The Tokyo Yakult Swallows have announced the signing of outfielder Lastings Milledge, according to a Sanspo report passed on by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. The deal is worth approximately $570K plus performance bonuses and includes a club option for 2013.
The Mets selected Milledge, now 26, with the 12th overall selection in the 2003 draft. He made the Major Leagues in 2006 and posted a .787 OPS in '07 as a 22-year-old. However the Mets traded him to Washington after the 2007 season and before long the Nationals sent him to Pittsburgh. Milledge signed with the White Sox before the 2011 season, but appeared in just two games for Chicago. He spent most of the season at Triple-A, where he posted a .295/.364/.441 line in 505 plate appearances.
Lastings
Finally, they give me some damn recognition for the signing that happened almost a month ago! On top of that I get 45 Million (In Yen)…
The_BiRDS
WHAT THE DANKS?
Leonard Washington
Good luck being the best position player in Japan.
MattTbay83
45 million Yen… That’s like $40.00?
craigkimbrelfan
100 yen is equivalent to a dollar. 40 bux would be something like 4000 yen.
James S
maybe 10 years ago. 100 yen as of today is worth 78 cents.
seanb1223
Goes to show that there’s no such thing as a sure thing.
Lastings
…But a Lasting impression has been made…
brocnessmonster
So Ned spent $4MM on Juan Rivera when we could have had this guy for a couple hundo? Makes sense. Unless you aren’t Ned Colletti.
SI52
“Know your place, rook.”
Jay
Haha that was Billy Wagner
Wilsonl
Ha, wheres Lastings on this one?
Blue387
Did you check Japan?
Wilsonl
I meant the commenter on this site.
Lastings
Or…better put, the real deal…
All Day Réy
lol the real deal is taking his talents to Tokyo!!
User 4245925809
This ought to end well. a country, where honor and appreciation of the game and everything else is held to high esteem with Milledge..
I give him a couple of months before he is shooed out of the country and on some Independent league team.
Anyone who is either familiar with the Japanese culture, or spent time there understands that. Some who take a..”progressive” look at anything and everything will probably take a different look, but the Japanese are a people who put honor above everything else and do not stand for things as Milledge has done.
he intends on staying, had better clean up his reputation by a bunch.
nietzschesass
They’ve had a fair share of those players. Before the Swallows acquired Charlie Manuel, they had Joe Pepitone.
User 4245925809
Joe (no offense to Yankee fans) was just a hard drinker/partier tho and got himself into trouble, as remember by faking/exaggerating injuries with management. Those pale with what some has come to light regarding Milledge.
YanksFanSince78
Please educate me on the “evil” doings of Lastings Milledge.
User 4245925809
Beyond basic behavioral and acting like a 10 year old?
let me ask you… ever been to japan? I have, 3 times while in the Navy. Doubt things have changed much, but people instigating fights, rotten teamates will be tolerated very long and that is a scratch on the surface of milledge. you know very well what has happened in his career.
YanksFanSince78
A) Japan HAS changed since you’ve been there. Ever heard of the Wu-Tang clan? Ever seen little Japanese teens walking around with dred locks and girls with tongue rings?
Look, let’s take a look at what Lastings has done that has earned him this bad rap (no pun).
a) At age 21 he hit his 1st hr and after the 3rd out on his way to the OF to take his position, he hi-fived some Shea fans in celebration. Billy Wagner and others thought that was “disgraceful” and decided to post a “No your place rookie” (at the age of 21) on his locker.
b) At age 22, a CHILDHOOD friend of his did a rap video and he invited his CHILDHOOD friend to appear in the video. He didn’t rap or perform any of the lyrics. His CHILDHOOD friend did ..and the lyrics included language that was shocking to most but very common among those in “the hood”. Not an excuse at all (I hate hearing kids call thimselves “N” and “B” and hoes) but it’s “slang” and it’s used by kids of all races now. At best, he was guilty of allowing himself to be publicly associated with his CHILDHOOD friend and that sort of music (in most cases distributed and promoted by some Fortune 500 company).
c) In 2010 he hit what he thought was a HR. The ball bounced OFF the top of the wall and landed in fair territory. The stadium fireworks were set off and music began to play which is what they do when a HR is hit. Lance thought it was a HR and proceeded to round the bases as usual. He was thrown out. Not exactly hard to understand how he thought the ball was a HR. It hit the top of the fence and the HR celebration by the stadium employees made it seem as such. Maybe stupid, but hardly demonstrative of bad character.
d) Prior to the draft at age 17 he was accused of sexual assault. Not in the physical sense but in having sex with a minor. The age of the minor was never disclosed and charges were never filed but he was 17 when the incident allegedly happened. Maybe bad judgement but it sounds somewhat of a juvenile incident as opposed to physically raping someone.
Other than that he’s never been suspended by a team. He has never violated MLB policies and when he was with the Nats and Pirates it was said he was a good teammate. Please tell me what you see that will make his as unwanted as Godzilla after a laxative?
