Saturday, 2:41pm: Nakajima spoke to Nikkan Sports (Japanese link) about the Yankees submitting the top bid. "I thought 'whoa!'. I got a bid from a great team," said the shortstop before adding that he doesn't know how everything will turn out. Thanks to Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker for the translation.
Thursday, 6:18am: ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that the question is being explored as to whether or not the Yankees will trade Nakajima, as they don't really have a role for them on their club.
Wednesday, 6:43pm: Given the low salary Nakajima figures to receive, the Yankees aren't confident they'll sign the infielder, tweets Heyman. Nakajima could decide to stay in Japan.
11:34am: The Yankees won the bid for about $2MM, tweets Jon Heyman. Noting Nakajima's preference to play for a West Coast team, Rosenthal wonders if he'll be willing to be a utility player for the Yankees.
11:18am: The Yankees won the rights to negotiate with Nakajima, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. They now have 30 days to work out a deal with him.
11:08am: The Yankees submitted a posting bid on Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima with an eye on using him in a utility role, tweets David Waldstein. One person believes the Yankees won the bid, but Waldstein has not yet confirmed that. The Seibu Lions should announce the winning bidder today.
Swisher will break his leg in an intrasquad game.
so will this be Yankees biggest offseason move?
They extended Sabathia. That was big both figuratively and literally.
Well if it is the Yankees it would seem that Nunez days as a Yankee could be numbered.
If that’s the case could a possible trade with the Braves be that far off for Jurrjens. The Braves previously expressed an interest in Nunez.
Probably woudln’t be a bad idea to dump Nunney while his stock is still fairly high.
Please remember that while Eric Chávez said he wants to play next season, he and Yankees have not come to terms, PLUS he is often injuried.
This move we’ll probably say goodbye to Ramiro Peña as the second utility man.
Does anyone know Nakajima’s strengths? Is there a comparable player already in the MLB? Just trying to get an idea the type of player he is.
Yunel Escobar with higher AVG, slightly less pop.
If you meant Yunel Escobar’s jockstrap then I agree.
Hah! Yeah, right. And Daisuke was Nolan Ryan but with a gyroball.
If he was truly that good his posting fee would have gone above 2 Mill.
If Albert Pujols was really that good then he would have been drafted before the 13th round, right?
Really? Nice comeback. The Yankees were stupid too for passing up on Pujols then 12 times… You know along with 28 other teams. Stupid comment. The history of failed Asian players is more likely to continue than the next Asian Pujols is to happen.
U really missed the point.
Some Asian players have failed, might as well write off the entire continent then, right?
Using the fact that no one gave him money as logic to the fact that he can’t be good is inherently flawed.
It’s time for you to wake up, man. This guy is 29 years old, and moving from Japan. His skillset is pretty set in terms of what he can bring to the table. If he’s as good as Yunel “with a better AVG and less pop” (doubtful to say the least, considering this would make him an elite AVG hitter), there would have been many, many more and higher bids for him. You knew where Pujols was two years ago, when he was 29? Picking up his third MVP trophy, his second consecutive. This guy is 29 years old. TWENTY-NINE. Much different than a player in the amateur draft. Have fun with your Yankee blindness, I’m sure Kei Igawa is still going to be a star, too…
Saying that “if he was going to be good, teams would have paid him more” is one of the dumbest things I have ever read.
The whole point of the Pujols thing was, people didn’t know how good he would be at the time. I’m not actually comparing them on a talent level.
You still don’t get it.
Damn, those guys Matsui and Ichiro sure suck… not to mention that guy Nomo who threw two no hitters and won ROY, and surely Kazuhiro Sazaki never was the best closer before going back to Japan… i’d say Shigetoshi but I doubt you know how valuable to the Angels bullpen he was.
Asian Pujols? That physical composition isn’t possible. Maybe in a genetic lab. hahaha
Looking at his numbers from the Japanese League, he looks to be a better all-around SS than Jeter, though of course there is league differentials. Would never displace him unless Jeter retired, of course. This seems like a strange move by the Yankees, unless they view him as Jeter’s eventual replacement after an audition as a utility player.
or they will use him as trade bait?
