is for hitting.
Couple of things:
1) Darvish’s parents met during college in the US and he has family still living here. He traveled here, and to his father’s Iran, a few times as a kid. Due to this, he’d probably have an easier time adapting.
2) NPB adopted a new ball this year that very closely mimicks the MLB ball in both size and performance. Pitchers that have used both attest to this. Offense all over Japan has gone down because the balls carry less now. Darvish is putting up his best season with this new ball, which is basically the same as the one he’d have to throw here.
3) By all accounts, Darvish is a very hard worker and fully embraces his rock star/sports celebrity status. There might be a language barrier for a while, but I don’t think he’d have a problem with the attention and pressure.
Who knows… Mabe he speaks english well…
Anyone know what Darvish is looking for?
A dump truck full of money?
DiceK had 1 great season 18-3 2.90 in 08 other than that pretty average. 15-12 4.40 4-6 5.76 9-6 4.69 3-3 5.30 with the contract and posting fee BoSox are paying for a 3 or 4 starter. Japanese pitchers dont pitch as much as MLB. If a team can get YU for a posting fee of 10-20 million and sign him to a 3-5 year contract for less than 10 million then its worth the gamble
Darvish will be looking for a LOT of money, since the dollar is so weak compared to the Japanese yen. Look for at least Dice-K numbers, probably greater since Darvish is younger than Dice-K was when he signed with the Red Sox.
Some team will be suckered; PT Barnum must have had a ton of foresight to make his comment “there’s a sucker born every minute….”
“the dollar is so weak”- since the Canadian dollar is still strong the Blue Jays have an advantage then.
Seriously, it could be a huge factor.
Given his success as a ham fighter, I think he should opt for a city with a large Muslim or Jewish population.
best comment by far LOL
What the hell is a “Ham Fighter”?
the team’s name is actually “Fighter”… the company that has the team’s name is “Nippon Ham”, that’s what it is
ba boom CRASH!!!
It’s not about Roger Clemens. The exact point is that he is from Japan. Toronto has a huge Asian population. A few years back, the Houston Rockets were one of the top draws for the Raptors because of Yao Ming.
You’re right though, winning is the sure way to regain interest in TO.
Difference is Yao Ming is Chinese, and Toronto (as with most other NA cities) as a large Chinese population. Chinese =/ Japanese
Haha he failed…
But Japanese tourists love to come over on sports tours, and spend alot of money. The city of Seattle probably can pay for ichiro’s salary based on Japanese sports tourism.
Large Asian Population eh? Yeah I guess all those Asians root for each other. It’s not like Japan invaded China in the past and treated them pretty bad. I don’t think there is a big Japanese community. I would guess much more Chinese, Koreans, Thais and others. It’s one of those weird things populations that are well off don’t emigrate as much as ones who have a large peasentry.
opps, that was supposed to be a reply to tuna411 above.
The Rangers will likely be busy signing CJ Wilson and probably do not want to take that big of a gamble. The Orioles will probably not have the money to outbid the AL East power houses, and even if they do thats too big of a risk with the way their roster is created (crappy). The Rays, well no money at all for this kind of gamble. Boston will be in the biddings but they will back away if the price gets high because of Dice-K. Yu will come down to the Jays and the Yankees, the Yankees will have to re-sign Cano and CC, which will cost at least 10 million more than they are paying. I doubt that they will risk all that money on him, especially after their past failures but you never know its the Yankees. The Jays pay roll will be 57 million next season which means they will have almost 100 million to spend if they wanted, and since he is still young (25), international, and a top of the lineup starter, he would be an ideal pick up for Toronto. Either way Toronto will get him, or they will force the Yankees to overpay him.
And since Toronto is in a “rebuild” they can afford to take that chance.
Interesting scenario. In my opinion, Toronto has enough pitching prospects that they will “bubble-up” to fill out the starting rotation next season. Unlike this season with Drabek, if one prospect falters, there will be another one to step in his place.
If you wait for the bubble up to take effect, you’ll be waiting an additional year (in my opinion) where if you take a chance on Darvish, and he pans out, you’ll one less issue to worry about speeding up the time it takes to contend in this division.
Yes so the Jays have the ability to walk away if the price isnt right, we all know AA will do that.
Orioles have the money they just won’t spend it.
Obsessed with Yu
Fascinating how all five AL East teams are listed in the seven teams interested in Darvish.
Shows the greatness of the AL East. The Jays, Rays, and BoSox were among the leaders in money spend on the draft. The Jays led the international free agent signings, the Yankees, BoSox, and Orioles led the free agent signings last off season. I love this division 😀
Yep, this is a great division to follow. I always buy tickets for games when those teams are in Toronto. It bewilders me how some Blue Jays fans want to be in another division in place of simply saying “let’s fix the process and give it time to make the team competitive”. Here is something funny: some of Toronto media suggest playing fewer games against Yanks & BoSoxs (biggest draws) will increase attendance.
the division complaints make sense: top 4 teams from each league should make the playoffs, even if 3 (or even 4) are in the same division
Converging three divisions into two to generate two wild-cards & two division winniner spots makes sense to me and is in line with your argument. However, moving Jays away from Yanks and BoSox sounds like a “let’s find a back door to get a championship” argument to me.
oh right, i agree that decreasing the number of times they play is lame. but if they earn a top-4 record in the AL while playing the titans as often as they do, it’s pretty insane to deny them a playoff spot
Got to beat the best to be the best (say that 5 times :P)
Agreed, its not about making the playoffs, its about winning the championship.
