Writing the Pine

After seeing three Asian players selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 2006 and two in 2007, I was disappointed to see that Ichiro was the only Asian player selected to the All-Star game.  The last few reserve selections – especially in the outfield – are usually toss-ups, but I felt that Shin-Soo Choo was a better selection than Curtis Granderson or Nelson Cruz.  I was surprised to see that South Korea, one of the leading countries in the world in internet usage per capita, was unable to vote their biggest international star athlete not named Ji Sung Park into the All-Star Game.  It’s disappointing when you see that China perennially votes Yao Ming into the NBA All-Star Game as the #1 vote-getter and legitimately makes NBA-draft bust/big-time scrub Yi Jian Lian a threat to be selected to the game.  Overall though, the lack of Asian players in this year’s All-Star Game isn’t too surprising given that all the Asian players with All-Star experience were either underperforming this season (Kosuke Fukudome), reaching the end of their primes (Chan Ho Park, Hideki Matsui), or were relief pitchers in the American League and were bumped out by the league’s wealth of talent in starting and closing pitching (Hideki Okajima, Takashi Saito).

In lieu of the MLB All-Star festivities, the Asian Guy Power Rankings will have a midseason special of its own.  Instead of the bi-weekly performance recap, we’ll give out a few midseason awards and then rate the top-five and worst-three players this season relative to their 2009 salary.

For all the previous editions of the AGPR please click here.

Now, without further ado, the midseason awards for the Asian Guy Power Rankings:

Most Valuable: Ichiro Suzuki, SEA

Most Improved: Kurt Suzuki, OAK

Most Fragile: Akinori Iwamura, TB

Cy Young Award: Hideki Okajima, BOS

Sigh Young Award: Daisuke Matsuzaka, BOS

2008 Carlos Delgado Award for Aging Player Heating Up Midseason: Hideki Matsui, NYY.

And… the final award, which doubles as a segue into the salary analysis portion of the article…

The Barry Zito Award for Failing to Live Up to the Contract – Kosuke Fukudome, CHC

AGPR – 2009 Performance-to-Salary Rankings

AP Photo/Mark Duncan - Shin-Soo Choo comes out for a curtain call after hitting 2 home runs. He scored 4 runs and drove in 7 runs - a feat that hasn't been done by an Indian since 1952.

1. Shin-Soo Choo, OF, CLE. – 2009 Salary – $420,300
2009 Projected Stats: .292 BA, .882 OPS, 26 HR, 108 RBI
“Big League Choo” is the most underpaid player in the AGPR, and perhaps the entire league.  He wasn’t going to get a multi-year deal despite his monstrous performance in the second-half of last season (which included an AL Player of the Month award) due to questions about his consistency, health and durability following Tommy John Surgery.  After signing a one-year dear for a hair above the league minimum, Choo is on pace to hit just under .300, hammer 26 home runs, steal 26 bases and drive in 108 runs this season.  He is currently first in OBP and walks, second in runs scored, hits, doubles and RBI, and third in batting average and slugging for the Cleveland Indians, who despite their horrible record has the sixth best offense in the major leagues.  Choo also has the third most outfield assists in the majors.  He turned 27 years old yesterday, but barring a late season slump he should be due for a large raise.

2. Kurt Suzuki, C, OAK – 2009 Salary – $410,000
2009 Projected Stats – .293 BA, .753 OPS, 10 HR, 74 RBI.
Like Choo, Suzuki is slated to make a smidgen above the league minimum this season because the Oakland Athletics weren’t going to reward him with a large contract following one good season.  The 25-year old Suzuki has played even better than last season and is producing at an above-average rate on a team that has been barren on offense for the most part this season.  He leads the team in batting average and has the second-most hits.  Suzuki has a higher batting average and has three more hits than Matt Holliday, who at $13.5 million per season is making precisely 32,926.829 times his salary.  After playing 148 games last season at one of the more difficult positions in baseball, he has now shown the A’s  that he is a reliable option for them in the future.

3. Ichiro Suzuki, OF, SEA. – 2009 Salary – $18,000,000
2009 Projected Stats: .362 BA, .873 OPS, 12 HR, 48 RBI
A cool fact you can tell your friends: Ichiro went hitless in just six games so far this season.  The former AL MVP is once again off to a fast start this season and at 35-years old, he is showing no signs of slowing down.  He owns the second-highest hitting average in the majors and leads the leagues in hits.  Ichiro has been producing and has been earning his salary, but the Seattle Mariners front office made a questionable move by shelling out $18 million a season on the league’s best leadoff man only to lack a capable hitter to drive him home.  A crowd favorite and a relentless worker, Ichiro should be getting bonuses from the Mariners – perhaps a few perks and services that involve aggressive tickling from a certain large black teammate of his.

