Yesterday I had one of those moments in fantasy baseball…hunched over my Kingman League team roster, trying to look at things from every possible angle. The kind of situation where I had to finally get up and take a walk.

See, yesterday Barry Bonds supposedly worked out for the Red Sox. I’ve also seen this reported as Red Sox have internal discussions about Bonds. In a league using OBP Bonds can be gold, even if he isn’t hitting a ton of HRs or scoring. Hard to project what he might do with the Sox (presumably as a DH hitting fourth or sixth), but it seemed worth a flyer. He was already snagged in the EWC league by someone who’s picked him up and dropped him about 10 times already this year.

I was contemplating dropping either Jon Garland or…Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda hasn’t been bad this year, but it’s his DL stint (despite his solid start immediately following the stint) has had me worried. Garland isn’t great, and his FIP of 4.55 (ERA 3.76) would indicate he’s got some rough waters ahead, but he plays on a team that consistently wins and should continue to do so.

In the end I decided to drop Kurt Suzuki, my only catcher in a weekly-transaction league. In essence I put off making a decision between Garland and Kuroda. Sure glad I did…Kuroda was nearly flawless last night. It was a joy to watch. His command was unreal. He was spotting his curve with pinpoint accuracy. He looked like a guy who’s figured it out. He’s had some bad luck this year — I’ve seen the Dodgers bullpen blow leads for him and I’ve seen Torre leave him in just long enough that he (seemingly) tires and falters.

It’s tough to say what the proper period of adjustment is for a pitcher moving from the NPB to MLB. Going from a six-man rotation to a five. Pitching in a small park in a somewhat hot, humid city like Hiroshima, to a large park in the dry air of Los Angeles. I’m sure his throwing routine has changed. Probably doesn’t do as much long toss between starts as he did in Japan. Working with a non-Japanese speaking catcher would obviously be different.I think in the states people relate these “problems” directly to Kuroda’s level of success. If he pitches badly, writers/fans will try to figure out the reason. Any of the above will suffice. I’m very interested in the differences in pitching routines in Asia vs. the West. I’m still learning so I don’t want to overstate anything for the sake of this post. Last week a friend of mine reported he saw a Korean pitcher throw 10 innings and over 160 pitches. Is it bad for his arm? Possibly. Do I think it’s fair to always blame Dusty Baker for ruining the career of Mark Prior? Probably not.

There’s still a great deal of mystery within this discussion and no one should assume (or write) they know what is right or wrong. My guess is that these things don’t affect a veteran like Kuroda, but there must be a period of adjustment. Has Kuroda gotten past this? Hard to say, but last night he was brilliant, and, ahem, so was I…because he’s still a member of For’ver Crunk.

Note: Patrick from Baseball Analysts has a nifty piece about Kuroda’s Game Score from last night. His score of 91 ties him with Tim Hudson for best NL outing of the year.