Johjima to Hanshin
As was already rumored from the moment he opted out, Kenji Johjima is signing with the Hanshin Tigers. It’s reportedly a 4-year deal for $21 million. So that’s more money than he’s giving up by opting out of his contract (more years too, obviously). We can speculate all we want about some quiet backroom payment, but the public stance that the Mariners paid no buyout is consistent with this, which pretty much shows none was needed.
And really, if Kenji was going to be a free agent again, in either the Japanese or American markets, he was probably better off doing it now than in two years when his extension finally ran out, with his body breaking down and performance declining even more precipitously. It’s also an indication of just how impressive his career has been that someone’s still willing to pay him this kind of money. How many catchers can you think of that signed two different multiyear, multimillion-dollar free agent contracts, let alone with a multiyear, multimillion-dollar extension in between? Okay, so he only played one year under the extension, but consider also that coming from Japan, he had to wait nine years for free agency.
For us, the extension was awful and its timing even worse, but we should remember what a bargain his initial contract was. The salary was about the same as his Hanshin contract, and if the terms of his extension had been along the same lines, well it’s still a bad idea to hitch yourself to an aging catcher, but it wouldn’t have been quite as horrible.
Congrats Kenji. Hopefully he’ll have some good streaks of hitting with his new team.
Best of luck, Kenji. Hopefully Hanshin doesn’t fall in love with an inferior backup.
With that much money available, I wonder why he agreed to an extension in the first place.
I’m happy for Kenji. He deserves this.
I’m not happy that Hanshin now has a better catcher than we do.
Is this contract “reasonable” for a veteran catcher in the Japanese league? If it’s wayyy over market, perhaps the Mariners simply transferred some money to Hanshin as a way to make Johjima’s opt out a win-win-win. (Though I have no idea if baseball’s various accounting rules, labor agreements, etc. would allow for that.)
Thanks Kenji! For good years pre-2008, and for leaving the bad contract.
I’m happy for him that he got a good deal back home, and I look forward to seeing what we can do with the $8 million a year.
Honestly, I have no idea of what typical contract values are in Japan. However, marginal players here are sometimes cut loose because the opportunities for them to play in the Japanese leagues are more lucrative. Part of it is because the talent difference can turn them into stars and justify a premium price. This is definitely true for Johjima – in a Japanese context, he’s not just a veteran catcher, he’s something akin to Joe Mauer, if Mauer is still a catcher when he’s 33.
I really doubt there was a payment to Hanshin, though. Whether it would technically be legal or not, it seems outside the spirit of the tenuous arrangements that exist between MLB and NPB. If there was any money transferred outside of existing obligations, you would think it was between Yamauchi and Johjima directly.
Good for Kenji. Everybody wins. (That seems to be the slogan of the Zduriencik era.)
Pudge? IIRC he had two different multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts with Texas (which may have involved extensions, I’m not sure), and then another with Detroit, with a one-year $10M stop in Florida in between.
But of course he’s an extreme outlier on many levels.
Varitek signed two separate, multi-million dollar FA contracts with the Red Sox (and was on another one year deal with them this year) but I don’t think he got an extension in between. Posada likewise.
But yeah, that’s some pretty elite company. Most catchers, no matter how good, don’t last long enough to get to that second big deal. I wonder if Wieters will pull it off.
Quick Quiz: the Phillies are going to the World Series. Who’s their starting catcher?
Carlos Ruiz! I think.
A happy ending for all. I hope Kenji’s years in Hanshin are excellent ones. A classy guy.
An infielder.
“Best of luck, Kenji. Hopefully Hanshin doesn’t fall in love with an inferior backup.”
How do you say “Cather’s ERA” in Japanese?
Doh! Should be: How do you say “Catcher’s ERA†in Japanese?
Hmm, me thinks I’d rather have $16 million in 2 years rather than $21 million over 4 years….time value of money and all. But, I do agree this probably allows him to play for a longer period of time. I tend to believe Joh that this wasn’t neccessarily about the money. I think he just really wants to play, alot, as in being a starter. And he could see that wasn’t going to happen in Seattle.
Are NPB contracts guaranteed like they in MLB?
Best of luck to Kenji with Hanshin. Hopefully, he’s still got a few decent years left in him.
Well, although he sort of came up as one originally, I think it’s safe to say it won’t be Raul. 🙂
You’d be wrong. Even with a discount rate of 10%, Kenji’s new contract has an NPV of over $18 million.
.time value of money and all
Wow! I really botched those tags.
I’d love to have him back to throw out the first ball at some playoff game here one day. He’d get a big cheer.
I see what you’re getting at, but there’s absolutely no way we can put a number on that for someone else. And what are the chances Joh would have gotten a contract at all when he’s 35 and has three years of being a backup catcher in Seattle? Especially if Adam Moore comes on strong, limiting Joh’s playing time even more?
Financially speaking, it is very clear that the NPB route is better. And it seems similarly clear that being the starting catcher in Hanshin is also preferable than being the second- or third-string catcher in Seattle.
Argh. “preferable to“.
I know this stuff, really.
This is off-topic, but [off-topic]
Something like this; æ•æ‰‹ã®é˜²å¾¡çŽ‡ã®å¹³å‡
Does that help?
By the way, starting off a post with “this is off-topic, but” is going to get said post deleted for being, you know, off-topic.
Not as likely as “That stupid unproven rookie catcher is taking playing time away from a proven all-star backstop with World Series credentials!”
And there’s no way Varitek is willing to take an assignment to AAA or a league minimum contract unless he desperately wants to play and 29 other teams wont offer him more.
Very unlikely.