Wait until the crop of nitpicking SABRmetricians invent something that says that Nakajima is also the worst SS in history, while ignoring evidence of the contrary =)
The difference is that Jeter really is a bad short stop.
I am going to be sick. $20Million+ likely with posting fee to squander in a super utility role.
The only explanation: They’re trading Jeter. haha.
Is it feasible to obtain Nakajima from posting, and then flip him for a starter?
Oh I am sure it is, but you’re basically throwing the posting fee away for nothing, unless the pitcher they acquire is on a low salary. There remains the bigger picture – and this is a stretch, that the Yankees made a bid for another team, to effectively outbid everyone to trade Nakajima somewhere for a SP. Not impossible, but shifty. I think the Yankees just wanted to block the Jays and Red Sox from getting better, honestly. No pressing needs? Then just ruin it for everyone else.
2 millions is too low of an amount to (in my opinion) be considered an offer to outbid in somebody else’s name.
If he was THAT good and somebody like the BJays and the Red Sox were after him, they would have bid higher than 2 millions (BJays alone paid 4 millions to sign 16 year older Roberto “Cañoncito” Osuna).
But what i see is that maybe most teams view him in an utility role, and judging by how much money utility players have been getting, it would be more or less like spending a few millions more for an already stablished MLB utility, with less risk inherent of how good will Nakajima adapt (if he really is THAT good defensively he will have no problem adapting, plus he is a contact hitter which can translate favorably as long as he doesn’t try to go ‘yard’).
yeah right
lol 20 million? Where did you hear that? Not a chance.
Didn’t hear it – posting fee (which, wow, was only $2M) +3-year contract @ ~$5M/Year. Expected the posting fee to be wayyyyyy more. Apparently no one wanted him.
Utility to begin with, then eventual replacement for Jeter. Yanks win the WS this year, Jeter walks away on top, and the little guy from Japan takes over. Ok, maybe not.
More likely so they can trade players if they need to (nunez). Not to mention utility player on the Yankees is a bit different than other teams, because Jete, and Alex will need a lot of days off.
Nakajima played 3B in a Japanese all-star game, so he’s done it before. I’d be surprised if A-Rod plays over 100 games this season, so you’re right, utility role in NYY might be at least 80 games.
For the Yankees’ sake I hope Payrod is in the Caribbean right now searching out a chemist to supply him with some undetectable “medicals” if you know what I mean. Getting off the sauce has destroyed him. In another year or two he’ll look like deflated like McGwire.
I think he has a bounce back year this year as long as hes healthy. Every time he got in the swing of things last year he got hurt. Obviously that’s wishful thinking from a fan though. If he doesn’t start playing hes gonna get booed out of town though. Pujols might have the same fate… I really don’t think hes only 31.
A baseball player lying about his age? Nahhhhhhhhhh!
He was leading 3rd baseman in most catergories, before he got injured at the all star gm. I might be a tad worried about his legs getting hurt, but he missed a large chunk for hurting his thumb wish is pretty flukish
No need to look in the caribbean when the doping masters are in the US working hand on hand with prominent sport stars… 😉
I’m guessing they can’t handle Nunez’s nerve-racking throws across the diamond then.
not when his throws end up 7 rows in the stands behind the 1B
Jeter is here through 2013. Be more concern about being stuck with the albatross A Rod through 2017
Arod will prob retire before that, if his body dont hold up
If that’s the case, I hope he does what Gil Meche did lol
If that’s the case, I hope he does what Gil Meche did lol
and not collect a check? Doubt it.
and not collect a check? Doubt it.
Posting fee: $2 million (Jon Heyman)
Wow goes to show you even the Yankees FO doesn’t believe its own hype regarding Nunez.
no one believed the hype about nunez after this past seasons defensive showing. his offense isnt bad. its just the defense that needs work
Eduardo has very good range but makes the common mistake of losing track of the ball once he is near him, plus he wants to act quickly to make a play, which also contributes to him making all those errors. If he could learn from Jeter to be calm when attacking the ball he would be absolutely phenomenal (Jeter is one of the best SS once he gets to the ball, which is an above average of 70-80% of the times a ball is hit in his vicinity… but it doesn’t translate very well for some SABRmetricians because they overlook the fact that Yankee pitchers induce far less grounders towards the SS-3B area than the average MLB team).