Joe Valenti
my favorite part of his 1st homerun was delgado making him high five everyone in the airport on their next road trip
YanksFanSince78
UGGG!!!!!! I just spent the last 15 minutes typing a post and now I have to wait for the moderator to approve because I had the words “s__ual” or “h__s” in it. Geesh. Don’t feel like typing it all as detailed.
a) At 21 during his rookie season he hit his 1st hr and after the 3rd out when he was taking his position he hi-fived some fans at a home game.
b) he hit what he thought was a hr. it hit off the top of the wall. the stadium set off fireworks and played the music they play during a hr celebration. He did his hr trot thinking the ball was a hr and was tagged out.
c) At 22 a childhood friend did a rap video and invited him to appear in it. He didn’t rap or write any of the lyrics but his friend had some bad language commonly heard in explicit rap songs like “h0_”, “b___tch”, “n-word”.
d) when he was 17 and a JR in HS he was accused of s__ual assault via s_x with a minor. They didn’t say whether she was 5 or 15. Charges were never filed, he was never arrested and he wasn’t proven guilty of anything. Again, he was 17 when it happened and a jr. Technically the girl couldn’t been a 14 year old freshman and it would be considered a s_xual assault or statutory r_pe.
I see bad judgement (the promiscuity, the participation in the rap video) and I see some immaturity and over exuberance (celebrating a hr).
What I don’t see is maliciousness, disregard for the game or dogging it. He was never suspended by his team. No manager has ever publicly accused him of being lazy and he never violated a MLB policy.
In fact when he was w/ the Nats and Pirates it was said he was a good teammate.
Where’s the evil that will scare the Japanese more than Godzilla after a laxative?
User 4245925809
I still don’t think you understand, even though took the time to go over some of his more colorful exploits.
It’s a whole different “game” or lifestyle over there and just about everything you just posted above will haunt him and none of which will be tolerated, even a miniscule bit of what he has gotten away with in the past. it is an infringement of an honor system, long ago lost here, but still respected in Japan, or was at least the last time I was.
Edit:
here, here on the bloody filter.. Can see it on some things, but that thing goes too far sometimes and does not even give us the option to change a word, just blindly dumps it into LOST-ville.
Roy-Z
This is kind of like saying all America is Texas.
BeisbolJunkie
God forbid a player has to mature publicly for commenters on mlbtraderumors to judge him and not allow him to make youthful mistakes and learn from them. I’m sure Lastings wishes he was as perfect as you. Let the guy grow up and wish him well. Haters always gonna hate.
leachim2
“Yakult Swallows Lastings Milledge”
start_wearing_purple
Congrats. You’re leading the pack for potentially dirtiest thought invoking comment of the thread.
start_wearing_purple
I remember reading something back when he was a top prospect that the Mets refused to give up Milledge in a trade for Manny.
The great trades that never happened.
User 4245925809
No arguments there.. he certainly had all the talent in the world, it was the “other” things that derailed him and has a few others in recent years.
A real shame also.
Joveoak
Seeing how Manny turned out, I’m guessing that trade was better off not made.
gkantor18
I’ll never forget that game where he hit a go ahead HR, and then gave high-fives to the fans down the RF line. His career was over before it started
Marky
He will be back, he’s a great talent and has all the tools, just a bad rep. He will probably put up numbers in JP that force a team to take him in 2013. Really surprising a team like the A’s didn’t want to a take a flyer on him, he’s certainly better than Jai Miller.
NatsTown
Not Lastings in the majors amirite
Encarnacion's Parrot
I wonder what he drives if he has lasting mileage..
Tony DiQuattro
He seemed like Diet Andrew McCutchen with the Pirates
rizdak
Good luck to him there. I hear Phil Niekro is their spitter coach.
User 4245925809
Niekro? I thought it was his brother Joe that was always accused of that, along with of course the MASTER gaylord perry.
Ben
Would have thought this guy had Oakland A written all over him.
Hope he knows what he’s getting into going over to Japan. I don’t see Lastings lasting long once he figures out how early he has to get to games over there…
Joey Doughnuts
I always figured the Swallows would sign a catcher………..anybody? Anybody?
All Day Réy
-___-
Joey Doughnuts
I think it’s just you and me on this one.
redsx968
Wow… Thought he had something left in the tank here. Hope he dominates there though.
YanksFanSince78
this is a PERFECT opportunity for him. No one here is giving him a starting job so he can display his craft. He can start there. Show his skills and demonstrate his character and come back to the states with more leverage.
Just for the record. He posted OPS of .712 and .729 in 2009 and 2010. A OPS of .803 with 25 + SB and 12 hrs last year in AA. He also had OPS of .820 and .890 vs LHP in 2009 and 2010. He also hadpositive, if unspectacular, UZR’s in 2009 and 2010. He has plenty left in the tank. It’s hard to believe he couldn’t outperform Ryan Ludwick.
Adam Moreira
I guess that teams in North America ggot tired of his attitude.
elliotdanko
Lastings, good luck in Japan! I wish the ChiSox would have given you a real opportunity!
safari_punch
They should sign Elijah Dukes too.
Fred_G_Sanford
this lester malone boy is rude…i told him last year i would give him $15 to mow my lawn and rake leaves and the boy unleashed a sentence that would frighten the kids AND adults reading this now. i told him til he got a job he could do yardwork for me but no. kids nowadays got no respect. now he’s going over there where the water is filled with sewage and he’ll probably die of radiation. oh well, boy should have learned.
craigkimbrelfan
I still say he has tools. Could be a good player.
oscargamble
Can’t wait until he gets banned from Japan.
westcoastwhitesox
Anybody know why he didn’t get a chance with the White Sox? I thought he did well in 2011 spring training and in AAA.
BeisbolJunkie
It came down to him
AP Baseball
The Yakult Swallows signed Milledge because they are losing outfielder, 3-time Japanese League batting champ Norichika Aoki to the Milwaukee Brewers
AP Baseball
The Yakult Swallows signed Milledge because they are losing outfielder, 3-time Japanese League batting champ Norichika Aoki to the Milwaukee Brewers