| Twins Release Nishioka |
| By Sally Haase Sept. 29, 2012 The 14 million dollar experiment/nightmare is over for the Minnesota Twins and Tsuyoshi Nishioka. The Twins gave Nishioka his release Friday night one year before his contract was up. It was two years of confusing baseball by Nishioka that left manager Ron Gardenhire and the Twins front office scratching their heads and wondering why this player, who was one of the best in his native Japan could not duplicate his success with American baseball. Nishioka was introduced to Minnesota with a lot of fanfare, like he was the final missing piece of the Twins quest of a third World Series title. Then he breaks his leg the first week of the season and misses several months. When Nishioka returned to the line up, it was like a second spring training and he had to readjust to the American style of play and he just could not pick it up. It didn’t matter where Gardenhire would put him in the infield; Nishioka just looked awkward and uncomfortable. He spent very little time with the Twins this season, up from AAA long enough to commit two errors and bat 0-12 in three games and Nishioka did not even warrant a September call up; for a team that is just trying to stay out of the American League Central cellar, the writing was on the wall for Nishioka. To Nishioka’s credit, he did not want to spend a third season as the Twins highest paid minor league player and asked the Twins for his release. By asking for his release, the Twins save nearly three million dollars on the contract, including the $250,000 buyout for next season. Nishioka was still paid 6 million dollars for two seasons, an amount that Twins fans will tell you was too much for as underwhelming as he was. Former Twins owner Calvin Griffith, who was known to dock the pay of underperforming players would have been proud of Nishioka’s refusal of the money. In a statement released Friday Nishioka blamed only himself for his poor play and thanked the Twins for giving him the chance to play major league baseball. Nishioka is free to sign with any team but it is very likely he will return to Japan to play in his comfort zone. |
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