You know what, you’re a m0r0n (dang moderator). You’re acting as if the Yanks hired a pr company to praise about Nunez. HE’S A UTILITY PLAYER who could probably start for a handful of teams because his bat has some upside at the SS position and he’s cheap. NOWHERE AND AT NO TIME has Cashman praised him like he was Montero or someone.
lollin
What’s so funny? Hey it’s 25x less than Dice-K’s bid and 12x less than Igawa’s.
answered your own question, didn’t you? so many huffpuff posts about japanese players and when will we know when will we know!
aaaand $2M
“answered your own question, didn’t you?”
Umm it seems as if you were laughing at the Yankees, were you not?
Is $2 millilion a lot in baseball today?
no to both questions, unless millilion is a denomination i don’t know about
But had the posting fee been 10x you’d be yelling… LOL!!
Wonder how much the bid was. Seems like a costly investment in a bench player 😛
Nothing is costly to the Yankees. AJ Burnett and Kei Igawa, Yankees doing just fine.
2 million is lower than I expected. Good move barring the price of his contract. Do you mean apart from Burnett and Igawa, the Yankees are doing just fine?
I meant with the money being paid to them, and them not contributing at all, the Yankees are still in no financial trouble and will still have a great record.
lol true
This is definitely a precursor to another move, I believe. Interested to see where Cash goes with this.
If you are willing to spend over 10 million a year on a 7th inning guy (Soriano), then 30 or 40 million makes sense for a utility guy.
make that 2 mill
2 mill just to talk to him.
Yeah I guess $50 mil to Dice-K was more worth it.
Not sure what you are responding to?
You think his contrat will reach 50 mill?
I want to say no, but I have seen stranger things happen in baseball free agent signings.
Thats so true.
Not a chance.
They paid soraino to be a reliver theres no difference in what inning he pitched the three outs in the 9th is that more valuable than the 3 outs in the 7th
Except Soriano wasn’t brought in to be the 7th inning guy, he was brought it to be the set-up man for Rivera, so the Yankees could have that LOCK DOWN 8th/9th innings combo like they had with Rivera/Wetteland. It was also believed that Soriano would most likely be Mo’s predecessor when he retired.
He gonna be cool with this? Kind of culturally ignorant of me to ask, but will being asked to be a utility player maybe insult his honor or something? I mean, when he decided to make the jump to the MLB, I assume he imagined being a starter and making an impact.
Kenny Ken Ken Rosenthal makes it sound like he wanted to be West Coast and everyday player. Eep.
Well, it looks like no one on the West Coast wants him, and his Japanese team clearly doesn’t want to pay him. He’ll just have to swallow his pride and hope Jeter doesn’t find the cure for aging.
And Rosenthal is never wrong…
WOW really? “to insult his honor”? we don’t live in the era of Japanese men commiting suicide because his honor was broken… so you know.
Patrick Newman from NPB Tracker doesn’t think he can make it as an MLB SS and will probably move to 2B. Posted for $2 million according to Jon Heyman.
OMG truly this is a precursor to come when we realize we cant resign cano to a 6/165 deal
ahahhaa hmm…
So he is already catalogued as “one of the worst SS ever to play in MLB” even before he plays for the Yankees? That is something new.
I think this is part of a bigger deal.
This is just winning the rights to negotiate with him. They haven’t necessarily actually signed the player.
$2 million? Seriously?
It’s really hard to argue against that move. For the Yankees I’m not entirely convinced that them bidding on him was anything but an accounting error.
Not an error when you take into account that there are interrogants regarding Chávez+Ramiro Peña and that various teams want Eduardo Núñez; this move just gives the Yankees a bit more comfort regarding possible replacements for them.
This is like an episode of Storage Wars. You make a bid that you really don’t expect to win because it’s so low and you end up with a possible steal. It says they doubt they can sign him because his salary would be low. He’s not going to supplant Jeter, Cano or Arod so why would they pay him anything substantial?
2 Mil?????? I can’t believe more teams weren’t in on him with that being the winning bid. Especially the Giants and Braves.
