According to Fox’s Ken Rosenthal (via MLB Trade Rumors) the Kansas City Royals are close to inking Chiba Lotte Marines setup man Yabuta Yasuhiko to a two-year deal with a third year option.
If the deal goes through it will be the first Japanese signing of the off-season, as well as the first for Trey Hillman. We shared our thoughts on Yabuta in this post featured on MLB Trade Rumors a week ago. We’ll have a full East Windup Breakdown of Yabuta in the coming weeks.
And speaking of breakdowns, we already broke Hiroshima Carp starter Hiroki Kuroda down. He’s got about half the league (again, including K.C.) tracking him, with the Tigers the latest in a long line to express interest.
Brokedown? Brokeback?
5 responses so far ↓
1 PH // Nov 17, 2007 at 11:21 pm
As a Royals fan…I’m excited. I liked hiring Hillman anyway, but if he brings over a few of these guys I’ll be positively hopeful. Haven’t said that in a while. I like the idea of mixing some of the young talent the team has along with a few older Japanese players.
2 Franklin R. // Nov 18, 2007 at 11:27 am
I would be too. I’m a Pirates fan, and as I watch this I can’t help but wonder why my team didn’t try to take this route. It seems cost effective. I doubt Hillman, Yabuta or Fukumori would cost very much.
Frustrating.
3 John Brooks // Nov 19, 2007 at 8:28 am
The Pirates were mentioned to be interested in Yabuta. Them, the White Sox, Indians, and Rays are all interested in him. I’m starting to wonder if Yabuta really isn’t as close to signing as the FOX Sports article stated. I would think he would want to at least talk with all of the teams and hear what they have to say.
4 A.S. // Nov 19, 2007 at 10:01 am
I think there’s a lot of market setting going on right now. I’ve been watching this David Eckstein thing…saying he wants Julio Lugo money at 2B. Can’t blame a guy for trying….though how crazy would the Mets be to do that?
I still think the Royals will sign Yabuta and maybe overpay a little. I think they hired Hillman to help them go after talent from Japan, and even though the pool is probably not what they’d hoped it might be, I still think they’ll end up with 2 or 3 guys one way or another. It’s a solid plan, and might be enough to get me to renounce my Reds fanship earlier than usual.
5 Joel // Nov 19, 2007 at 11:38 am
I heard the Pirates asked Yabuta if they could pay his salary in rice. I think that’s the only way they can get into this bidding war.
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