Fukudome Signs for 3.85-oku

If I understand correctly the increase offered by Chunichi was quite massive (60 million yen if I recall correctly). Fukudome was just being greedy.

Actually, there were two problems that Fukudome wanted worked out.

1. Fukudome's contact last year was for 2.7-oku yen. However, the ball club announced it as 2.55-oku yen last season. (I've updated his player page.) Fukudome wanted this issue cleared up.
2. Fukudome wanted a better balance for evaluating player value. The top three players in terms of pay are Iwase, Kawakami, and Fukudome. However, Fukudome doesn't believe that Iwase is the most valuable player on the team. He's been trying to get the ball club to explain their evaluation system to him, but he's left only with more questions than answers.

I don't think that it's just a matter of greed. Fukudome is doing his job as the player representative in getting answers out of management, but management isn't being very clear. He finally gave up and is looking forward to becoming a free agent in August.

And to answer the burning question, yes, he's considering heading over to MLB.

Source: Nikkan Sports - January 23, 2007 paper edition

Many thanks for that explanation. I have always had the perception that Fukudome is arrogant. He seems to have that kind of aura about him. I am probably doing him a big disservice here, but given the lack of batting on the Dragons - Iwase's role in consistently holding small leads is vital. There was also trouble about salaries the year before.

A correction to my earlier post the team offered him an increase of 110 million (1.1-oku) yen.

Just a minor tweak - the balance thing is that Fukudome is arguing against the front office's stance that if they paid him more than a certain amount it would disrupt the balance of salaries between other players. He says, in effect, our stats aren't balanced, so why should our salaries be?

Thanks for the clarification. It seems as though all of the articles I'd read in Japanese were alluding to some balance being out of whack, but they all seemed to assume that the reader knew what it was. That makes everything make a lot more sense now.

Garland-san's February 22, 2007 Central League Report has more details and commentary on the signing. His translations are usually a lot better than mine. Maybe I should wait for his translations.

- Just a minor tweak - the balance thing is that Fukudome is arguing against the front office's stance that if they paid him more than a certain amount it would disrupt the balance of salaries between other players. He says, in effect, our stats aren't balanced, so why should our salaries be?

As the CL MVP his salary should be compared to not just those of his teammates but the entire league. Salary structure should be linked to the whole market, in Fukudome's case the top players in the league, and then secondarily the team salary structure.

If he does want to go the MLB he would do well, and his starting salary would easily be double his current level.

That's just one of the Drags' completely bogus arguments. Garland-san's report said one of the Dragons' arguments against paying Fukudome more was "that 60% of their income goes to pay players while MLB pays out only about 50% to the guys on the field and its staff." Management probably just throws those numbers out to the players without any figures to back them up. But even if they were to back them up, if all other things (team structure, minor league systems, etc.) are equal, in the Drags' case the comparison shouldn't be with the MLB average, but either with league champions or teams with MVPs and other award winners.

The team is just being cheap. It is looking for ways to justify being cheap even if their justifications are completely bogus, and they have no shame in doing so. I don't think teams should go throwing money around foolishly, or break the bank on a pile of big-name free agents without thinking about what they're doing, but the Dragons won the league and a pile of individual awards - reward the players for their accomplishments.

Good post above. Nagoya has a reputation for being the cheap capital of Japan and perhaps that includes the team management.

Regardless they are a fun team to watch.

What motivates him? Is he going for a big pay-off in the States as a FA? Or does he want to play for a particular team? Does he like the attention or is he a private guy?

He had an absolute monster year by any measure. Then again NPB salaries aren't tied to revenue and he isn't a free agent. The only club run properly financially is Hiroshima, but they get the short end of the stick because they have to compete against all these teams for whom profit isn't a priority (even though the "owners" cry wolf all the time, their financial management is certainly far from it).

Anyways, I don't see why he wouldn't want to see what his fair value is on the MLB market.

Hiroshima run properly? Their region is totally unexploited and the only reason they make a profit is because they are a bunch of cheapskates. Don't let the fact that they end up in the black fool you. Hiroshima are just as clueless as the other 10 clubs.

- The only club run properly financially is Hiroshima.

However, since 1991 Hiroshima has finished above .500 just 3 times. They have haven't made the Nippon Series since 1991, and haven't won one since 1984. It's apparent they might be making a profit, but the majority of that profit isn't being put into the team. What good is a profit, if the Carp aren't seeing any of it and are losing?

Hmm. Interesting. The Carp are barely making a profit (4,000-man in 2004, and similar numbers every year if I remember correctly), but what I didn't realize is that they have 20-oku saved up in cash! That definitely needs to be reinvested, or is that fund going to be used for the new stadium?

[Citizen's Ball Club Charm (Part II) - in Japanese]