Yeah yeah, personally I didn't find Pandaren any more of a stretch in Warcraft 3 than the furbolg and Tauren and murlocs (silly fish people... nobody is bothered by them though) already were. In fact the things I found a stretch in Warcraft 3 were Goblin Shredders (I mean seriously, it's powered armour) and Dwarven Tanks, but nobody seems to complain about those either.
By Warcraft 2 standards, the Tauren and all the other walking animal races are "out of place" in the Warcraft universe.
By Warcraft 1 standards, Elves and Dwarves are out of place in the Warcraft universe.
And let's not forget space goats.
(Just to be clear, I like all those races, just saying Pandaren aren't out of place at all.)