December 15, 2006
Lower Salary
The earlier article I read on Iwamura had him making between 7 and 8 million a year for three years. It turns out, he's earning that over the life of the contract:
Infielder Akinori Iwamura became the second Japanese star to land in the major leagues in as many days when he agreed Friday to a $7.7 million, three-year contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
With one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, the last-place Devil Rays lack the financial resources to compete for top-tier free agents. They feel they made a significant acquisition, however, in the 27-year-old Iwamura.
That's a very good deal for the Devil Rays.
"Japs"? Did a time vortex suck us back to 1941?
Doug, I'm sure that was just an innocent mistake on Dan's part. But wow...suddenly we're gonna have a number of Japanese players in the AL east this time, eh? I think the reliever the D-Rays signed last year, Morii, the guy who was out the whole year with a torn labrum or something, he should be back too.