There was a lot of snickering — by me, among others — after the Mets’ announcement that they’d hold a press conference to introduce Chin-Lung Hu. But Adam Rubin suggested, accurately I imagine, that a press conference to accommodate the Taiwanese media made sense.

Anyway, this vaguely brings me back to something I got at earlier this offseason: I wonder if there is any advantage, in picking between two all-field no-hit utility infielders, in picking the one from Taiwan instead of the one from California (or the Dominican Republic or anyplace else that typically produces Major Leaguers).

Could Hu’s presence have any impact on the team financially? I believe revenue from international broadcasts and merchandise sales are shared among the MLB teams, but will members of the Taiwanese community in New York be so much more inclined to show up to Mets games to have a noticeable affect on ticket sales? Did anyone chart turnout by demographic at Chien-Ming Wang’s starts?

Does it benefit the team’s “brand” internationally, and does that matter at all? Does it help them with amateur scouting in Taiwan?

Obviously, like Alderson says, it must be first and foremost a baseball move. But is it weird to wonder if there’s any real, identifiable added value derived from Hu being Taiwanese? Has any of this been studied? Should I just keep asking open-ended speculative questions?