Our good friends over at Twinkie Town have informed us that the Minnesota Twins have won the bidding for the exclusive negotiation rights to superstar Japanese shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka.
↵When baseball players that play in Japan wish to bring their talents to America to play in the major leagues, MLB clubs must give their Japanese team money for the right just to negotiate with the player. The teams that are interested send sealed bids to the Japanese team, and the team with the highest bid receives the negotiating rights. The Twins’ bid for Nishioka was rumored to be in the neighborhood of $5.3 million.
↵Remember, this doesn’t mean that the Twins have signed him. . .it means they have won the right to talk with him about potentially signing a contract with the team. The Twins now have 30 days to work out a contract with Nishioka.
↵Last season for the Chiba Lotte Marines, Nishioka led the Japanese league with a .346 batting average. He was also the league leader in runs scored (121 in 144 games), hits (206), and total bases (287). He also threw in 11 home runs and 59 RBI, as well as 22 stolen bases.
↵Be sure to keep checking out Twinkie Town for the latest on this story.