New York Yankees: Bidding on Hiroyuki Nakajima Was a Waste of Time
December 9, 2011 · Rick Weiner · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
By now, most people know that the New York Yankees placed the highest bid for 30-year-old infielder Hiroyuki Nakajima, formerly of the Seibu Lions.
For $2 million, the Yankees have the exclusive negotiating rights to bring Nakajima over to the major leagues.
Apparently, Brian Cashman knew when going in to the bidding that it was a big question mark as to whether or not he would be able to sign Nakajima.
A career .302 hitter in Japan, Nakajima hit .297 with 16 HR and 100 RBI in 2011 for the Lions.
The Yankees honestly expected a perennial All-Star in Japan—one who likely has two major league contracts available to him over the course of his MLB career—to sign up to be a part-time player?
Nakajima seemingly has little-to-no interest in doing so and is likely to return to Japan for the 2012 season.
After the 2012 season, Nakajima will be a full-fledged free agent, able to sign with any team he likes.
Of course, the team he wants to play for is the Boston Red Sox.
Why?
Bobby Valentine, who happens to be a big fan of Nakajima.
The Yankees are supposedly considering trading the negotiating rights to Nakajima, claiming that they don’t really have a role for him.
However, that’s not entirely accurate.
A .300 hitter with power and someone who can field a position is an upgrade over both Eduardo Nunez and Ramiro Pena, and Nakajima would be just that, which would free the Yankees to include one or both in a trade.
However, if Nakajima is only interested in playing for the Red Sox, why would Boston trade for him when they can sign him outright next year?
If you were Ben Cherington, new GM of the Red Sox, you wouldn’t.
Even if Boston were to decide that they wanted him for this season, they certainly would not offer anything of value—the Red Sox can live with another season of Marco Scutaro at SS and Jed Lowrie backing him up.
Instead, the Yankees are left with the rights to a player who does not want to play for them and only has eyes for their most heated rival. That is, a rival who has no real urgency to bring said player in.
While the Yankees will receive the $2 million back should Nakajima not sign, it’s still a waste of time and money, seeing as how Cashman says the team has no use for him in the first place.
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