The thing about the media is, they write what they think will sell. Harmony is boring. Controversy sells. They are going to keep latching on to anything that Nishioka does that is “unconventional”, because the Twins are about as conservative an organization as there is in baseball. I think we’ve all been anxiously awaiting the first time Gardy has to deal with an issue he doesn’t like (and you KNOW it’s gonna happen) just for the pure entertainment value.

As I’ve written before, I think this organization could use a little shot of personality… someone to light some kind of fire. But this experiment comes with some risk, and this is a very un-Twinslike risk to take. Two things have to happen for this to work out. First, both Nishioka and his team mates (and coaches) have to accommodate (and, if they’re smart, even embrace) the cultural differences. Second, Nishioka has to play baseball really well because he’s replacing a player, in JJ Hardy, who was more popular than his productivity really warranted.

I’m really looking forward to getting down to Ft Myers (3 weeks from today!!) to see for myself how this all is working out.

The media members had been reading the blogs and things over here all complaining about the JJ Hardy trade. So, somewhat spurned by that, they declared that Nishioka will prove the bloggers wrong and make the Twins fans happy. Nishi has been aware of the things bloggers say about him here, and it seems like he is very concerned with gaining more American fans. He really wants to prove himself to Twins fans and make them happy.

As it goes, the lady who owned the seats next to ours in the Metrodome had lived in Japan and speaks Japanese. She excitedly sent me Japanese media reports, all in Japanese, when Nishioka boarded the plane to Minneapolis for the first time. I quickly learned how many reporters were following him, and what characters to search for to find more reports I could plug into Google Translate. It’s not perfect, but by now, I can understand about 80% of what the reports are saying. I’ve easily read hundreds of these since December.

All those Japanese media members are not just interested in Nishi–they are excited about the Twins. Now the Twins are their team. It might seem like Nishioka’s Japanese media entourage is just there to follow him, but that is not the case. They report on everything now–I translated reports about Bert getting into the HOF; the Twins retiring Bert’s number; the new deals with Pavano, Thome, etc.; the JJ Hardy trade; Morneau’s concussion; and even when they chopped down the trees in the outfield. They even reported about how the US media reported about how it was weird that Nishioka was practicing by himself, and maybe this was a reason he took batting practice with Thome and Kubel on Sunday.

From these reports, I have never gotten the sense Nishioka or any of the Japanese media thing he Nishi is superior in any way shape or form to anyone on or affiliated with the Twins. They heap praise on proven Twins players–especially Mauer and Thome. They have been impressed with the Twins organization. The recent headlines have been about how happy Nishioka was after batting practice Sunday and about how Thome said Nishioka had a good swing, and Nishi said “Thome is just as nice as Igutchi said he was.”

I dunno, this has turned into a bit of a ramble. But I think the US media so far has mis-characterized Nishi and the Japanese. I don’t think he will be as big of a distraction as you seem to worry. I think a lot of Nishi’s nervousness and uncertainty, along with single-handedly attracting millions of new Twins fans, is coming off right now as “prima donna.” In the end I think it will all work out for the best.

It’s possible some of the players wouldn’t mind having someone around who takes a bit of the media focus away. It’s not like Mauer and Morneau come across as the type that gets jealous of the attention someone else gets.

If Nishioka performs, I think people will put up with a lot. If not, then things are probably going to get ugly on many fronts.