According to Lavelle E. Neal of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Minnesota Twins have agreed to terms with infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who they won the negotiation rights to last month.
Nishioka is, apparently, part of the reason that the Twins felt comfortable trading shortstop J.J. Hardy and infielder Brendan Harris to the Baltimore Orioles earlier this month in exchange for two minor league relief pitchers.
Nishioka is the first player from the Japanese League to sign with the Minnesota Twins, the terms of the deal were not disclosed, but SI.com’s Jon Heyman is reporting that it is a three-year deal. If I were to venture a guess, I would think that the total monetary value of the deal is somewhere between $10 and $12 million. (That’s $10 million on the low end. . .$10 would be awfully, awfully low.)
EDIT: Lavelle E. Neal reports that the Twins have made it official, and my salary guess was even a little on the high side.
Nishioka deal official: Three years, $9 million plus an option for a fourth year. Press conference at 4 p.m. tomorrow. #twins #stribtwins
LaVelle E. Neal III
LaVelleNeal