The Yankees and Hiroyuki Nakajima have failed to reach an agreement on a contract, the team announced. New York won the negotiating rights to the infielder with a bid around $2MM last month.
“We unfortunately could not come to an agreement with Hiroyuki," said GM Brian Cashman in a statement. "We wish him the best of luck during the upcoming 2012 season.”
Earlier this week we heard that the two sides were unlikely to come to an agreement before tomorrow's 4pm CT deadline. The Yankees viewed Nakajima as a bench player and intended to pay him like one, and Jack Curry of the YES Network says (on Twitter) they offered him a one-year deal, nothing more. The 29-year-old hit .297/.354/.433 with 16 home runs and 27 doubles in 633 plate appearances for the Seibu Lions in 2011. Legacy Sports represents him in the U.S.
The Yankees do not have to pay the posting fee since no agreement was reached. Nakajima will return to Japan for another season, then become an international free agent next offseason.
The first two words of that headline exemplify the Yankees offseason.
Amen
Wasn’t this predicted as soon as they won the rights to him? They predicted he would refuse the Yankees offer to sign with the Red Sox in 2013, so he can play for Bobby Valentine.
Why does nakijima want to play for valentine?
Valentine managed in Japan
SO? So did hillman but that doesnt mean he’s going to the dodgers.
More accuartely, Bobby V simply expressed a desire to sign Nakijima based on what he saw of him while managing in Japan. I don’t know if Nakijima is as high on playing for Valentine, but as a manager, few are regarded as highly in Japan as Bobby V.
I’d refuse an offer to barely ever play too. In one league you’re a star and then come over here and get asked to be an absolute nobody? Also, where in Boston would he play? 2B? SS? They sort of have players established there.
I wouldn’t call our SS situation established at all. Scutaro is a solid player, but if Nakajima hits FA next year we will def be interested. Iglesias is a phenom on D, but the bat hasn’t gotten there. He is still young but even when he does start to hit a bit I doubt he just gets handed the starting role. If Nakajima can be had at a reasonable price I’m sure we will at least make a run at him.
So I guess all the Japanese want to be my friends because I worked in Japan for 3 years…
So I guess re-signing C.C. Sabathia was a failure too. Cole Hamels is a free agent next season just saying.
The offseason being a fail doesn’t make each individual transaction a fail. I think we can agree though that the yankees view their measure of success at a higher standard than most teams, that anything less than a ring is a failure. Seeing as they didn’t win it last year, and essentially have the same team as last year, I can see how some would view the offseason as a failure right now.
Except that the goal is to win every year. Simple math tells you putting yourself in a position to win multiple years instead of one is still accomplishing the overall goal better.
That’s what this offseason is to NY. Being competitive now and being competitive in five years. You don’t get that by saddling yourself with long contracts (this one not withstanding)
Winning every year might be a goal for other teams, but not the yankees. They’ve made it pretty clear that their goal is to win a WS. They do a pretty good job winning as it is, but they want a ring every year. Every year they don’t win one, they view as a failure.
It’s a failure to them if they don’t win a ring, just as is it is to the Phillies, Red Sox, etc etc.
You’re singling out the Yankees for some reason, which is pretty silly, unless you’re the silly NY media.
Get a clue. Every team has the same ultimate goal – to win a championship. To WIN. Period.
Why that places the Yankees above everyone else’s standard is beyond me.
I’m singling them out? That’s the team that we’re discussing. A lot teams might say they have the same goals as the Yankees, but you’re naive if you think that’s true. The standards in NY are higher because the organization strives to be the best. You say that as if it’s a bad thing to have higher standards than others.
lol you believe that only yankees strive to be the best and you’re calling ME naive? hahaha
my point once again – EVERY organization strives to be the best! Not just the Yankees. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.
So yes, you and people like you, for some reason single out the Yankees as they’re the ONLY organization trying to win, and their standards are higher.
Every team wants to make the playoffs. Every team wants to win their division. Every team wants to make it to the world series. Every team wants to win the world series. To believe otherwise is just plain naive.