4. Hideki Okajima, RP, BOS. – 2009 Salary – $1,750,000
2009 Projected Stats: 6-0, 3.32 ERA, 76 IP, 76 K, 24 BB, 1.08 WHIP, .209 BAA
The former All-Star has been absolutely vital to the Boston Red Sox bullpen this year, and discounting a little mishap against the Baltimore Orioles a few weeks ago, he’s had just about a good of a season you can ask for from a relief pitcher.  He has the league’s second highest holds total to show for it.  Okajima signed a two-year contract for $2.5 million in 2007 with a $1.75 million team option in 2009 which the BoSox exercised (an obvious no-brainer).

5. Chan Ho Park, SP/RP, PHI. – 2009 Salary – $2,500,000
2009 Projected Stats: 6-4 5.49 ERA, 108 IP, 100 K, 52 BB, 1.53 WHIP, .279 BAA
This pick may not be a popular choice, but I love what the Philadelphia Phillies did with Park this offseason.  They took a safe gamble by signing the former All-Star for a one-year contract at a reasonable price and let him start the season instead of their young lefty stud, J.A. Happ.  As Happ excelled in the bullpen to start the season and Park struggled to give consistent starts, they swapped places in the bullpen.  Now the Phillies have an excellent up-and-coming starting pitcher in Happ and a workhorse in the bullpen in Park, who can pitch long relief and rest the bullpen if necessary.  This move is going to prove to be valuable for the Phillies and pay off towards the end of the season when most bullpens feel the grind of a 162 game season.

AGLR – 2009 Performance-to-Salary Rankings

1. Kosuke Fukudome, OF, CHC -  2009 Salary – $12,500,000
2009 Projected Stats : .251 BA, .787 OPS, 14 HR, 54 RBI
After inking a four-year deal with the Chicago Cubs last year worth $48 million, Fukudome excited Cubs fans with an exciting start and an All-Star appearance before finishing the year with a huge slump, highlighted by a 1 for 10, 4 strikeout performance in a first round sweep loss in the playoffs against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  He’s regressed even earlier this season and is on pace for a career high in strikeouts.  The members of the Cubs’ front office are probably kicking themselves right now.  Fukudome has never played more than three consecutive months of good baseball in his career – certainly not a player you’d want for $12.5 million a year.

2. Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP, BOS. – 2009 Salary – $8,333,333
2009 Projected Stats: 2-10, 8.64 ERA, 35 IP, 62 K, 36 BB, 2.20 WHIP, 3.78 BAA
In 2007, the Boston Red Sox took a gamble by inking Dice-K to a six-year, $52 million dollar deal (this does not include the $51.1 million they paid Japan for his rights).  After winning 15 and 18 games in his first two season in the majors, respectively, Dice-K has been experiencing a (Chien-Ming) Wang-like chokejob this season (you know, aside from the fact that he’s getting paid $3.33 million more than Wang and has three more years of big money left in his contract after this season).  It will be interesting to see what the Red Sox do with Dice-K, now that they’ve added a healthy John Smoltz to the rotation and called up minor league ace Clay Bucholz, who already owns a no-hitter in the majors.

Jeff Zachowski / Can the King of Porn make a comeback to justify his 2009 salary?

3. Hideki Matsui, OF/DH, NYY. – 2009 Salary – $13,000,000
2009 Projected Stats : .265 BA, .884 OPS, 28 HR, 80 RBI
We may have lost the King of Pop but the King of Porn is still alive and well!  After falling into a slump last month and looking like his age was finally catching up to him, he responded in July by hitting .393, 4 HR, and 12 RBI.  Still, at this point in the season, his numbers aren’t nearly good enough to justify a $13 million salary.  He is in the last season of a four-year $52 million contract.  His numbers have been good for the most part since he inked this deal in 2005, but he’s played only 51, 143, and 93 games in three full seasons he’s been under his new contract.  Although Matsui’s bat is still a threat, I’d rather have another certain old and overpaid player with a ridiculous contract (cough Jorge Posada, cough) hit at DH if I were Joe Girardi.