On a related thought:
Baseball is the biggest catch-22 sport I can think of. Because of the amount of games they play, 162 (for those taking score at home), they should have some more playoff spots.
But because they play 162 games extending the season even further makes just about no sense.
Just a random 2 cents to put in your hat.
Toughest division in baseball. Thanks to some of the smartest GMs (in my opinion).
Yep…it is fascinating to watch them do their work…at times, some of things they do can be very nuanced. Not easy for the casual fan to follow
Smartest GM’s if i had 200 million to play with I could put a winner out there. Not to much smarts is needed for Theo or Brian! Now the Jays and Rays have it going on right now. Smart GM work there. Balitmore sucks year in and out. Two out fine ain’t bad if you’re hitting in the Majors but to call the whole division GM’s smart is a little of a reach.
The team name is just Fighters. Nippon Ham refers to the club’s corporate parent, Nippon Meat Packers.
It’s sort of like calling a certain football team the Bay Packers.
Would not have posted earlier comment if i would have read this post, thanks!
Bay Packers is pretty funny too. Sounds like it could be the blog of a disgruntled Mets fan.
Sox were bitten last time they started “Turning Japanese” haha. I would def prefer CJ Wilson. Even if Darvish is excellent I can’t see him being that much better than CJ so we would be better suited playing it safe. So if the Rangers go all Yu crazy hopefully that opens the door for the Sox to steal CJ from the Rangers and Yanks.
Not sure why going for CJ Wilson is safer than Darvish. Sure, CJ has had success here, but Darvish at least has demonstrated more years of excellence and consistency.
You said why. CJ has had more success here. I’m not knocking the guy so don’t get me wrong he appears to be an excellent talent, but so didn’t Dice-K. The posting fee is not going to be small anyone who thinks so is so incredibly wrong, its going to be 30 to 40M easy. Then he is going to want 13-15M a season on more than a one year deal obviously. Its going to be around 100M total maybe a little bit lower. Meanwhile Wilson has shown dominance in the MLB against the best hitters in the world, so I take his short resume and durability more seriously then Yu’s long career in what is the equivalent of AAAA in Japan. I mean come on, Matsui and Ichiro have been the only players to come over here that could hit a lick so I have a hard time believing Yu has been shutting down lineups even 20% as good as say the Yanks, Sox, or Rangers. Simply put he is unproven and if Wilson is on the table for cheaper he is the safer move. He might not have the highest ceiling but Yu could be a huge bust. And not the sexy kind.
why do you want to sign another free agent starter? that’s crazy talk imo
lester
beckett
buchholz
lackey
weiland/doubront/wilson/ranaudo
life right field, the fifth spot is a place boston can afford to save money in 2012
I am going to throw a team into the hat that, well, won’t make a lot of sense to start out, but hear me out.
The Atlanta Braves.
They have the best young pitching in MLB and honestly, like Chipper said “it’s embarrassing how much pitching they have.” However, the organization is built on the fact that ‘pitching wins’.
Now, let’s explore why the Braves would consider bringing in Yu Darvish.
To do this, let’s go back to 1992.
The Braves have made the playoffs the past 2 years, but have failed to win the World Series. They are a young, up incoming team that is already loaded with pitching, with the likes of Glavine, Smoltz and Avery.
However, what did they do after the 1992 season…went out and got Greg Maddux, the reigning CY Young winner and the best pitcher in baseball.
This game them their #1 Ace, on a staff that included 2 other future Hall of Fame pitchers, but his acquisition took pressure off of the rest of the staff started a dynasty.
Zip forward to 2011.
The Braves have a great group of young pitchers, many of whom have Ace potential, however none of them have taken that next step.
If you were to add Darvish to the top of the rotation, it would take pressure of a guy like Tommy Hanson, who has been deemed the “Ace of the future” since he was first called upon. Hanson has pitched very well, but he has been getting injured. He is also not a guy who goes deep into games, thus putting more dependence and pressure on the bullpen. (Darvish averages 8 IP per start (which will probably go down somewhat in the MLB, but still a player who can pitch deep into the game)).
Acquiring Darvish would also allow the Braves to trade Jair Jurrjens and Mike Minor, possibly for a SS, LF or positional prospects.
Rotation: Darvish, Hanson, Hudson, Beachy, Teheran. With Delgado and Vizciano in AAA.
*Note – Lowe also traded, but that’s independent of Darvish.
The Braves have tried to tap into the Japanese market with Kawakami, however, that failed pretty badly. However, look at the current Japanese players in MLB…there are no star players anymore. Ichiro and Matsui have both aged and lost productivity, Dice-K and some others have never preformed up to expectations. This could provide a cautionary tale, however I see it as an opportunity to monopolize the Japanese market. The Japanese people follow their MLB Superstars almost religiously. Darvish very well may come in and be the best Japanese player in MLB from day 1. That is a huge market waiting for a team to control.