Of course I’m naive–you’ve got it all figured out. Every team has the same goals and runs their organizations exactly like the Yankees. That’s why they’re just as successful as them…oh wait. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but they Yankees are the most successful team in the league–hands down. They didn’t get that way because they want to be like everyone else. They set the bar high because they have higher standards than everyone else. Maybe you haven’t noticed that they’re willing to do what it takes to win, while other organizations pride themselves on low cost moves only, or making a profit only, etc. Every team wants to make the playoffs, but that’s where the Yankees have shown time and time again that they’re different–just making the playoffs isn’t good enough for them. How you can be a Yankees fan and not see that is just incredible.
You’re wrong. They have the advantage not because they WANT it more, it’s because they have more funds due to playing in the biggest media market in the world. Simple as that.
Yeah, you’re right. They have the advantage therefore they want to be just like the Oakland A’s.
I had to jump in here. So much fail.
Because giving out a 122 MILLION DOLLAR extension to keep CC Sabathia in pinstripes (And he would’ve opted out if not extended), is now the equivalent of wanting to be the Oakland A’s. Riiiiiight.
I give up. You have a very juvenile read on reality.
Any team that competes on a regular basis considers a season without a ring a let down. Only teams that are not even in the conversation can really afford to feel otherwise. Couple examples of teams that have RECENTLY fit that description our the Orioles, Pirates, Nationals (Likely to change), Royals (Ditto), Marlins (Ditto), Mets, Astros, Padres, A’s, and Cubs. Yes I know that you can go back and find solid years from these teams I am just saying over the past few seasons so hold the hate mail please.
I can understand that fans expect the Sox and Yanks to spend like crazy every year. When they don’t I hardly consider it a failure though. We shouldn’t sign people just to sign people. They are just being patient because our teams needs are more pitching than anything, and aside from some solid one to two year candidates and CJ Wilson the market wasn’t exactly packed to the brim with amazing arms this year. Next year if Hamels, Cain, Grienke, ect. become available the people will get their fireworks. That I am sure of.
I disagree with you opinion on the Yankees fail off-season. Every single player the Yanks add you need to add 40% more of their salary that the team will pay in taxes and E. Jackson is not worth all that money. Wait to see if Cain or Hamels become a FA
It’s just weird to see the Yankees caring about small things like luxury taxes.
they always care about it; they just care more about top talent. if cole hamels were a free agent this year, you can bet they wouldn’t hesitate. but they’re not going to go nuts over cj wilson and edwin jackson
You gotta think though, these aren’t George’s Yankees anymore. It is apparent that although his kids still care about winning, turning a larger profit appears to be more important to them than it was to George (the Soriano signing excluded)
And the Arod contract? That was all Hank.
Arod opted out. They lost all money that was coming from the Rangers. (which would have hurt the Rangers, a competitor)
They ended up giving him a bloated front loaded contract that no one else was willing to pay.
Frankly, I like this new way of doing business. Maybe Hank finally realizes that his rash and idiotic decisions have consequences.
The Yanks have cash but not unlimited cash. It seems that they are close to max and that they are finally realizing that these investments come with risk.
You’re right about Hank giving ARod the bloated contract, but the Yankees are run by Hal now. He’s the smarter one.
As long as Hank has any power, I’d be worried.
Just look what the guy did last year.
Just the fact that he went over Cashman’s head on these decisions says a lot about his personality and lack of brains.
They hired a GM for a reason. And how did Hank come to be? Just because he is the son — that’s it. Apparently, owning the Yankees isn’t enough — he has to run the team to the ground too.
That was more Levine. But what I’m trying to tell you is that Hal is the general managing partner or whatever his title is. Basically, Hal is the highest ranked executive, not Hank. So he has the final say, not Hank. Hopefully, those dumb decisions will come to an end as they’ll get vetoed by Hal.
97 seven win team fails in attempt to improve ball club isnt that exciting of a headline.
