Idleness and Offseasons

As primarily a baseball fan these days, the offseason can be pretty maddening. On one hand, I'm excited that I have time to look deeper into issues on my mind, like Minor Leaguers, trades, and salaries, but the lack of actual sport tends to lead to me over-analyzing everything. I can become overly critical of others too, since the lack of sport forces me to rely on other people for nourishment, and that always leads to disappointment.

For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. -- 2nd Thessalonians 3:14

It's easy in times of idleness to fall into such traps; by nature we are self concerned and judgmental. Fortunately God gave us something to help us avoid this: work. Work doesn't necessarily have to be your day job; it can be anything done for a purpose that brings glory to God. If you have 3 months off in the summer because you're a teacher, then volunteering at a day camp could be work. Writing a blog post could be work (at least I tell myself it is.) Processing your way through a commentary on the book of Isaiah could be work.

The point is that idleness isn't of God. We all need rest; God commanded Elijah to go to sleep when the world became too much for him. That said, if you've come to the point that you're well rested enough to realize that the lack of work is affecting you negatively, then you need to get to work. God wants you to work, and through the experience rely on him so he can draw you closer to him. When we're idle, we're not relying on God at all, and we're not doing anything to change it. Remember that in everything we do, God should be glorified, and because of our selfish nature, they don't always come naturally. Strive for God, and you will find yourself doing great things solely on him carrying your works.

Japanese Influx and what to expect

So the Royals have signed Yasuhiko Yabuta, the Indians Masa Kobayashi, and there's a lot of talk about Hiroki Kuroda. Again MLB teams are turning to Japan in an effort to get pitching help in a thin free agent field. Here's a little of what to expect:

Japanese pitchers tend to be overvalued due to a different system. Starters in particular are prone to this. Japanese baseball runs 6 days a week, with a 6 man starting rotation. That means that Japanese pitchers tend to pitch once every 7 days instead of once every 5 or 6 days for American pitchers. This may not seem like a big deal, but over the course of an entire season it can mean a lot for a pitcher. Speaking of an entire season, they play less games in a season. Japanese Players play maximum 140 games in a season, with the two teams going directly to the world series rather than playoffs. This is probably the cause of Daisuke Matsuzaka's late season meltdown, and has been the case with many Japanese Pitchers.

Japanese baseball also uses a smaller ball, and pitch closer to the plate (albeit on a smaller mound.) And not to be stereotypical, but they pitch to less skilled batters in my opinion. I mean, Japan routinely imports players from the American Minor Leagues and they're stars. Leron Lee and Leroy Lee (Derrek Lee's father and uncle) were huge stars there, as are many perennial Minor Leaguers. This isn't because Americans are just better, but more because the MLB imports the best from everywhere else (Japan, Latin America, Canada, etc.)

What this does mean is that more and more Japanese teams and players are looking to work with American teams in order to fulfill their own monetary needs, as are the players. Ever since Hideo Nomo used the same loophole to get out of his obligations that Messersmith and McNally used to get out of their MLB contracts, the system has been getting closer and closer to embracing it. When Nomo originally did it, he was disowned by his family, and basically exiled from Japanese Baseball. Nowadays even when huge stars like Daisuke and Ichiro come over, the nation follows them with great interest, to see how their best perform among America's best.

I don't anticipate much from the new imports. I tend to like Japanese hitters more than pitchers for the aforementioned reasons, since they have proven they can beat a system that's a little slanted against them. Plus, none of these guys are hot prospects -- Kobayashi is 33, Yabuta is 34, and Kuroda is 32. While one may point to Takashi Saito as a foil to this theory, Saito, but Saito is better than these guys. Saito is a four time Japanese All-Star, with a fastball that's been clocked at 99 (the fastest of any MLB Japanese pitcher.) Look for these guys to be much like Hideki Okajima at best -- solid middle relievers, but not too much more.