Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker provides an interesting breakdown of the payrolls of Japanese clubs. The Yomiuri Giants lead the way with a USD-equivalent tab of about $45.45MM, which includes all players on the club's 70-man roster. Just 91 players league-wide make the equivalent of over $1MM, says Newman, with powerful catcher Shinnosuke Abe leading the way with a $6MM annual draw. Among foreign players, Andruw Jones of Rakuten has the highest salary at $3.8MM. Here are some more notes from the evening:
- Free agent outfielder Derrick Robinson underwent shoulder surgery today and is expected to miss most (if not all) of the coming season, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. The 26-year-old saw his first taste of MLB action last year, putting up a .255/.322/.323 line in 216 plate appearances for the Reds.
- Chone Figgins had to go back to square one to earn an opportunity with the Dodgers, writes Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times. The 36-year-old said that his showcase was "like a high school workout," except that he wrapped it up by telling the attending scouts to "tell your bosses you have a player who played in the big leagues and can still play."
- Twins middle infielder Brian Dozier says he would be interested in talking extension, if approached, reports Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "Nothing yet, but I'd be dumb not to even listen," said Dozier. "It's up to those guys. We'd be open to anything." Dozier had a breakout year in 2013, putting up a .244/.312/.414 line in 623 plate appearances and performing well enough defensively and on the basepaths to register 3.8 rWAR and 3.9 fWAR. Dozier hit 18 long balls in his first full-time year, despite having never reached double-digits at any professional level. The 26-year-old is set to reach arbitration eligibility in 2016.
- Though a new deal for a player like Dozier would certainly be a surprise at this point in his career, his defensive flexibility makes him a reasonable risk since he will remain worthy of a roster spot even if he loses a starting role. (Dozier played 83 games at shortstop in 2012.) And (as MLBTR's Steve Adams noted to me), Dozier's early propensity for counting stats could provide some impetus for a deal, since he may draw a relatively sizeable arbitration salary when he qualifies. Indeed, as Braves senior advisor John Hart recently noted, less-prominent players could increasingly be targeted by teams looking for new ways to derive value.
it is fascinating that Andruw makes more over in NPB than he could make over here. the NBA and NHL deal with this, with role player types going elsewhere.. perhaps Andruw (and Youkilis) may start a trend of sorts and make MLB do some uncomfortable soul-searching.
“It kind of says it all,” he said, “when you have just signed a
$38-million contract [four years] and they pinch-hit for you in the
fourth game.”
Is Figgins saying that’s the reason he tanked in Seattle? They destroyed his confidence in the 4th game and he couldn’t recover? I don’t get it the point he’s trying to make.
I think he’s using it as an anecdotal thing to say that he felt the Mariners never really had confidence in him.
Doesn’t make a lick of sense, but I think that’s what he’s getting at.
It seems like they were right, if that’s all it took for him to fall apart. I thought they were professionals?
What is the all time highest yearly paid value ever given to a player in japan? And his name too
About $7.5m.
His name was Tony Bautista.
The Twins would be silly to even entertain the idea of giving Dozier a major payday. He has less than two years of service time, and the first one was a mess. I actually REALLY like Dozier, and as a borderline-Gold Glove-caliber 2B, I think he might be best suited back at shortstop, his original position, now that his defensive ‘kinks’ appear to be worked out. However, he needs to have more than one good season before “extension” becomes part of his vocabulary. It’s not like it’s Mike Trout we’re talking about here.
Agreed. He’s a nice complementary piece but they can move him if he gets too expensive (they have Rosario and Polanco behind him). No need to lock up money there if they don’t need to.
It’s because of Rosario’s impending, albeit delayed (smh) arrival that I want to see Dozier at SS.
There was talk this offseason that Rosario was going to see more time in the OF again. Now we’ve heard rumors of him possibly not sticking before but I think the Twins even confirmed that he would spend more time in the OF.
I wish I could remember who all said it though. It was before he tested positive and was suspended and I read it on twitter originally. It sounded like it wasn’t going to be a complete give up of 2B, but I remember reading it. After some quick searches I can’t find it.
Either way, Rosario or not, too early to extend Doz.
I didn’t know about the Twins intending to use Rosario in the OF. That’ll be quite a logjam out there shortly!
Extension is a fine word, and I’d even like to give one to Brian. Of course, I may not be thinking about the same numbers his agent’s been tossing around. He’s totally useful, could easily be moved if the need arose, and seems like a stand-up guy, and I’d sign him for enough money to give him some security. But there’s no way I’d pay him enough to block a good player. Does $700k make him feel loved? He’s not all that different from Florimon and Escobar and all three are making $495k this year. He can have a million if he hits 18 hr again.
Agreed. He’ll get plenty rich through arbitration…if he earns it.
I think Dozier is a solid guy to give an extension to, but there is no way it would be a major payday. I would give him a small bump in the next two years, guarantee a couple of his arb years and get options on his last arb year and first 2 FA years. Something like 4/$6 with options of 4.5, 6.5 and 7.5 with 250k buyouts. It’s a similar extension in total money to what Altuve signed with the Astros. Dozier has been better, but Altuve has age on his side, so I see this as fair for both sides.
If you can get an extension fairly cheap than I would be okay with it but I would rather see the Twins wait to see if he can prove he can make more contact even if it drives up his price a bit. I don’t see the immediate need to get into extension talks with many years of control already with Dozier and Rosario and Polanco in the minors should he falter.
I don’t think his defensive kinks have been worked out necessarily. There was talk for at least two years while in the minors that he was highly unlikely to stick at SS. I think it had to do with his range, but it was discussed for several years before he even made it to MLB. It seems to be discussed for all or most of the SS’s they’ve had in the system for the last few years.
I think he’s just finally playing the position he should be playing and last year he played it very well. While Florimon can’t hit, he’s a top 10 defensive SS in MLB and Dozier wouldn’t be anywhere near that if he switched back. Who plays 2nd if Dozier moves? To me, all that does is make your infield defense weaker…possibly significantly weaker.
I agree that it’s too early for an extension though. We have no idea if the guy from about May on is the guy he’ll be for the next 4-6 years. I’d wait at least a year, maybe two, but I understand why he’s making these comments. If you like a place and you want to stay for long term, you make it known. For the Twins, it would be a “too soon” kind of thing. They have control of him for another 5 or 6 years. No point.
Abe has good numbers. Wonder why he never went to the States.
Tough switch for a Catcher. Just ask Kenji. I think 1 finger means Shutto over there.
They should find a way to televise the games in Japan in the states, or stream them like milb. com