How has their offseason been a “fail”? Name me a player that they desperately wanted that they didn’t get?
Exactly. Just a bitter White Sox fan and/or non-Yankee fan, or as I like to call them, Yankee hater.
They need one more starter and a middle infielder and haven’t done that…they will just get beat in the ALDS again.
As I wrote below, they didn’t lose in the ALDS because of pitching.
They need a middle infielder for the bench, one who doesn’t necessarily need to be a great hitter or anything, those are a dime a dozen.
One more starter, perhaps they do need I will say. But it isn’t a Must.
The middle infielder will make them lose?
No? So it’s the starter? Check the minors and next year’s superior FA’s. The Yankees have a plan now and next year and they’re sticking to it. The issue is quality, not quantity and nothing in FA this year was going to fix that.
I’m saying they haven’t made any changes and are getting older. They probably won’t get much better and their rotation behind Cc and Nova is bad, the Angels, Rangers, Tigers,Rays, and Red sox all have better rotations I think,
The Red Sox? They have more rotation question marks than the yankees… The yanks at least have depth… And for a utility guy, nunez/chavez bats are just fine. You’re crazy!
I remember blackcourt last offseason when he projected the Red Sox to win it all (I did too) but what’s funny is that he said that their pitching staff is great and they have 5 aces.
Not a knock on the Red Sox good pitchers such as Lester and Beckett most times, but Buchholz had 1 good year, and Dice-K and Lackey are sub par.
Lester and Beckett 1-2 is better than the Yanks and 3-5 is about the same
Beckett is better than nova that’s pretty much it.
if the yanks would get garza, then it would be different
What would be different?
beckett,lester,,,,c.c, garza…that would be to close to call but as it stands, verlander, fister/////boston wins 1-2 match up
True but the Yankees and Tigers don’t play each other 18 or so times a year so I don’t think the Yankees should worry about the Tigers
The Red Sox have 3 full starters, 2 who have been hurt in recent years, and their other projected 2 starters have made a combiend 9 starts, and 1 of those 2 has all 9 starts.
Angels much better. Rangers slightly better. Rays much better. Tigers mehh I’ll say about even but they have a better 1-2 for certain. 3-4-5 is a toss up, so slight edge to Tigers.
Utility players dont win championships.
The angels and rays do im not so sure about those other teams.
Tigers do for sure. JV beats Cc and Fister beats Nova. Then I’ll take 3 great young arms that could be very good in Scherzer, Porcello and Turner over vets and guys struggling in Garcia, AJ, and Hughes. Besides see the results of the 2011 ALDS
Obviously you’re a Tigers homer. And to use the ALDS as your example of who’s better overall is nonsense. I bet you’re going to say the Tigers are better than the Rangers now.
Fine use the regular season it’s about even but the playoffs decide the champion so how do you not use them to decide who’s better? You’re a Yankees homer so I wouldn’t be talking.
Doesn’t matter because the Tigers aren’t the champs either
At long as the Tigers are in the Central, they can never truly prove they are a good team. Who do they play in that division? The next best team is 80-82. They are 20-16 vs the east, a whopping 55-22 vs the central and 18-18 vs. the west. The AL East, has 3 teams over the .500 mark and 1 team exactly on the .500 mark. Move to a tougher division before you talk, the regular season brings you to the post season. Before you call me a homer, I’m no fan of a particular team.
Fine use the regular season it’s about even but the playoffs decide the champion so how do you not use them to decide who’s better? You’re a Yankees homer so I wouldn’t be talking.
The yankees had the best postseason era, and verlander sucked in the playoffs but of course that doesnt matter does it? I dont think you should be calling anyone a homer.
The Yankees couldn’t hit much though. Not a homer. The Rangers are the best team in the AL right now.
No they are not
I think you mean they couldn’t hit in the games they lost. Same for the Tigers.
