By Alex Cohen-Smith
Anyone who watched the latest Yankees-Red Sox series can tell you that Hideki Matsui is still very much a potent power threat in the Yankees lineup. After averaging only 14 homeruns a year for his past three seasons (mostly due to injuries decimating his seasons), the man the Yankee faithful fondly call “Godzilla”, is showing he still has a little something left in the tank.
In the weekend series win over Boston, Matsui had a pair of multi-homer games and in the month of August, he has hit .303 with 24 RBI’s in 18 games. Now in his 7th year in a Yankee uniform, Matsui has 135 career homeruns, not including the 332 he hit over his 9 seasons as a Yomiuri Giant.
Sadly…this will be the last year you see Hideki in a Yankee uniform, so enjoy every last home run.
Don’t blame me. It’s not my fault. I’m just saying it how it is. It is an absolute fact that this will be his final season as a Yankee. Quote me on it. It’s not that the Yankee wouldn’t want him back, or that he wouldn’t want to come back. It’s just not feasible.
Matsui makes $13 million this year and the Yankees are not going to want to pay him that money next season. They also aren’t going to want to put him in their outfield as his knees no longer have the ability to cover enough ground to warrant major league playing time. This is an issue because Matsui thinks he can still play outfield even though the in-depth statistical numbers say otherwise (and so does anyone who saw his 24 games in the outfield last season). The Yankees are going to want to have flexibility in their DH position so they can move in players like Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Damon (if they bring him back). Those players have about 40 years of combined MLB experience and are going occasionally need a day (or 15) off. Plus it’s the Yankees…….you know they’re going to sign someone.
So enjoy Hideki and remember the good times. I was there when he came up for his first at-bat in Yankee Stadium and proceeded to hit a Grand Slam off Joe Mays of the Twins and I hope I’m there for his last home at-bat too. Recently Matsui met with us here at Steiner Sports and signed a number of collage pictures of that grand slam. For those of you who aren’t big memorabilia collectors, Matsui rarely does signings, and this was exceptionally rare because he chose to sign his name in Japanese for the pictures. I personally think this a great item, but feel free to comment and tell me what you think.
steinersports
Eric: Autograph Handler
Bald Vinny
costelloswingsforthefences
Colby Brin
Matsui has been consistently good during his 7 years here. He hits the ball hard, hits lefties well, his on base (.370) and slugging (.484) percentages have been solid, and he is the type of patient hitter the Yankees value. I understand that his lack of defensive capability will make him hard to re-sign, but his bat will definitely be missed.
[...] mean here was a guy who hadn’t started the last 3 games and he ends up winning Series MVP. In an earlier blog I wrote about how I didn’t think Matsui would be back. I stand by that statement. But if this was [...]