Turning Japanese

"I'm not a woman, am I?"

I plan on writing a post about the top 10 things that I have no interest in.

Ranked at around No. 7 or 8 would be Japanese baseball players.

Why?

1. I don't know how to pronounce their names.

2. Just another group of guys who I have to research.

3. They're all 30+.

4. They're all fantastic, according to their agents.

5. Generally, they're uninteresting.

There you go. Five strong reasons. This goes back years to Chan Ho Park and Hideo Nomo. Every one was making a huge deal about Ichiro Suzuki and I didn't care. No interest.

But for the first time since they signed a bloated and beleaguered Hideki Irabu, the Rangers are allegedly looking at a couple of Japanese guys, all in the shadow of Dice-K's intro into the league last year. So for the sake of everyone and no one, I did my homework and focused on the two guys that seemingly are in the Rangers rumor mill.

Kosuke Fukudome
He's an outfielder and can play either center or right. I mean, you can't argue with the guy's stats. They're remarkable. But he's 30 and in a scouting report from Dugout Central, they described him as a better version of Tag Iguchi (yuck).

He was hurt last year which could drive his price down. Considering the success of Dice-K and Ichiro, it's more tempting to take a flier on one of these guys. I'd rather give Fukudome $45 million over four years than Torii Hunter $90 million over six. Plus, I think there's slightly less risk with a position player over a pitcher who's throwing 300 pitches a day.

Hiroki Kuroda
This 33-year-old pitcher has an average fastball, a good slider and a fantastic forkball. And he could be relatively cheap due to his age, around three years at $3 million per.

I think there's worse $9 million investments. I guess with the third tier fifth starters like Josh Fogg, you know what you're getting. Then again, Fogg's scouting report has never been as glowing. If you're not giving up the farm, this could be a decent option. Ranked third for Japanese pitchers by MLB Trade Rumors, whatever that means.