The article says a posting fee of 2 million? (everyone above keeps saying $20 million?) (granted it says $2MM). If it in fact was as low as $2M….Sabean couldn’t afford $2.5M to bid? For a player that said he wants to be on the West Coast? And for a player that would be an upgrade to what we have?
This looks like a huge misread of the market. Even without looking at the guys numbers, I have to imagine with how thin the SS market is, SOMEONE should have been willing to top $2.5MM.
Just another genius move by Cashman.
I’d like to see how “genius” Cashman would be running a team like the Astros or the Padres with their payrolls.
Right, great argument. Now I need to get back to what I was doing, which was nothing.
Im sure astros fans wish they could find out
My bet is that he would do great, just look at the small acquisitions he has made in the past when there was nothing good available and how much they contributed.
Last year alone he acquired Freddy García, Bartolo Colón and promoted Nova. 4 of his 6 starters during 2011 either came from within their system or were deemed laughable signings at the time.
And to make matters worse to those who criticize the Yankees, again they were the best team in the AL while at the same time having one of the highest amounts of homegrown talent (just Texas had more homegrown players than the Yankees).
My bet is that he would do great, just look at the small acquisitions he has made in the past when there was nothing good available and how much they contributed.
Last year alone he acquired Freddy García, Bartolo Colón and promoted Nova. 4 of his 6 starters during 2011 either came from within their system or were deemed laughable signings at the time.
And to make matters worse to those who criticize the Yankees, again they were the best team in the AL while at the same time having one of the highest amounts of homegrown talent (just Texas had more homegrown players than the Yankees).
Astros have the ability to spend money. My guess is he would spend what he has on WanRod and Brandon Lyon.
Cash has room for error with the Yanks. On a smaller payroll team he absolutely wouldn’t take a chance with some guys simply because the risk would be too great. Cash is far from stupid.
Exactly. This was a great opportunity for Sabean and he mailed it in. Mike Fontenot!
It seems strange…like no other team had interest in Nakajima.There are at a few teams that could look into acquiring a shortstop, so it couldn’t hurt to spend more than $2 million to make a bid.
It is abbreviated as MM because it is plural as in millions, if it were a single million it would be M. It applies to other abbreviatures too, even in spanish, where USA is abbreviated either as as EE.UU.AA. (Estados Unidos Americanos), or just EE.UU. (Estados Unidos = United States), México for example should be EE.UU.MM. (United States of México, which is the official name of the country).
Though to facilitate learning the language, most of this conventions have been nullified and only a reduced number of plural words use the double lettering, as when you are working on a scientific paper and you quote a paper, you’d put it as “pp.” to indicate the pages where the quote comes from… though the “pp.” in reality mean “paginae” in latin, or, pages.
I always read MM as M*M, as in a thousand thousands. But that breaks the rules of Roman Numerals, so it would have to be M^2.
It is abbreviated as MM because it is plural as in millions, if it were a single million it would be M. It applies to other abbreviatures too, even in spanish, where USA is abbreviated either as as EE.UU.AA. (Estados Unidos Americanos), or just EE.UU. (Estados Unidos = United States), México for example should be EE.UU.MM. (United States of México, which is the official name of the country).
Though to facilitate learning the language, most of this conventions have been nullified and only a reduced number of plural words use the double lettering, as when you are working on a scientific paper and you quote a paper, you’d put it as “pp.” to indicate the pages where the quote comes from… though the “pp.” in reality mean “paginae” in latin, or, pages.
I saw this coming, strangely, and I have to wonder if this is part of something bigger for the Yanks.
i hope this is the beginning of the death of the posting system by defacto boycott
Sure, wait ’til Darvish is posted…
Why? Because the Big BAD Evil Yankees won the bid by NOT throwing huge lumps of cash? $2M bid and they might have been one of the small handful of teams (if any) to bid.
Screw the Waynkees. How many friggin’ utility players do they need anyway? It’ll be interesting to see whether this guy actually aggrees to play in NY or not.
‘How many friggin’ utility players do they need anyway?’
2? Pretty sure they have 2, now. Is the new complaint about the Yankees is that they’re too deep?
oh crap their getting to deep on the bench, its helping them out. someone call the bench police! as much as arod gets hurt their going to need the depth off the bench.
