Angels in “serious discussions” with Hideki Matsui
December 14, 2009, 2:38 pm by iYankees · 26 Comments
According to Jayson Stark of ESPN, the Angels are in “serious discussions” with free agent and former Yankee, Hideki Matsui. If the Angels sign Matsui, he will ultimately assume the role once had by Vladimir Guerrero as the team’s designated hitter (Guerrero is currently a free agent, as well). A week ago, Mike DiGiovanni noted that Angels GM Tony Reagins expressed an interest in Matsui, although Ken Davidoff recently reported that the Yankees and Matsui were likely to reunite later this winter, which doesn’t appear to be the case anymore (if Starks’ report is accurate).
With Boston close to signing John Lackey, Godzilla to the Angels would be a double whammy for Yankee fans.
UPDATE (2:42 pm) — Buster Olney tweets that the Angels’ deal for Matsui would be about $6.5M. What, the Yankees can’t afford that? That seems like a bargain to me. Sure, Brian Cashman has stated that finding a DH is one of his last priorities, but still, they would be losing one of their best hitters and clubhouse personalities for a measly $6.5M.
UPDATE (3:16 pm) — Joel Sherman says that the Yankees told Hideki Matsui that they couldn’t do anything until they exhausted their “SP/Damon issues, but Matsui wanted a quicker resolution” (hence the Angels). Ah, so in a way, Johnny Damon and Scott Boras’ stubbornness might cost us Hideki Matsui. Nice.
DONE DEAL (6:15 pm) – Marc Carig reports that the Angels and Matsui have agreed to a deal. No word yet on the contract’s details.
Photo by Reuters
