The Tsuyoshi Nishioka sweepstakes results are in, and it looks like the Minnesota Twins won the right to negotiate with him for a reported $5.3 million. Nishioka will now negotiate a contract exclusively with the Twins, with the other option being—as Hisashi Iwakuma and the Oakland Athletics seem intent on demonstrating—each side taking its ball and going home.
↵Nishioka is a concern for a lot of reasons, as discussed earlier, but $5.3 million isn't bad, depending on the subsequent contract; he could yet be more affordable than, say, Juan Uribe. There's no way of guessing just how good Nishioka would be; most comparable infielders were power hiters before becoming slap hitters in Japan, but he's a slap hitter already. That could work out well for him—power doesn't seem to transfer well to the states—or it could mean he's even more overwhelmed by the transition.
↵But for $5.3 million I hope the St. Louis Cardinals at least put in a bid. Hey, that's only twice what they inexplicably decided to devote to Skip Schumaker a year in advance.
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