I’m loathe to jump to the Yankees’ defense here on a monetary matter, but seriously? The bid was two million dollars. Honestly, winning him for so low of a bid with this market for middle infielders is an extremely savvy move. Fans of other teams who wanted him should spend less time whining about the Yankees’ spending and more time whining about how their team was unwilling to post $2.1 million dollars for the guy. That is chump change for EVERY MLB team. The Rays could’ve hit that without breaking a sweat.
idk about it being chump change for every team. Teams like the pirates, rays, A’s its alot of money lol. they may have had to file for bankruptcy maybe the dodgers can give them a good lawyer
I know right. Sox and Yanks can’t even spend a dollar without it being an assault on the fairness of the game. There they go again big bad tyrannical Yankees buy a championship again throwing around that 2M (Low end reliever money). Anybody could have had this guy.
I wasn’t aware your favorite team didn’t have $2 million to spend.
Maybe if you Rays fans started going to games more, you wouldn’t be whining.
that was funny haha. if it werent for the yankees or redsox going to st. pete. the trop would be a ghost. the rays would be no more, and they wouldnt be able to afford to even run a single A ball club.
I like where your going with this. We call to arms to get Sox and Yanks fans to stop attending Rays games….Boom! Two team race.
I honestly wonder what the difference in attendance is between the Tampa Yankees (A+) vs the Rays?
if he dont agree then he cant play in the US until next season, and it will prob be the same thing. and then he will have to decide, play US ball or play asian ball?
Yankee’s spend $20mm on a player and everyone hates them. Yankee’s spend $2mm (genius move) on a player and everybody still hates them. Teams want all 4 of their top prospects for a pitcher under one year of contract, but these same teams would suffice with someone else’s 4th outfielder in the same trade. I think I’m getting this MLBTR thing down pat now.
Sounds about right to me.
yeah every team is threatened by the yankees and their farm system that their trying to drain it. fans are threatened by them because they are able to attract players over to the bronx but the fans teams can offer but a large coke and popcorn with possibly crackerjacks being the signing bonus.
I don’t think a lot of people think the Yankees are dumb, we still just hate them for being the Yankees. Pretty simple if you ask me.
If the Yanks and Sox didn’t have to spend big money and they still won because of having top talent evaluators the whiners would still find a way. They would just say thats its unfair to have too much talent or something. Sorry or billionaire owners spend on the team instead of getting by with the minimum like 3 quarters of the league. They should be ashamed.
This is something we won’t know. Comparing Big Market GM’s and Small Market GM’s is apples to oranges.
Edit – This was in response to HummBaby
can yankees trade this guy or is it not allowed in the CBA
I do believe there is a sign and trade option here, but I’d also like more clarification on this.
I View this as now Yu Darvish will have a Friend from Japan with him when the Yankees sign Yu to make him more comfortable…kind of like what the Sox did with okajima
Please don’t compare anything that the Yankee’s do like the Red Sox. One actually has a plan and evaluates their players, which 90% of the time results in success. The other throws money off their yacht in the New England harbor and then is left scratching their head as to what happened when they wake from their hangover the next day.
I didn’t realize the Yankees threw their money off a yacht in the New England Harbor. Why don’t they do it closer to home?
Agreed.
i believe he is meaning the complete bust that dice-k has provided for the sox with his king kong of a contract to only spend the contract on the DL .
Sarcasm in response to sarcasm isn’t funny, Chris. And incidentally, Dice-K has a ring.
Dude I’m a Yankee fan to but does the name Kei Igawa ring a bell
beat me to the punch. I was also going to say the evil word….Pavano. Let’s not throw stones Chris.
Yeah its totally are fault a phenom Japanese pitcher didn’t translate here. He had two solid seasons worth the 10M a year salary he makes. The posting fee is what got us.
yeah but you sort of have to count that posting fee don’t ya? No posting fee, no Dice K.