I’m not being a homer. I already said the Tigers were the better team in the playoffs.
i would take the tigers staff over the yanks and im neutral….lets face it, burnett sucks, so does hughes…if it weren’t for nova, boston wins that division…yanks staff is weak besides c.c. and nova and nova is really a solid 3 on his way to being a 2
Hughes doesn’t suck. He’s not great but he’s not bad.
“if it weren’t for nova, boston wins that division”
Kind of a dumb statement. 1 – You forgot about the Rays I assume, and 2- Why are you playing “If it wasn’t for” game?
If it wasn’t for Carpenter, the Cards wouldn’t have made it to the ALCS. If it wasn’t for Freese’s hit, the Cards wouldn’t have won the WS. See how easy that sounds?
whay im trying to say is nova wasan’t expected to go 16-6….my personal opinion is that nova put them over the top……im trying to say the guy is a really, good young pitcher….it’s called a compliment
im not playing the what if game its fact my man…look agree or disagree it’s that simple….nova dosen’t get called up in july, they dont win the division??? yes or no and dont try to dance around it like a new york politician….i forgot about the rays?? no i didn’t…..it seems to me the yanks backed their way into the playoffs and nova was huge for that to happen….typical yankee fan, compliment one of their players and they call you dumb….then again you probably went to school with something starting out like p.s. 91
Chances are yes the Yankees don’t win the division with Nova. But that’s not what you said, you said Boston wins the division. And it did seem you were playing the What If X wasn’t there game with me.
Your OP did not seem complimentary in any way and seemed more of a Yankees suck thing.
Scherzer pitches poorly on the road (And if you want to use his Game 2 win, then I can use AJ Burnett’s Game 4 win) and Porcello is trash. Turner has yet to prove anything but I do predict he’ll do well too.
I know Porcello is such a piece of trash that he’s won 40 games before he turned 24
Pretty much.
Wins and losses? lulz
My point is he has done ghouls things for the Tigers and he should get better
But your using wins and losses as your example to prove your point. That is not a good stat, at all.
The yankees rotation outperformed the tigers rotation in the postseason and the regular season if that’s what you’re referring too. I’d take garcia, hughes and burnett and the yankees depth over the tigers 3-5 every time.
I’d say 3-4-5 small edge to Yankees but 1-2 is huge edge to the Tigers. The Tigers may have a better rotation but better overall team is questionable, and to use the ALDS as an example is nonsense.
The difference between verlander and cc is not that great cc had a better fip and xfip last year but ya verlander is slightly better. Fister is better than nova by quite a bit.
Fister is a mirage people…watch him hit regression smack dab hard.
Hes not as good as he was for the tigers in the second half but he doesnt suck
WOW!!! no way!!!.the yankees have a great pen…..their pen is better than the tigers pen but to say garcia,hughes,burnett is better than porcello,scherzer,turner and thats with a very small sample size of turner,is lunacy…..
Starting pitching ERA
Yankees- 4.03
Tigers- 4.10
It’s fairly close.
Turner is way too young to be compared to anybody as of now.
To say porcello and turner are anything but question marks is lunancy
I will agree that Verlander is better than CC, but not about Fister. Fister posted monster numbers, but you know he is going to regress. Especially considering how soft the Tigers second half schedule was.
Nick Punto disagrees with you
You obviously didn’t hear about how hard they tried bringing Babe Ruth back from the dead, but couldn’t do it. Fail.
I absolutely hate the Yankees but this non transaction doesn’t mean they failed nor does add to an off season of failures. Last off season was a failure for the Yanks. Resigning Jeter to that terrible “thank for your service” contract. Getting hosed by Lee after earlier getting hosed by the M’s. That was failure.
If they had repeated their mistake this year and re upped Posada to say “thanks”, that would be failure.
Fact is, they have a very strong squad. If they want to win a ring, then everyone not named Cano in the IF need to play up to their lavish contracts.
if they get a legitamate 2, then they are in position to win the series….they just can’t seem to get that solid 2
Next will be the Rangers and Yu who can’t get it done
Yeah, because Nakajima and Darvish have everything in common, except … wait, there’s nothing. What kind of post is that?
