| Tsuyoshi Nishioka: The 14 Million Dollar Bust |
| By Sally Haase August 12, 2012 After the Minnesota Twins traded Danny Valencia to the Boston Red Sox last week, they had an open roster spot and the need for another infielder and the Twins called up Tsuyoshi Nishioka, likely the highest paid player in the Twins minor league system. Over the winter before the 2011 season, the Twins won the silent auction for the rights to negotiate with Nishioka, there is five million already invested. They agreed to a nine million, three year contract with an option for a fourth year. 14 million dollars invested in a player who broke his leg in the first week of the 2011 season and has finally seen some major league pitching in August for this season. Since his return to the Twins, Nishioka is 0-12 with three errors, prompting Twins color analysis Bert Blyleven to go on a rant during Wednesday afternoon’s loss to the Cleveland Indians. Blyleven said that Nishioka is overmatched against the big league players. Blyleven took some heat for his comments, but he is right on with his assessment of the infielder who was brought in with so much fanfare you would have thought the Twins had lured Derek Jeter away from the New York Yankees. Well, the Twins THOUGHT they were getting the Derek Jeter of Japan, if you look at Nishioka’s numbers in Japan you can see why the Twins wanted to get their hands on him. In his Japanese baseball career Nishioka is a two time Japan series champion (2005 & 10), a five time all star, a three time gold glove winner, a two time stolen base champion, and the 2010 batting champion. If he would have been half as good as his Japan numbers were the Twins would have had a solid infielder that they could count on to get on base and play the infield with a high fielding percentage. Instead they got a confused infielder who cannot adjust to the American way of baseball. The broken leg slowed Nishioka’s progress considerably, by the time he was off the disabled list and back in the lineup he was already two to three months behind everyone and it was like he started over in a second spring training. Nishioka was never comfortable at shortstop so Ron Gardenhire moved him to second base where there was only a slight improvement. He rarely got on base, and when he did, he never showed off his speed with a stolen base attempt. When Spring Training started for the 2012 season Nishioka was not guaranteed a roster spot, he had to earn it through his play. He did not earn it and was sent to the minors where he will be back once Trevor Plouffe’s bruised thumb heals. It’s a sad situation for all involved, the Twins could have taken that 14 million and used it to pick up a pitcher or two and the struggles of Nishioka would be another team’s problem but the Twins are stuck with him for another season where Nishioka will either be the highest paid player in the minors or something will finally click and the Nishioka that Japan knows will finally arrive. |
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