Pretty sure my comment acknowledges that. Just pointing out facts that the posting fee was the expensive part of his contract. Between the ring he helped us get, the other productive season he had, Japanese ad money and Jersey sales over seas and in America we made 50M im sure. Probably off of attendance rises that year alone. I’m not losing sleep over it. I can admit the Sox arn’t perfect but they are no worse than NY at FA, or anyone else for that matter. If every team in the league could spend the way our clubs do they would be in for a rude awakening as far as bad contracts go, but you got to spend money to make money right.
Im not even surethe yankees scouted igawa, though they most certainly scouted this guy.
Yeah the Sox are about the same bud, as far as FA signings. A-Rod’s contract alone is likely to sink any bitterness we get for Lackey or Dice-K.
It’s not even known though if Darvish is going to be posted or not.
yeah darvish may not even post, but if hes wanting to play in the US now is the time to do it, because of the dyer need of SP for most teams. thats where i see 100 million bein throwin to by the yankees……unless their the mystery team on buerhle an wilson…hmmm
Damn 2 million? Yankees got a deal here then. I’m surprised no other team was interested?
Everyone is too busy figuring out how much to pay for CJ Wilson or the 10 prospects it will take to land Gio or Jair, so the Yankees slipped in the back door and bagged the produce.
Yeah they bagged a utility infielder. Too bad the Red Sox already had 3 of them, otherwise you would have had some competition.
Main purpose for Nakajima is to attract Darvish. I also think this means the Yankees are seriously considering dealing Nunez since they have a new utility player in town
only $2MM? Wow, that’s peanuts for the Yankees. The SS/2B market is so thin and nobody bids more than $2MM? Wow.
$2M for posting. If he signs reasonably (say, 5 yrs, $20M) then the Yanks just snookered everyone. Their replacement for Jeter in ’15, and a couple of seasons as a super-sub in the meantime. Not too mention it frees up Nunez to go to the Braves in a deal for pitching.
I think the Jeter replacement will be Hanley(if he’s not resign after ’14), Gumbs or Culver…I really think Gumbs will be the guy
Yanks should in no way shape or form, offer a contact of 5/$20 mil.
Now THAT was actually funny. Did you spike your chowda before posting that?
Yankees are in a great position right now. What everyone doesn’t
understand is that there isn’t anything that can be done to improve the
rotation besides trading Hughes.
CC (You’re freaking crazy if you want to trade him)
Nova (Young with upside and a good season under his belt)
Garcia (Already signed and should bring another solid season)
Hughes
Burnett (Untradeable nobody wants him and a waste in the pen he’s an innings eater)
Unless a deal is Hughes, Betances, and Nunez for Jurrjens what could happen to strength our rotation?Also, dealing Nunez only makes sense if we sign Nakajima. So if your wondering, yes it does have to do with this.
I love 1,2 but Garcia?..It doesn’t really matter i don’t even think there trying to win a WS this year..I feel like there going to wait till next year since there’s a grip of beast starters and just unload..
He isn’t outstanding but he can handle the pressure in the Bronx. I don’t think he is going to have the same season as last year, but I don’t expect him to be far from it. However, I don’t think he’ll be there in 2013.
Hughes, Bets and Nunez……for JJ? Are you serious?
Anyone who wants to dump Hughes is an id!ot.
Even as a Braves fan that’s an overpay. Two of those yes, three no.
If you want to trade, best bet would be Swisher+Nunez (or maybe Nakajima’s rights also) for Prado+JJ.
I don’t think the Braves are going to get desperate, and they will get near-retail or retail for JJ and Prado at some point- Wren’s generally good with trades.
Hughes, Bets and Nunez……for JJ? Are you serious?
Anyone who wants to dump Hughes is an id!ot.
wtf? What’s the point…
There seems to be a lot of shock about how low the winning bid was. Maybe, just maybe..MLB teams don’t think he will be that good?
im confused..could someone explain to me how because of his low salary, they wont sign him?
You’re reading it wrong. It’s saying the Yankees don’t think He is going to sign with them and that he might decide to stay in Japan.
ahh i see..sounds like the japanese players need to suck up their pride a little and earn the money they think they rightfully deserve
Not quite, it’s more of a flaw in the posting system. Nakajima is easily worth $4MM per season – which the Yankees won’t give him to play only 80 or so games in a utility role. By Winning the bid and not signing him, they kind of block other teams from signing him. Not sure what the rule is if he doesn’t sign with New York, though…would be interested to find out.
