Comments on: Tsuyoshi Nishioka asks to be released, gives Twins a $3.25 million refund

By: Randy Henke

Randy Henke — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 13:32:05 +0000

In case you havent heard. I liked Neshek when he pitched for the Twins and wish him well. Our thoughts and prayers for his family in this tough time.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/oakland-as-pat-neshek-newborn-son-dead-100312

By: Steve J

Steve J — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 11:04:37 +0000

George:

Steve J – “Mutual consent”? Does anybody really think his agent called Mr. Ryan and offered to walk out on the contract? His agent asked that Nishioka be released, and the Twins said no, he has to stay if he wants to get paid. The team forced him to walk.

You have to first understand what ‘consent’ is, which by the argument you give, indicates that you don’t. Quite simply, the Twins could not have possibly voided this contract withouth Nishioka’s consent. period.

It doesn’t matter that they didn’t offer to pay, and why would they? There is little infield depth in the system at the AA/AAA level and Nishioka was blocking no one of consequence. Had the twins released him with his salary, they still would have had to spend about $50,000 to find a crummy middle infielder to replace him on the organizational charts.

By: Blasko

Blasko — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 05:01:53 +0000

I can’t imagine a more fitting glass-is-half-full epitaph for these two miserable seasons: “at least it was a $12 million mistake instead of a $15 million mistake.” Twins baseball is truly dead.

By: thegeneral13

thegeneral13 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 08:42:59 +0000

Brian’s post (4 above mine) is spot on. Nishioka can’t be under contract with the Twins while playing for another team. Ergo, if he wants to play back in Japan instead of in the minor leagues in the U.S., his contract with the Twins must be voided. If his contract is canceled, there is no obligation to pay him. Beyond that, there’s not even a mechanism to pay him if one was feeling charitable. Logistically, they’d need to give him a new contract as a paid consultant or something to even have him on the payroll and issue him a check. It’s not like these guys get paid in sacks of money with dollar signs on them.

By: Pedro Munoz

Pedro Munoz — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 04:49:30 +0000

“Does anybody really think his agent called Mr. Ryan and offered to walk out on the contract?”

Yes. I think that is exactly what happened. It is pretty rare, because most players who wash out of the majors with years left on contracts (i.e. Nick Blackburn) don’t have the options that Nishioka and other Japanese players have. Nishioka – like other Japanese wash-outs before him – apparently decided that going home and playing in the majors in Japan – and getting paid well to do it – was a better option than taking his Twins salary and playing in the minors here. Were the Twins hoping he would make that choice? Sure. But they could not make him do it, and his demotion to the minors was the result of his miserable play. It was a bad situation, and it was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction by mutual consent.

The idea that the Twins have done something wrong by not releasing Nishioka and paying him anyway is absurd. Nishioka isn’t the victim here – the Twins paid him $6M and paid the transfer fee, and got absolutely nothing for it. No one with any clue whatsoever about baseball contracts is going to think less of the Twins for this.

By: ML

ML — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 04:41:43 +0000

The really weird thing is that you actually believe that.

By: Crazy Tom in Rochester

Crazy Tom in Rochester — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 23:26:01 +0000

The weird thing in all of this is that Nishioka played a good second base all year for the Red Wings.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 22:15:41 +0000

Everyone understands what you are saying, that is not the problem. So you can stop repeating yourself.

The problem is your logic is extremely flawed.

The Twins are not refusing to pay him. He is refusing to play in the Twins organization. Nishi could have come back in 2013 and been paid $3 million to start in the minors and attempt to prove the last two years were a fluke. He decided he would be better off in Japan.

What kind of message does that send if the Twins paid him anyways? Feel free not to do your job and then quit, the Twins will pay you anyways?

Yeah, that would be respectful to the fans and citizens of Minnesota who forked over millions of dollars for a new stadium. Give me a frickn break.

Not to mention, this exact same situation occurred with Kenji Johjima and the Mariners as Aaron pointed out.

By: George Rownd

George Rownd — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 19:07:46 +0000

Dave T – I’m not the arbiter of anything – the Twins constantly feed us fans this crap about “respecting the game” and “doing things the right way” – when they have a chance to prove it, they crap out. And why – so Terry Ryan can be a hero to his boss (“I saved you $3 million”…)
And what good does it do for the team to have Nishioka in the minors – to teach him a lesson? He’d just be taking the spot of a prospect.
And other players (and their agents) will take note of the Twins behavior in getting rid of him – it was the Twins who wanted to dump him (a good idea) and they shoulda paid him, that’s all I’m saying…

By: Dave T

Dave T — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 18:10:33 +0000

Oh puhleez. Who died and made you arbiter of corporate honor. I agree with everyone else — if Nishi wanted the money, he had to ride the AA bus like everyone else.