It's not really comparable honestly. They play a different game. Different ball, different schedules, different hitting approaches, etc. The thing that translates best for Japanese pitchers is control. If they have the ability to control the ball in the strike zone they tend to fare well. If they don't, they tend to blow up in MLB.
I feel like Luhnow and Crane just met with him to appease fans. "Hey we offered him over 100 million" knowing damn well he wasn't coming here.
Is that a bad thing? I mean honestly we had no shot, with teams like the Yankees and the Dodgers trying to get him. So whats the problem with at least giving it a go?
Agreed. Free pub? Sure. I think the Abreu situation was different. They put what seems to be a fair amount of money on the table and needed to be okay with parting with that fee in case they got him. As for Tanaka, I imagine they knew they offered well below what was needed.
I'm rolling my eyes at the thought that Luhnow and Crane weren't taking it seriously and were just doing it to appease the fans. That's a load of crap. You don't make the offer unless you think there's a viable chance they'd accept. We don't know what the exact amount is that the Astros offered.
"Crane, I was thinking and we should jokingly offer over $100 Million to make the fans happy." Sounds about right.
They also made a presentation video, took Clemens with them, and there seemed to be genuine interest from Tanaka's camp. Good PR but I think Crane/Luhnow put their best offer out there.
Not only that, but this came and went without 99% of Astros fans knowing who the hell Tanaka even is. And Abreu came and went without 99.999999% of Astros fans knowing who the hell he is.
no shame in trying... it was a long shot, but at least crane and luhnow got experience in dealing with the Japanese league.