I’m pretty sure the way it works is that if he doesn’t sign with the Yanks, he goes back to Japan for at least another season.
I’ve always wondered, then what stops a team from just bidding a crap ton of money, even though they have no interest in signing him. Then don’t sign in, but at least preventing others from signing him.
I’m pretty sure the way it works is that if he doesn’t sign with the Yanks, he goes back to Japan for at least another season.
I’ve always wondered, then what stops a team from just bidding a crap ton of money, even though they have no interest in signing him. Then don’t sign in, but at least preventing others from signing him.
I have little to no confidence in Japanese position players for anything other than batting average, and some speed. Japan is a AAAA paradise with some occasional position talent. Matsui & Ichiro worked out making the transition to our league everybody else was unable to replicate their success from Japan. I mean if you consider league average play successful fine. At the end of the day though we have had their batting champs bat under .230 here and their power hitters hit a 4th as many bombs here. Clearly talent in Japan doesn’t translate so the few people left arguing that they are just as good overall they just don’t get a chance forget it. Sure MLB is full of under preforming players, but those players are typically better than Japans best positional offerings. I mean look at Alex Ramirez and Matt Murton. Alex Ramirez was a major league cast off and became their MVP. Matt Murton has the Central League single season hit record at 214.
i challenge you to a game of dice
Todice? You mean you challenge me to a game of dice? Well accepted…….SEVEN! I win.
get buck naked and gimme all your money
they are very small people
“Thursday, 6:18am: ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets
that the question is being explored as to whether or not the Yankees
will trade Nakajima, as they don’t really have a role for them on their
club.”
Now I’m lost.
1- How can they trade him if he hasn’t signed with them
2- Why would they want him if they have no role for him
it’s the yankees trolling this offseason since alot were expecting big signings on their team…
1. They have exclusive rights to negotiate, they can trade those rights.
2. Possibly they were blocking another team or they intended to trade him or they were hoping they could convince him to be a utility man.
Or they just put in $2 million for funsies and were like oops! We didn’t expect us to be the highest bid.
“Thursday, 6:18am: ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets
that the question is being explored as to whether or not the Yankees
will trade Nakajima, as they don’t really have a role for them on their
club.”
Now I’m lost.
1- How can they trade him if he hasn’t signed with them
2- Why would they want him if they have no role for him
So why even bid? They knew full well that their infield was full. perhaps just a move to ensure that Sox and Jays didn’t get him?
I am guessing that if they do sign him, they will make a trade or try to make a trade with the Giants, possibly the Mets, who also were the other bidders. (Which basically answers my own 2nd question in my post above)
But why do they think anyone else would want him? After all, $2mil. was the highest.
That’s a good question also, but unfortunately what I said is the only thing I can think of. I did read though that the Giants and Mets also bid on him, so I’m taking a legitimate guess and saying they Yankees bid on him to make some kind of trade offer to the Giants.
We shall see what happens, but I think he’s going to stay in Japan.
That’s a good question also, but unfortunately what I said is the only thing I can think of. I did read though that the Giants and Mets also bid on him, so I’m taking a legitimate guess and saying they Yankees bid on him to make some kind of trade offer to the Giants.
We shall see what happens, but I think he’s going to stay in Japan.
I have to assume he stays. Attempting to trade him just seems like it would be a grave miscalculation based on nietz’s remarks. If no one was willing to spot more than $2 million for the posting fee, I highly doubt anyone’s willing to give up anything of even remote value to acquire him.
Really, the more time goes on, the less of a point I see in this outside of perhaps attempting to block the Blue Jays specifically, who it seems didn’t even make a bid. I just don’t understand.
So why even bid? They knew full well that their infield was full. perhaps just a move to ensure that Sox and Jays didn’t get him?
I could see them signing him and then moving him to say Seattle for Brendan Ryan and maybe a reliever. Say someone like Shawn Kelley. Ryan would give them a guy who can play 2B, SS, and 3B with above average defense. He is cheap and would allow them to move Nunez if they wanted or give them another solid defender off the bench. Kelley is a decent middle innings reliever.
