Baseball fans roast MLB journalist after bizarre insinuation about Japanese ballplayers: "Sounds like a whole bunch of assumptions" "Nonsense"

MLB fans are scratching their heads after a story by baseball insider Ken Rosenthal regarding Japanese baseball players appeared in The Athletic on Thursday.

The piece focused on the difficulties that the New York Mets could have in signing prospective free-agent phenomenon Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels, no matter how much money Mets owner Steve Cohen offers.

In the piece, Rosenthal mused that the Mets may have difficulty putting Ohtani on the same pitching staff as current Mets hurler and Japanese native Kodai Senga. Citing the musings of unnamed major-league executives and agents, Rosenthal wrote:

Some Japanese players are uncomfortable being major-league teammates with other Japanese players because of the importance of seniority in Japan’s hierarchical culture...The relationship between Senga and Ohtani, if one even exists, is not known.

MLB fans were quick to question the seemingly dubious statement:

Rosenthal hinted that the Mets could even attempt to trade Senga to the Angels in a deal to attempt to sign Ohtani before he hits free agency, as well as eliminate any perceived awkwardness of having two standout Japanese pitchers of different ages on the same staff.

For the record, Senga is 30 and Ohtani is 28. All of this comes without any confirmation that the two Japanese stars would have a problem pitching together. Rosenthal also notes that Senga has a full no-trade clause in his contract.

Some MLB fans stopped just short of accusing Rosenthal of outright racism in his reporting. Of particular note is that there seem to be no sources willing to go on the record in his story, and that no one knows who the supposed agents and executives are making such claims about the comfort level of Japanese players playing together.

It will be interesting to see whether Rosenthal adds or retracts from his story, as Thursday's piece has seemingly left MLB fans everywhere from being confused to outright enraged.

It did appear that an entire team of Japanese players was perfectly at ease in winning Team Japan's third World Baseball Classic championship just a few weeks ago.

No one in MLB is sure what Ohtani will do after 2023

Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Angels reacts during the first inning against the Seattle Mariners

MLB fans continue to ponder what Ohtani will do this coming offseason. Baseball journalists continue to speculate about the upcoming bidding war for the superstar's services. While some say he might get $50 million a season, others speculate that money might not be his main determining factor. As far as Ohtani, he has remained completely silent on the matter of where his career will take him after this season.