[DC 86]

Time to put the Suzuki matter to rest.  Recently, Andrew Baggerly wrote an article about the topic in The Athletic.  In essence, Suzuki had some concerns about signing with SF.  There were related to non-financial personal issues.  My reading of the article implied that SF was definitely in the ballpark with the numbers and was very interested in signing him.  Unfortunately for the Giants, not everyone wants to live and work in SF. 

Best wishes to Seiya.  I hope he and his family enjoy their American experience....

I read that article. Have to admit that I was more than a little confused.  It has nothing to do with the fact that the SF Bay Area has 8x the number of Japanese residents than does the Chicago metropolitan area. He did mention the number of homeless, but Chicago has nearly 4x more than does SF. And with the greatest of respect, if I were a family man,  I would probably avoid Chicago, a/k/a America's Murder Capital (heavyweight division) with 797 homicides in calendar 2021, than San Francisco with its 56.

I also read the article and came away unconvinced; I am skeptical about him signing with Chicago simply based on Yu Darvish telling him he enjoyed playing there. To me the article was reminiscent of the rationalizations that P.R. firms put out after the fact. The crime problem in San Francisco is real, but with $85 million you will probably find ways to feel safe.

There was nothing in the article that mentioned SF matching (or attempting to exceed) Chicago's offer. I don't doubt that there were legitimate non-economic factors involved, but if SF had offered $20 mm/year would he still have signed with the Cubs? I'm pretty sure that if SF had made such an offer (or at the very least made the same offer as Chicago) that the same P.R. people that fed Baggerly the other material would have included that information. The fact that SF making a similar offer to Chicago has never been leaked indicates to me that such an offer was never made, rendering the other stuff moot.

[DC 86]

Time to put the Suzuki matter to rest.  Recently, Andrew Baggerly wrote an article about the topic in The Athletic.  In essence, Suzuki had some concerns about signing with SF.  There were related to non-financial personal issues.  My reading of the article implied that SF was definitely in the ballpark with the numbers and was very interested in signing him.  Unfortunately for the Giants, not everyone wants to live and work in SF. 

Best wishes to Seiya.  I hope he and his family enjoy their American experience....

I read that article. Have to admit that I was more than a little confused.  It has nothing to do with the fact that the SF Bay Area has 8x the number of Japanese residents than does the Chicago metropolitan area. He did mention the number of homeless, but Chicago has nearly 4x more than does SF. And with the greatest of respect, if I were a family man,  I would probably avoid Chicago, a/k/a America's Murder Capital (heavyweight division) with 797 homicides in calendar 2021, than San Francisco with its 56.

I also read the article and came away unconvinced; I am skeptical about him signing with Chicago simply based on Yu Darvish telling him he enjoyed playing there. To me the article was reminiscent of the rationalizations that P.R. firms put out after the fact. The crime problem in San Francisco is real, but with $85 million you will probably find ways to feel safe.

There was nothing in the article that mentioned SF matching (or attempting to exceed) Chicago's offer. I don't doubt that there were legitimate non-economic factors involved, but if SF had offered $20 mm/year would he still have signed with the Cubs? I'm pretty sure that if SF had made such an offer (or at the very least made the same offer as Chicago) that the same P.R. people that fed Baggerly the other material would have included that information. The fact that SF making a similar offer to Chicago has never been leaked indicates to me that such an offer was never made, rendering the other stuff moot.