ESPNより抜粋。
The assignment is to identify the "hottest rookie" who will begin the season in the major leagues. Thank goodness I can sidestep defining "hot." Because first, a definition of "rookie" is in order.
Like it or not, Daisuke Matsuzaka, eight-year veteran and 108-game winner in the Japanese Leagues, has officially pressed the reset button, kicked out the cord, and is rebooting as far as the major leagues are concerned. It doesn't matter that Hideo Nomo, Kazuhiro Sasaki and Ichiro Suzuki made mockeries of the official Rookie of the Year awards in their first seasons after coming west. It doesn't matter that comparing these seasoned veterans to 22-year-olds just out of high school and college is either an insult to Japanese baseball or unprecedented flattery toward American education.
Cold Plate Special: Joel Guzman, D-Rays
And in being so, Matsuzaka becomes not just the hottest but the richest, the nastiest, the you-bettah-be-worth-$103-millionest rookie entering the majors in 2007. Bobby Valentine told me that the guy has around eight pitches -- and not Greg Maddux, he-takes-something-off-to-get-to-eight pitches, but eight freaking pitches. (Think about that -- even if he never throws one so-called gyroball, which to me has always sounded far more Friz Freleng than Fritz Peterson, Matsuzaka gives hitters six more pitches to worry about than Trevor Hoffman.) This is the same Bobby Valentine who six years ago raved that the not-yet-imported Ichiro Suzuki was one of the top five players in the world to a chorus of condescension. So I'll take Bobby V's word on this one: He's legit.
Anyone who watched the World Baseball Classic knows this, obviously. Matsuzaka was named tournament MVP by going 3-0, 1.38 in three starts, the last a championship-winning victory over Cuba. (Interestingly, he never faced the United States, Dominican Republic or Venezuela, whose countrymen become almost 90 percent of his competition come April.) So we'll be conservative and say Matsuzaka can win 16 games with a 3.20 ERA for a postseason contender. No other 2007 rookie should succeed so much so early.
So who will succeed Chipper Jones, Terrence Long and C.C. Sabathia -- the rookies who were edged aside for top-rookie honors by Nomo, Sasaki and Suzuki in 1995, 2000 and 2001 -- when the '07 season ends? Ignora Igawa and Iwamura, and you get the following:
1. Delmon Young, RF, Devil Rays
2. Alex Gordon, 3B, Royals
3. Matt Garza, RHP, Twins
4. Troy Tulowitzki, SS, Rockies
5. Tim Lincecum, RHP, Giants
---
控えめに言っても１６勝、防御率３．２０で新人王。
The assignment is to identify the "hottest rookie" who will begin the season in the major leagues. Thank goodness I can sidestep defining "hot." Because first, a definition of "rookie" is in order.
Like it or not, Daisuke Matsuzaka, eight-year veteran and 108-game winner in the Japanese Leagues, has officially pressed the reset button, kicked out the cord, and is rebooting as far as the major leagues are concerned. It doesn't matter that Hideo Nomo, Kazuhiro Sasaki and Ichiro Suzuki made mockeries of the official Rookie of the Year awards in their first seasons after coming west. It doesn't matter that comparing these seasoned veterans to 22-year-olds just out of high school and college is either an insult to Japanese baseball or unprecedented flattery toward American education.
Cold Plate Special: Joel Guzman, D-Rays
And in being so, Matsuzaka becomes not just the hottest but the richest, the nastiest, the you-bettah-be-worth-$103-millionest rookie entering the majors in 2007. Bobby Valentine told me that the guy has around eight pitches -- and not Greg Maddux, he-takes-something-off-to-get-to-eight pitches, but eight freaking pitches. (Think about that -- even if he never throws one so-called gyroball, which to me has always sounded far more Friz Freleng than Fritz Peterson, Matsuzaka gives hitters six more pitches to worry about than Trevor Hoffman.) This is the same Bobby Valentine who six years ago raved that the not-yet-imported Ichiro Suzuki was one of the top five players in the world to a chorus of condescension. So I'll take Bobby V's word on this one: He's legit.
Anyone who watched the World Baseball Classic knows this, obviously. Matsuzaka was named tournament MVP by going 3-0, 1.38 in three starts, the last a championship-winning victory over Cuba. (Interestingly, he never faced the United States, Dominican Republic or Venezuela, whose countrymen become almost 90 percent of his competition come April.) So we'll be conservative and say Matsuzaka can win 16 games with a 3.20 ERA for a postseason contender. No other 2007 rookie should succeed so much so early.
So who will succeed Chipper Jones, Terrence Long and C.C. Sabathia -- the rookies who were edged aside for top-rookie honors by Nomo, Sasaki and Suzuki in 1995, 2000 and 2001 -- when the '07 season ends? Ignora Igawa and Iwamura, and you get the following:
1. Delmon Young, RF, Devil Rays
2. Alex Gordon, 3B, Royals
3. Matt Garza, RHP, Twins
4. Troy Tulowitzki, SS, Rockies
5. Tim Lincecum, RHP, Giants
---
控えめに言っても１６勝、防御率３．２０で新人王。