On Akinori Otsuka

This is simply an echo of how free agents feel about coming to Texas, they don't want to.  This should be a warning sign to Jon Daniels that perhaps players here aren't even happy.  

This reminds me very much of when Mark Cuban took over the horrid Dallas Mavericks.  He made drastic changes, including I remember changing the chairs that the Mavs sit on during games and providing each player with play stations in their lockers.  Sure they are relatively small, but it brought the team attention and made Dallas a more attractive place to play, even when they weren't a great team at the time.  

Something like that needs to take place with the Texas Rangers.  When players on our own team are telling others to play elsewhere, it is time to make some inherent changes to this franchise.  

This is a big deal.

I mentioned this earlier in the side diary, but this is the equivalent of a German free agent in basketball coming over to the States and seeking advice from Dirk.  And instead of telling him to play alongside him with the Mavs he says go play with San Antonio, you will like it more.  

We would never imagine Dirk doing that.  We know that Dirk wants to win so badly that clearly he would want a great talent on his side trying to win.  He would only make such a suggestion if he was extremely unhappy with the Mavs.  So either Aki doesn't care about winning, and if so we should trade him, or if Aki is that upset with the Rangers, I imagine it isn't just him, and the Rangers need to figure out what exactly is going within their clubhouse.

I also think Aki's recommendation is as much about culture as it is about the team.  

I don't prefer San Diego to Texas, but then again, I'm a Texan living in California.  If I were Japanese, you'd better believe I'd prefer So Cal.  The weather is more similar to that of Japan, there are many, many more Japanese restaurants and stores, and frankly, the culture here is more accepting of Asian culture here than in DFW.  There is a thriving Japanese community in San Diego with the biotech and computer industry here - it makes sense that Aki would have been more comfortable here than in Texas.

The Padres are not a particularly better run team than the Rangers are, and I've been surprised by the amount of San Diego players' angst that is made public.   Aki was frustrated here playing behind Hoffman, though I guess he probably felt betrayed by the Gagne situation.  As a hitter adjusting to a new league, Fukodome would have to prefer Texas than San Diego

Very disappointing the way this situation was handled by some 'report'...

1. I can't comprehend that someone wouldn't understand why it would offend a fan to have one of their players recommend another team. Its not about if they think San Diego is a better place to Texas, they expect the players to have some kind of loyalty to the team and helping it succeed.  Naive or not, its still pretty obvious why the idea is offensive.  
2. Can we stop acting like the threads on this are 95% people flaming aki and 5% higher minds defending him?  It seems like over half the people say its no big deal, and many of the people criticizing him fill their posts with "IF THIS IS TRUE" or "I DONT KNOW WHAT WAS REALLY SAID, BUT"....

This is a simple question with no relevance to Texas at all.  And it is very possible that that is how it went down.

It's as annoying as the "First!" stuff.

FWIW, there's a slight difference between Aki and Fukudome. Aki was not a free agent but was posted by the Chunichi Dragons. The Padres then bought the right to negotiate with him - so for Aki it was San Diego or Japan.

Up yours, freedom haters!

But if anyone asked me where to live, either SLC or X (except Laramie, Wyoming or Provo, Utah) then I would tell then to go to X.

There is shit to do in this city except the Jazz and Utes, everyone thinks and looks the same, and it is F'n cold in the winter.

Does this make me a traitor?