Guess the Sox felt the need to include him with the $51 million??!

Why does every damn thing have to be "global"? Why can't we just love baseball in America with American players. I get so sick and tired of all this crap that says let's integrate every thing we can possibly see. It's ridiculous and I'm sick and tired of it. What is so wrong with having the Japanese Major Leagues and Major League Baseball. I don't give a rat's ass about Japanese players it's that simple. I love baseball, but I love American Baseball. All this does is make me hate the game. No wonder I wrote more about college football these days.

Savant, because more competition is good. It creates a bigger fan base for the sport, which brings in more money, higher salaries more jobs, and encourages good players who might for more steady employment to try their hand at the game. The more the merrier!

I second David. Get with the times, you curmudgeon! Sheesh.

Why does every damn thing have to be "integrated"? Why can't we just love baseball in America with white players. I get so sick and tired of all this crap that says let's integrate every thing we can possibly see. It's ridiculous and I'm sick and tired of it. What is so wrong with having the Negro Leagues and Major League Baseball. I don't give a rat's ass about black players it's that simple. I love baseball, but I love American Baseball. All this does is make me hate the game. No wonder I wrote more about college football these days.

The logical consequence of such a restrictive philosophy of "American only" is that doing this would mean these players would not be in the MLB right now: Andruw Jones, who came from Curacao, or Albert Pujols, who came from the Dominican, or Johan Santana, who came from Venezuela, or Carlos Beltran, who came from Puerto Rico, because they did not come from America.

And that implies one of two things: either these foreign players are holding back better American players, or, more likely, they will be replaced by worse American players. I know I would prefer to see the best baseball players, no matter where they came from, a Hidecki Matsui HR is just as satisfying as a HR from anyone else, there's no globalization there, just pure baseball.

Baseball is baseball no matter where it is played, no matter what players are playing. Perhaps there is a different style depending on the culture and philosophy, for example, the Japanese try at all costs to avoid mistakes, so fewer risks are taken. But even within American baseball, there are those who love the sacrifice bunt and others who play for the 3-run homer.

Obviously, the skill set in the MLB is much higher than any other league and that's why some players want to come here, they want to be measured against the best, they want to be the best. And, after all, it was not our team who won the WBC, it was the Japanese, and the U.S. wasn't even in that championship round, Cuba was, and the U.S. was not even among the top four. Bringing in players from other countries have only strengthened our game, and made it better.

What I don't care for is paying $51M to a Japanese team for a player. That just seems obscene. I expect Matsuzaka to not do as well as the BoSox is paying him, he'll be OK, just not superstar OK, so that might make teams in the future more cautious.

I love baseball, but I love American Baseball. All this does is make me hate the game.

Yay!!! Xenophobia is wonderful!!

And the parody comment was great.

The logical consequence of such a restrictive philosophy of "American only" is that doing this would mean these players would not be in the MLB right now: Andruw Jones, who came from Curacao, or Albert Pujols, who came from the Dominican, or Johan Santana, who came from Venezuela, or Carlos Beltran, who came from Puerto Rico, because they did not come from America.

Don't forget Manny Ramirez, who came from from Planet Manny...

"Baseball is baseball no matter where it is played, no matter what players are playing."

Unless they're girls.