Anyways, I am done with my rant.
After hearing you out, you were right to conclude that it “won’t make a lot of sense”. Darvish is going to cost a team a lot of money; one that needs/wants to gamble on acquiring a relatively young pitcher with good potential. Given that Atlanta is sitting on a half-dozen young pitchers with excellent potential that a lot of other MLB teams have tried (and failed) to pry loose, it just doesn’t make any sense for them to spend big money on another pitcher with potential. I think it is pretty certain that Atlanta is the one team that won’t spend that kind of money, preferring instead to contining to find and develop their pitching talent without throwing $30-50 million at one guy.
As much sense as it makes for the Braves you need to understand one thing…Liberty Media would NEVER dish out the money for the posting fee. They don’t care about the team and I would bet the CEO had to be reminded who Bobby Cox was when he wrote him a congratulatory letter last year. I am a proud member of the Braves fan population that wants Ted Turner back
I understand what you mean. I think that it is highly unlikely from a ownership standpoint.
However, I think that the Liberty Media hate is unwarranted.
http://blogs.ajc *dot* com/atlanta-braves-blog/2010/12/21/braves-wren-on-payroll-ownership-dobs-top-50-cds-of-2010/?cxntfid=blogs_atlanta_braves_blog
They pretty much let Frank Wren do whatever he wants.
You can add the Angels, Mets Pirates, Diamondbacks, Giants, Indians and a few more to that list. They have all scouted him within the past few months. Also, both LA teams and I believe the Mets were heavily interested in him when he was coming out of high school in 2004.
Source: http://yakyubaka “dot” com/2011/07/21/scouts-from-at-least-three-clubs-checked-out-yu-darvish-pitch/ (Replace the “dot” with an actual .)
I really don’t think the Dodgers are going to be in any financial shape to make a serious bid on Yu. It would be awesome if they could, but unless they are bidding against only the Rays, Pirates and Marlins the Dodgers will not likely land him. Sad, because he would probably do quite well in the NL West.
Some truths:
-Darvish is the best 25 y.o. FA pitcher in this years FA class.
-Iwakuma is also coming, the A’s won the rights to him last year but he wanted a 7/125 deal, he has since changed agents and will probably be looking for a more reasonable deal this time though. If Oakland won the rights to him the first time, they will most likely be in the mix for him again and/or Darvish too. If a new stadium in San Jose ever gets announced, they will spend $100MM on a FA. Darvish fits that bill.
“Those numbers are typical for Davish, who entered the season with a 1.81
ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in four years with the Nippon Ham Fighters.”
This is actually his 7th season with the Fighters, B-R is simply missing the stats from his first 2 seasons for whatever reason (which were not as good as his last 4 years, but he was only 18/19).
I wouldn’t waste the time and effort or the money on signing him. It will cost way more than it is worth. Just look at how much the Red Sox spent on Matsuzaka. What a waste.
Will someone out there please explain to me how a Japanese person gets the last name “Darvish”? Suzuki, Irabu, Matsui, Matsuzaka, Kawakami, Iwakuma and…Darvish. I’m not trying to sound closed-minded or ignorant It’s just an honest question.
Iranian father
oh ok, that makes sense then. Thanks.
Did not see that coming, cool
If any manager can swing a “manageable” bill on Darvish, it’d be Alex Anthopolous. This guy has been aggressive, smart, and is capable of handling some of the most difficult, burdensome contracts (*cough* Vernon Wells *cough*). Fingers crossed for the Jays.
I think that AA has got his reputation because he has so far made sound decisons. Both the Yankees and Red Sox have shown the ability to spend money that doesn’t make sense for ego or whatever reason. The Yankees in my opinion NEED pitching help and the Red Sox have also been looking for a big chunk of the year. Add in the fact that the Nationals seem to once again want to spend money like a drunken sailor (even though they aren’t a big market in any capacity compared to the others). This leads me to believe that Toronto will have a good bid on this FA but will not get the player. The worst case would be if the Nationals win the bid since getting one of the other divisional rivals to spend a ton of money on one more player could only help. Neither the Yanks or RS have the pitching prospects that Toronto has.
I think you forgot the Braves. 🙂
Maybe with Nishioka Darvish will wanna come! :D:D:D. Haha. yea rightt.
Will he embrace American culture or is he still the same guy at 23 whom said he would never come to america pitch, we forget the person, the psyche of the man. Kuo with the Dodgers, a dominant lefty but deals everyday with the american press which is brutal but also the entire hoard of asian press which follows everywhere, Kuo went on the shelf with anxiety. pressures of the money that go along with him coming to america. Women who will sek him ou tat the hotel lobby for no other reason than the story. Alot of this that go along with being a prefessional athlete are daunting tasks which we as a public say they should handle. How can you ever prepare for what 30 other people in the world face because in Japan he will become the most recognizable person in the entire culture. Something to think about and to support the young man in something that not one person here reading this will ever truely understand the pressures of.