Seattle would get another Japanese import and if he works out great. If not you arent giving up much to get him and you still have some guys that will be ready in a year or two.
Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for the Mariners. Seattle has Nick Franklin in the farm, and I can deal with Ryan until he’s up.
I like Franklin but hes still got some room to grow before being an everyday guy at the ML level. He will be just 21 in March and has only played 21 games above A ball. He is at least a year more than likely 2yrs away from being ready. Give Nakajima a couple years at SS and if he works out great maybe you can move him for a couple prospects in favor of Franklin. If he doesnt work out you still have Franklin waiting. Im not saying make Nakajima the SS for the next 5 or 6 years. You know what Ryan is. Light hitting. Above average defense. Nakajima is a relatively low risk higher upside guy. Would rather take a chance on him then seeing Ryan hit .248 again
I like Franklin but hes still got some room to grow before being an everyday guy at the ML level. He will be just 21 in March and has only played 21 games above A ball. He is at least a year more than likely 2yrs away from being ready. Give Nakajima a couple years at SS and if he works out great maybe you can move him for a couple prospects in favor of Franklin. If he doesnt work out you still have Franklin waiting. Im not saying make Nakajima the SS for the next 5 or 6 years. You know what Ryan is. Light hitting. Above average defense. Nakajima is a relatively low risk higher upside guy. Would rather take a chance on him then seeing Ryan hit .248 again
“I could see them signing him and then moving him to say Seattle for Brendan Ryan and maybe a reliever.”
Makes no sense. If the Mariners wanted him enough to give up two players for him, they’d have bid on him.
Not necessarily. Maybe they thought that the bid would be higher than what it ended up as. who knows.
And its not like im suggesting players that are all star caliber. Ryan just fits better as a backup and Kelley is coming off injury and could fit in the 6th inning mix with NY much like Ayala did last year.
and its fairly common knowledge that Nakajimas preference was to stay out west. so maybe if NY is looking at a sign and trade Seattle should be looking into it.
Collusion? o_O
Yankees should use him as trade bait. Send him nunez, gardner or swisher and burnett(just to get rid of him) and pay some of Burnetts contract for a solid pitcher like Wandy Rodriuez
That’s just an awful trade.
Joking right?
Obama’s economy not hurting Yankees payroll
because they bid $2 million for Nakajima? Cool dude.
because they bid $2 million for Nakajima? Cool dude.
“I thought ‘whoa!’ What is that an Iron Chef translation? I miss the Original Iron Chef! Iron Chef America is a Joke! Patrick Newman, yes, thank you for the translation.
The M’s can supposedly get that other, better fielding, japanese SS on a minor league deal. If the M’s wanted Nakajima they would have at least bid on his posting.
What would be the point of going after a defense oriented SS from Japan when you already got Brendan Ryan?
Z stated he wants a backup SS who can actually play SS well. With the M’s focus on pitching, a good-fielding SS is a priority -unless the bat is otherworldly.
why is this re-posted? i saw “yankees win rights to………”, and I thought Yu Darvish!?!?!
NYY are a bunch of aholes. Why bid on him? “the question is being explored as to whether or not the Yankees will trade Nakajima, as they don’t really have a role for them on their club.” Just bid on him to stop a small market club.
Um, what? They bid 2 million on this guy. Even the smallest of small market clubs could have bid 2.1 but obviously the interest wasn’t even there.
Since it’s not 100% confirmed I won’t bust out on Braun. I am so glad they have integrated drug tests, now we will be able to see who the true stars are.
I knew the Yankees had trouble getting utility infielders to come there as free agents. But I did not know they were willing to spend that much to bolster the bench. Not a bad move though.
This move potentially frees them up to trade Nunez, plus he’ll help with a Darvish transition. (I believe Cashman will make a huge “ninja” winning bid for Darvish). If for some reason they don’t win Darvish or find a good trade for Nunez, they can just not sign Nakajima and nothing lost (except they blocked him from other teams like Toronto or Boston)… Nice low risk move!
I hear all his teamates signed a jersery for him. Guess the whole he won’t play for the Yankees thing might be a weeeeebit over hyped…
what are you babbling about , bro ???
just mind yourself kid