On Sunday, we had a player apologized for trying to negotiate a better deal, while another player said he took his team to task for the quality of nutritional support their players receive.
Shimauchi begs forgiveness
Two years ago, Hiroaki Shimauchi signed a four-year deal with the Rakuten Eagles that bumped his reported salary up 20 million yen to 120 million a year for 2021. That year he led the Pacific League in RBIs and received the same amount for 2022, when he led the PL in hits.
After this year’s mandatory negotiation, Shimauchi revealed to the media that he asked the team to reconsider his current contract.
There was more free agent news on Monday, when we also learned that the park that wasn’t built exactly right according to Nippon Professional Baseball may not need to be remodeled after the 2023 season after all because Japan’s application of rules resembles nothing so much as it does a game of telephone.
One comes and one goes
On Friday, SoftBank Hawks ace Kodai Senga reached an agreement on a five-year $75 million deal with the New York Mets, according to MLB.com. The Hawks don’t get a penny because posting is not in their business plan, but like the Mets, a few million dollars here and there isn’t going to cause the too much grief.
