I'm just going to be honest with you. When I heard that the Royals signed Hideo Nomo to a minor league contract I cringed. And then I thought about the image of the team. The image of a team that has become an expert in losing. The image of a team that late night talk show hosts use as the butt of jokes. The image of a team who is routinely mocked for signing guys like Juan Gonzalez, Benito Santiago, Joe Mays and many other guys who have nothing left in the tank.
Once I stopped cringing, I realized that the Nomo signing doesn't really mean all that much. He's not on the 40-man roster. He's just a non-roster invitee to Spring Training. He's going to have to earn his way into our rotation--a rotation that still has some question marks. After Gil Meche, Brian Bannister, and Zack Greinke, the bottom of the rotation is up for grabs and is sure to included a battle between Kyle Davies, Jorge De La Rosa, Brandon Duckworth, Luke Hochevar, Luke Hudson, Nomo, and probably a few others. And if the rumors are true about Dayton Moore pursuing one more free agent starter, then Nomo might be battling all of those guys for the final spot in the rotation.
As others have already mentioned, maybe Nomo is being brought in partially to help Yasuhiko Yabuta with the transition to the major leagues and to American culture. Even if Nomo doesn't make the 25-man roster out of Spring Training, he will have spent a full month with the club and with Yabuta and that certainly can't hurt anything.
But I can't get past the fact that the last time Nomo did pitch in the major leagues (in 2005 with Tampa Bay), he was 5-8 in 19 starts with a 7.24 ERA and a 1.768 WHIP. And the year before that with the Dodgers he was 4-11 in 18 starts with an 8.25 ERA and a 1.750 WHIP. Maybe he'll turn out to be the 2003-2004 version of Jose Lima (and hopefully not the 2005 version), but Nomo is (presumably) five years older than Lima, so I'm not holding my breath.
Maybe this is what GM's of small market teams have to do. They have to risk being made fun of in order to uncover a gem or two. And maybe I've just grown too sensitive to the mockery that the Royals face to even want to take such chances. I don't know. What are your thoughts?
1 comment:
I like the move for the reasons you gave, and for the increased international recognition for the Royals. The more successful they are in cultivating an overseas fan base, the better for the club in the long run, as it leads to increased merchandising revenue and a willingness on the part of free agents to consider KC.
Post a Comment