Don’t get your hopes up. JD is going to get it done.
Seems odd, considering how desperate teams are for middle infield help, that the Yanks couldn’t pull off a sign and trade with some team that wanted him to play every day.
I mean, Mark Ellis got a two year deal. MARK ELLIS.
Ned Colletti and Kevin Towers cornered that market already. Nobody else wants to pay/give up significant value for should-be backup infielders.
Dude plays gold glove type 2B. Why wouldn’t he get a multiyear deal?
Because he can’t particularly stay healthy, his defense is declining, and he didn’t even put up a .300 OBP last season (despite spending half the season in Coors).
Yes. This.
Looks like someone on the Yankees staff saw Moneyball…
And got pissed that there was a baseball movie that was not about the Yankees.
They lost in the playoffs because of not being clutch in some AB’s in a small 5 game sample size. (More like 3 game samples, and those were the 3 games they lost in which they had the tying/winning/go ahead run up in the 9th inning in each of those games)
No the Tigers are a better team than the Yankees is the real deal and clutch hitting is overrated but a rod will almost always be a choker in the playoffs
Doesn’t mean they necessarily are a better team. It means they had a better series and deserved to win. Not one person is going to tell you the Cardinals were the best team in baseball last year. They were the best team in the postseason and the postseason of course is where it matters the most, however it’s a small sample nonetheless.
I’m a NY Giant fan but I’m not going to tell you they were better than the Patriots in 07 Different sport but same concept. There’s a regular season and there’s the playoffs.
They were best when it counted most, making them the best team. Real good teams steam roll through the playoffs. See 1998 Yankees, 1984 Tigers and 2005 White Sox just to name a few.
Right but that wasn’t the point I was making.
“They were best when it counted most, making them the best team.”
by this useless definition, bobby abreu was the “best” hitter of 2011
you mean he wasn’t?
Doesnt arod have a .900 ops in the playoffs hes no ramon santigo but hes pretty good.
Yep. He had one good postseason. Get me his numbers in the ALDS in 2006and 2011
Let’s pick a sample of ~20 PAs and look at it through a microscope!
(the average player gets about 500-600 PAs a season)
So you’d prfer his what 20 a bat sample size to his full one?
9 gm sample vs 68 which one should i look at???
You know it’s funny, A-Rod before this year’s playoffs had very similar numbers to David Ortiz.
Everyone calls David Ortiz one of the best all time and A-Rod one of the biggest chokers of all time.
Their numbers are not that far apart
Ortiz – .283/.378/.544
A-Rod – .277/.386/.498
Prior to 2011, A-Rod’s postseason BA was .291 and SLUG was .532
I mean in the end I would take Ortiz in the postseason, solely due to the fact thusfar he’s won 2 WS rings and hit great in those 2 years, but overall the numbers ain’t far apart.
And no one ever tells you to show them ortiz’s awful numbers in 09.
Are you sure you cant find an even smaller size for me too look at?
He carried the team in 2009 playoffs, the year they won it all.
i don’t think you need to defend losing in the playoffs. no matter how good a team is, anyone can lose a 5 or 7 game series
I handled this with someone else a few weeks ago, but no, they failed because of pitching, not mythical “clutch hitting.” The only game the Yankees failed to score at least three runs was game 5 and the Tigers wouldn’t have even gotten to game five if not for poor starts from Garcia and Sabathia.
Citing run support as the problem in a series where you manage to essentially skip Verlander thanks to a rain delay and put up four runs on him the next time out is ridiculous. Heck, the Yankees actually outscored the Tigers by eleven runs in the series, the Yankees pitching just couldn’t hold down a tight game.
And I can easily say the Yankees would not have gotten to Game 5 if it was not for poor starts from Fister in Game 1 and Porcello in Game 4, not to mention how terrible the Tigers bullpen was in those 2 games.
While they didn’t play as many games as some of the other teams, the Yankees had the lowest ERA (by a wide wide margin) and the 2nd best BAA. Clearly pitching was not the reason they lost
If you are going to cite pitching as the reason, then is it Halladay’s fault for giving up 1 run in 8 innings in Game 5?
