Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 635 - 5: In-Depth Negotiations (Part 2)
The representative team of the San Francisco Giants left, leaving Lin Guanglai deep in thought with Nomura Katsuhiko beside him.
"Guanglai, what do you think of the offer from the Giants?" Nomura Katsuhiko licked his lips, evidently tempted.
Lin Guanglai savored the contents of the recent conversation and couldn't help but nod, affirming this point, "The prospects offered by the Giants are indeed very attractive..."
It must be said that the prospects offered by the San Francisco Giants are indeed quite alluring, and Lin Guanglai, no matter how picky, couldn't deny this:
As a team that has won the World Series three times in the past five years and has already established a dynasty, the Giants currently maintain a stable team structure with balanced pitching and hitting, and have consistently maintained a substantial level of competitiveness in the National League West Division— in last season's playoffs, they only lost to the eventual champions, the Chicago Cubs, in the division finals, losing by a total of just 4 runs over four games, which clearly shows the strength of this team.
The reason why the Giants are pursuing Lin Guanglai is simple: they want to strengthen the depth of their pitching rotation and seize the prime of most of their current players to make another run for the World Series title!
If Lin Guanglai joins the Giants, he will, under the arrangement of Bruce Bochy, form the strongest three-man rotation with Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto, leading the Giants forward under the guidance of Buster Posey, the greatest catcher of his generation.
Being able to immediately become the strongest contender for the championship alone holds limitless appeal to Lin Guanglai, and coupled with the Giants' backing by the largest Asian community in California, their commercial value is not low. From any angle, Lin Guanglai and the San Francisco Giants seem like a match made in heaven.
"But..." Before long, however, Lin Guanglai expressed his inner concerns, "compared to the promising prospects offered by the Giants, I have two concerns on which I remain reserved."
"First, their ballpark is really unfriendly to left-handed hitters. Oracle Park is famously a pitcher's graveyard, and left-handed hitters struggle to perform long hits here. The last left-hitter to hit over 30 home runs in a season here was Barry Bonds..."
"Second, the National League doesn't have a DH rule, which means I have to partake in defense when not pitching. Although I can indeed adapt, on the one hand, pitching, defending, and hitting simultaneously is too much of a burden physically; on the other hand, if I get injured during outfield defense, it could adversely affect my pitching, and that's what worries me."
"Although I'm confident in myself and believe I can achieve dual swordsmanship in the United States, I know this process will definitely not be easy. Wanting the team to unconditionally support my choice comes down to performance, which means pitching and hitting a lot — in which case, the absence of a DH rule makes quite a difference."
"So what are you saying..." Nomura Katsuhiko cautiously probed.
After a moment of contemplation, Lin Guanglai finally couldn't make up his mind, "Let's put the Giants' offer aside for now, and see what the other teams have to say."
The third Major League team to meet with them has a close relationship with Japanese baseball — also located in the National League West, the San Diego Padres sent their two Japanese executives, Saito Takashi and Nomo Hideo, to persuade Lin. The latter, during his playing days, was also the most high-profile signed player under Nomura Katsuhiko.
At first, Lin Guanglai did not even include the Padres in his consideration, but Nomo Hideo, the legendary senior, relied on his long-term cooperative relationship with Nomura Katsuhiko, to secure a face-to-face meeting, and Lin couldn't disregard the face of such a respected senior.
Compared to the strong and promising San Francisco Giants, the San Diego Padres, despite having two great Japanese seniors as spokesmen, failed to attract Lin Guanglai with their prospects:
The reason is none other than the fact that since losing to the New York Yankees in the 1998 World Series, the San Diego Padres have almost not touched the playoffs for 20 years, spending most of those years at the bottom of the National League West.
In the just-completed 2016 season, none of the Padres' starting pitchers had more than ten wins, and their lineup only had a few reliable players.
Poor results and a small market could still be overlooked if the team's farm system didn't lack potential. This means if Lin Guanglai chooses to join the Padres, he's likely to be stuck there for the next six years.
With so many unfavorable factors, the San Diego Padres are even less attractive than the Seattle Mariners, earlier rejected by Lin Guanglai; if not for showing respect to the two Japanese seniors, he would not be engaging in in-depth negotiations with the Padres at all.
Given that this in-depth face-to-face meeting involves eight teams, Lin Guanglai and his management team decided to spread the sessions over three days. The first day's discussions with the three teams have concluded, and based on the current prospects presented by each team, the Giants undoubtedly have the upper hand.
The next morning, the first team to meet with Lin Guanglai was the Atlanta Braves. To sign Lin, the Braves dispatched their entire key leadership, led by their General Manager John Coppolella and Head Coach Brian Snitker.
