Yankee's Re-Sign Matsui

[KCBOOMER]

The Yanks and Hideo Matsui reached agreement on a new 4 year $52M contract. Matsui had just completed a 3 year $22.5M contract (including incentives). This contract will take Matsui through his age 32-35 seasons.

I certainly wouldn't say this is a bad signing as Matsui is a good player, but it does seem like the Yanks overpaid somewhat in a situation where they were pretty much bidding against themselves. Matsui's old contract had a provision that said if the Yanks didn't resign Matsui by the end of day yesterday that he would be a free agent despite being only a player with three full years in the bigs. The Yanks may have felt that with the issues they want to address they didn't need to add the search for a LF to the situation.

Matsui apparently felt that it was important that he get a bigger contract than Ichiro. Ichiro signed last year for 4 years at $44M. The Yanks are thus paying $2M more per year for a player who is not quite as productive as Ichiro offensively and isn't remotely in Ichiro's class as a fielder or a base runner. Both players are entering their age 32 seasons.

[Crash Course]

Angels and Dodgers had a strong interest in Matsui. Plus, I would have to think the Mets would have went after him if he was free. Also, if the Red Sox trade Manny, they need a LFer. There was enough interest in Matsui that they Yankees knew they were not bidding against themselves.

[Jayhawk Bob]

Matsui is good and brings the team some financial advantages in the Japanese market. That said, for any other team this would be a dumb signing. Matsui simply isn't worth $13 million per year for any team on a budget.

But for the Yankees, I think this is a savvy move. As long as they have a resource advantage, it serves them well to overpay players. They are helping set the market their competitors will have to deal with at a level few teams can afford. If Matsui is worth $13 million per year, now the Red Sox will have to pay Johnny Damon more to stay, which lessens the amount they have available to pay Pitcher X, who the Yankees might also want, and so on, and so on.

[Crash Course]

Did the Yankees overpay?

See: http://www.waswatching.com/archives/..._overpaid.html

[KCBOOMER]

Of course they did. Ichiro is better and cheaper. Doesn't mean he's a bad player, in fact Matsui is quite good.

And just because an agent or ESPN flack says another team has interest doesn't mean they do or the player does.

This is the same type of negotiating that got you a $200M payroll and no pitching.

[Crash Course]

He's not that much better or cheaper - according to the facts.

[Jayhawk Bob]

Originally Posted by KCBOOMER

Of course they did...

I agree with Boomer. And there's a couple of problems with your sorting criteria in the post you linked to. First, you say the threshold was 1,500 PA's from 2003 thru 2005, but under RCAA you include Trot Nixon's name. He didn't have 1,500 PA's in that time period (remember, he missed most of 2004 with various injuries). If you include Nixon, Matsui's contract looks really bloated.

2003-2005 TOTALS
AVG: Nixon, .295; Mastui, .297
OBP: Nixon, .378; Matsui, .370
SLG: Nixon, .514; Matsui, .484
OPS: Nixon, .892; Matsui, .854
RCAA/PA: Nixon, .053; Matsui, .047
2006 AGE: Nixon, 32; Matsui, 32
2006 Salary: Nixon, $7.5 million; Matsui, $13 million


Second, you included only left-handed, AL hitters. Expand that out to all corner outfielders, and Matsui is clearly ridiculously overpaid. Vlad Guerrero made $12.5 million in 2005; Lance Berkman made $10.5 million; Pat Burrell made $7.25MM; Adam Dunn made $4.6 million; Carlos Lee made $8 million; Brian Giles made $8 million; Hell, GARY SHEFFIELD made just $11.5 million. I don't think Matsui is better than all of these guys (in fact, I don't know that Matsui is better than ANY of these guys). There's an argument to be made about whether or not Matsui is even the best left fielder in New York, given the last three years Cliff Floyd has produced, yet Matsui now makes twice as much as Floyd's $6.5MM salary from '05. Even granting that he's probably better, is he TWICE as good as Floyd? Of course not.

Again, I want to be clear that I think the Yankees are smart to overpay given their resources. But it's a tough argument to say they didn't overpay him at all.

[RedSeat]

Originally Posted by Jayhawk Bob

2003-2005 TOTALS
AVG: Nixon, .295; Mastui, .297
OBP: Nixon, .378; Matsui, .370
SLG: Nixon, .514; Matsui, .484
OPS: Nixon, .892; Matsui, .854
RCAA/PA: Nixon, .053; Matsui, .047
2006 AGE: Nixon, 32; Matsui, 32
2006 Salary: Nixon, $7.5 million; Matsui, $13 million

I agree with your point overall, but Matsui's durability has some value that should be taken into account.

Over those same 3 years:

Games Played: Nixon, 306; Matsui, 487

[Jayhawk Bob]

Originally Posted by RedSeat

I agree with your point overall, but Matsui's durability has some value that should be taken into account.

Over those same 3 years:

Games Played: Nixon, 306; Matsui, 487

Granted, but at the rate they paid Matsui, that durability would have to make him almost 75% more valuable than Nixon to make their salaries equal.

[Crash Course]

If you really want to see the value between Nixon and Matsui, note that Matsui had an OPS of .972 vs. LHP pitching last year and that Nixon is so piss poor against LHP that he rides the pines, unless the Red Sox have no one else to run out there.

[Jayhawk Bob]

Originally Posted by Crash Course

If you really want to see the value between Nixon and Matsui, note that Matsui had an OPS of .972 vs. LHP pitching last year and that Nixon is so piss poor against LHP that he rides the pines, unless the Red Sox have no one else to run out there.

You can cut it a few other ways to make Matsui look good too, and no one is claiming he isn't. I recognize that his durability and ability to hit lefties makes him more valuable than Nixon. But $5.5 million per year more valuable? I don't see it. Matsui is the same age and has had roughly the same productivity as Nixon on a per-plate-appearance basis: Nixon, .053 RCAA/PA; Matsui, .047 (those are '03-'05 numbers) That includes Nixon's terrible performance against lefties. And I don't think anyone would say, "Gee, a healthy, everyday Trot Nixon is worth $13 million per year."

Or dismiss Nixon if you want, he was just a convenient comparison because he's the same age and on the Yankees' biggest rival. What about all of the others? Matsui had 25 Win Shares last year. Giles had 35, Sheffield 33, Dunn 28, Guerrero 27, Burrell and Floyd each had 26. Matsui now makes more - in most cases significantly more - than ALL of them. That's overpaying.

Again, I don't think that's a bad move. As a percentage of their total $205 million payroll, $13 million is the equivalent of $8 million to Boston. And that's the closest team in payroll - to most teams the gap is even larger. The Yankees recognize that they are playing on a different scale than everyone else, and they're using it to their advantage to price the competition out of a lot of good players. That's good business.