By the way, the Rays had the best BAA and the Phillies had the best K/BB
ratio by far and away (Something FIP people like I know). They, like
the Yankees, were eliminated in the 1st round
I don’t see how any side of the argument of how the Yankees lost because of pitching. And CC did not lose in Game 3, it was a Soriano HR (in the 7th inning) that did.
Cano in Game 2 was the winning run at the plate, Jeter in Game 4 had the go ahead men on base, and the Yankees put the tying run at the plate in the Game 5 1 run loss. And don’t forget Game 5 in the 7th when they had bases loaded and 1 out and only scored 1 run.
I’d be interested in finding out with the Yankees BA with RISP was in those 3 losses.
Probably .100 and I bet the 2 games they won it was around .900 (sarcasm obviously for the .900)
Speaking of fail, thanks Disqus lol. This was in response to @bj82
Frankly, I don’t think the Yankees really felt they would win the bidding initially, add to that when they won, it was still fairly early in the offseason and there were other moving parts (potentially Swisher/Nunez) so once they won the bid, it allowed Cashman to evaluate all other options. This was only insurance for the Yankees. They didn’t need to cash in on their policy. I won’t go as far to stay their bid attempted to keep Nakajima away from other teams considering it was so low. No one else got involved. The Yankees lose nothing here. In fact, Nakajima ages another year and might have been able to establish some value and playing time in the MLB for a year, which in my opinion, would only have helped him in the long run if he wanted to be in the states. He loses on this one.
If Sabathia, Garcia and Jones had played with another team last year, those signings would look pretty good. Add to that some possible bench help who signed minor league contracts – Okajima, DeWayne Wise, Adam Miller, Jason Nix – the off season doesn’t look that bad. And it isn’t over. Soriano and Feliciano both signed in January last year and Ayala and Chavez signed in February.
*replied, auto type messed me up there.
You don’t want the 2 mill Nakajima? Okay tell you what, I know a guy who does, “Hello Chavez ? I got something for ya hear”
That’s because Nakijima wants to play in Boston for Bobby Valentine! Ha! Yanks lose again. Worst offseason in yankees recent history?? I say yes.
Of course he’s japenese and valentine coached their not even for the same team so they must have a connection, i wonder if giradi has the ins on cole hamels because he coached the nl east.
Oh yes , just horrible. Yankees are kickin themselves after losing a back up infielder lol 97 wins to 67 next year…
Worst off season would be last year when Cliff Lee rejected us and went to Philly, and we ended up with a bunch of has-beens in Colon and Garcia. What did that get us?
…oh yeah, top 10 in team era and made the playoffs.
Moral – don’t believe the hype. wait till the game is played. Just ask Philly and Boston about their 2011 world series…
When your a yankee fan your not allowed to make fun of other teams for signing a bunch of players and having a high payroll and not winning a world series, see any other Yankee team besides the ones that won a WS haha
And when you’re a Mets fan… well, you know how that goes haha
But way to miss the point!
A Twins fan laughing at the Yankees? I guess its time for Cub fans to laugh at the Cardinals
I miss the days when Twins made the playoffs.
I miss the days we beat teams not named the Twins in the ALDS
Nakajima remains an everyday player in a familiar environment, earns more money than he would have in the MLB, get’s another season with the new ball to improve his stats and next year he can chose where he wants to play.
The guy who got really screwed is the Lions GM who has basically lost around 6 mio $…
I’m done is what that means to read.
Ok
Here is 2 million please let us talk to your SS, time is up and no deal…. Japan thanks you for your 2 million and no SS for you! lol I would love to be on the receiving end of that deal….
Teams get their money back if the player doesnt sign..
The Yankees don’t pay the money unless he signs…and I for one feel it’s great that Nakajima did not sign; he would have essentially toiled in the International League bbecause the backup infielder for all positions is Eduardo Nunez.