There's a restaurant in Manhattan's garment district that's practically a gustatory shrine to one of my baseball clients, Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees. The walls of Go! Go! Curry are
festooned with Matsui autographs, caricatures, photographs and newspaper headlines trumpeting his last name, 松井. Matsui is held in totemic esteem at this Japanese curry house, so much so that the joint's very name derives from his jersey number. "Go" is five in Japanese and 55 is what Matsui wears on his pinstriped back. The restaurant even offers 55-cent discount coupons on days after he hits a home run. For those of you without a scorecard, Godzilla hit 28 homers during the regular season, and four more in the post-season.
Despite not starting a single game at Citizens Bank Park, a National League stadium at which the designated hitter is not allowed, Matsui slammed three World Series homers and a record-tying eight RBIs. In the second inning of Game 6 at Yankee Stadium, his two-run shot off Philadelphia's Pedro Martinez put the Yanks ahead for good. The ball clanged off an advertisement on the facing of the second deck in right field -- appropriately, a sign for Komatsu, a Japanese company that makes mining and construction equipment.
No hitter had ever done more damage in the Fall Classic in such a limited role. Matsui posted the third-highest average for a player with at least 10 at-bats in the Series, and the second-highest slugging percentage to Lou Gehrig. After Godzilla's thunderous footfalls helped level Philly, hundreds of Yankees fans converged on Go! Go! Curry to pay tribute to the first Japanese-born Series MVP. The Neagari native who became everybody's all-American accomplished all this in New York, the melting pot where immigrants come to pursue a better life. By embracing Matsui, New Yorkers have once again shown that though ball clubs are named for cities and states, they transcend geography. Teams may not be where we find our heroes today, but, as Matsui has demonstrated, it's where we find heroic situations we can all dream of, argue about or simply watch together in amazement. That's the game's unifying force.
Matsui filed for free-agency on Monday, and sportswriters have speculated that he doesn't figure into the Yanks' future plans. A 35-year-old DH, they argue, doesn't make sense for such a veteran team.
As his agent, I take a different view. The ageless Matsui has shown not just that he can still hit, but that he can hit with consistency and aplomb. During the regular season, he ranked second among DHs in homers, and third in slugging percentage, on-base percentage and walks. No left-handed hitter homered more off southpaws. Matsui combines the late-inning heroics of Yankees great Tommy (Old Reliable) Henrich and the superb professionalism of Paul O'Neill. He's a complete player who always has taken pride in contributing to all facets of the game.
Matsui's immense popularity in Japan gives the Yanks strong financial incentive to re-sign him. He helps bring in millions of dollars annually in marketing and sponsorship revenue. In the seven years since he joined the Bronx Bombers, Matsui has played a pivotal role in establishing the Yankees as a global brand. Six major Japanese companies -- including Toyota, Sony and the Daily Yomiuri newspaper -- have signed on as advertisers, each reportedly adding $1 million or so a year to team coffers. Most of these firms have placed their billboards in right field, often the final resting ground of Godzilla's monstrous clouts, to target the audience of NHK, the Japanese radio and television network. Currently, NHK airs 120 Yankee games a season.
It's not a stretch to say Matsui is as responsible for Japanese interest in the Yankees as Yao Ming is for the NBA in China. Matsui has yet another virtue that goes beyond mere statistics. In an age when athletes mock our reverence daily, he's exemplary in every aspect of his life. In January of 2003, his very first request upon landing in New York was to be taken to the Twin Towers memorial to pay his respects. He did this without publicity or fanfare. He did it because, he said, it was "the right thing to do." After the tsunami hit Indonesia at the end of 2005, Matsui, out his own sense of decency, donated $500,000 to UNICEF. He's one of those rare superstars who recognize the unique role his astonishing talent has given him and the good he can do for others.
Matsui loves New York. He says the last seven years in the Bronx will always have "a special place" in his heart. Fans of Japanese curry take note: Wherever Godzilla winds up, he'll be spawning 55-cent coupons for years to come.
I hope Hideki can stick around and have a nice next five years or so. But considering that the Yankees are still an old ballclub in their core players (Posada, A-Rod, Damon, Jeter, Rivera) and Nick Swisher was mostly awful at the plate, I don't really see how they benefit from keeping another oldster when they can just go out and buy a younger player who can both play some outfield and be an asset at the plate or give a youngster down on the farm a chance to develop further on the big league level and for a heck of a lot less money to boot.
Matsui is a 1 tool player, Yes he is a superb hitting specialist perhaps the best but the price of keeping him in a very limited roll along with Damen.
His limited mobility is issue. If he wants to remain a Yankee, continue to be part of a great team with fans that like him, his contract demands have to fit. I don't know what other American League team will pay out big money for a multi year contract, that remains to be seen. He can always go back to Japan.
So, money must not be the issue but if Yanks still tries to cut Matsui's salary, it means Yanks will hire more expensive player and use him more often than Matsui.
Frequency of broadcasting and commercial plate in ball park, etc of Matsui's team will increase next year by his MVP but if his appearance in lineup decreases, those will decrease.
Therefore, he has to show up in lineup every day though Roy White suggested that Matsui should stick to pinstripe to retire as a Yankee.
Yankee brand was not big enough in Japan. Moreover, baseball itself is not so globally popular as soccer either.
Anyway, Matsui had better go if Yanks confine him in DH role.
natural bee pollen granules/pellets (High Desert Bee Pollen in Arizona) or NZ natural bee pollen capsules by X-tend Life and NZ Green Lipped Mussel Powder capsules. I have seen some athletes and patients who heeled their knees disorders by those perfect foods. He should not be a DH!
Arn is not only doing his job but merely stating the obvious -Matsui is the man. Always was. Period.
http://www.i-yankees.com
He is a true Yankee and if not the MAIN reason, he was clearly one of the main reasons the Yankees won their first World Series in 9 years. It is not out of the question that he should have won World Series MVP. Its not like giving the award to Mark Teixeira.
Another point that should be duly noted is that Matsui shows no sign of slowing down when it comes to offensive production. In 450 AB's he hit 28 home runs. The Yankees prize 1st basemen, who is considered an AL MVP candidate (making $20 million this year) hit a league leading 39 HR in 609 AB. If Matsui had 609 AB's, he would have hit 38 HR's.
I am not saying that Matsui is an MVP candidate, but I am making the argument that his World Series production isn't a fluke and can be expected for years to come.
As a loyal Yankee fan I am begging Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenner family to do what's right and, most importantly what's smart --resign Hideki Matsui.