Friday, December 17, 2010

Twins Reportedly Reach Agreement With All-Star Nishioka

Tsuyoshi Nishioka
The AP is reporting that the Minnesota Twins have reached a preliminary agreement with Pacific League batting champion Tsuyoshi Nishioka today.  Although details haven't yet been released, the deal is expected to be 3 years for about $10 million.  Nishioka was in the Twin Cities Thursday for a physical, and the deal is expected to be announced tomorrow or Saturday.  Last season, Nishioka lead the Pacific League with a .346 batting average as a switch hitter.  Additionally he had over 200 hits last season, a feat that hadn't been achieved since Ichiro Suzuki hit 210 in 1994.

The Twins are hoping the combination of Nishioka, who can play both shortstop and second base, and Casilla can fill the vacancies made by the departure of Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy this offseason.  Given the subpar performance and time missed due to injury, the new pair certainly has potential to be an improvement from last season.  There is a little cause for concern, however, as not all scouts are sold on Nishioka's talent, fearing he may 'fizzle' out of the league in a matter of years.    

All in all, this seems to be a good deal for the Twins.  They'll bring in an exciting player, with switch hitting abilitiy, and above average defense, while the Hardy trade allowed them to replenish their depleted bullpen.
Posted by at 1:03 AM

2 comments:

  1. UnknownDecember 17, 2010 at 2:14 PM

    Where's the bad in this? I mean even if you don't get much out of him quickly, which is probably not gonna happen, he only cost about $3.5 million a year. That's cheap in today's baseball world. And, even if he "fizzles out" after a few years, what's the big deal? Mauer and Morneau will be old by then anyway, so you'll have to start looking for a new team base by then. So, overall, great pickup for the Twins. Too bad they still won't be able to get past the Rangers or Yankees in the playoffs.

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  2. Tom McKeeDecember 18, 2010 at 1:19 AM

    The bad COULD be that the Twins went ahead and let Hudson go and traded Hardy when they knew they'd sign Nishioka. If he doesn't perform and the other guys go off to have healthy productive years at salaries we would and could have paid them, it would be a big setback to a middle infield that has been being reconstructed for quite some time now.

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