Alex Cabrera

Yes, Cabrera has resigned with Seibu. After his original agent acted in a way that he thought was inappropriate (i.e. tried to milk Seibu for all he could get), Cabrera fired him and brought in another agent.

Cabrera has said that he wants to play in Japan as long as possible, and I think he knows that by driving his price up too fast too early, that he will eventually be released. I don't have it with me, but I think he signed a one year deal for 1-oku yen, and team mate McClain one year for 9,000-man. Both of these can be considered pretty cheap for the amount of home run excitement they provided last season. But by going up slowly, they do have a better chance of playing an additional year - a wise move on Cabrera's part.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read that Cabrera had only signed for 1-oku yen. This had to be the biggest bargain in all of professional sports. After the season he had last year and the leverage he had after MLB teams expressed interest in him, I can't believe Cabrera settled for only 1-oku!
I tried to figure this one out, but I can't. Seibu either played some serious hard-ball, or Cabrera's new agent wussed out and took what he thought was the best offer. Either way I still can believe it.
To put this into perspective, Cecil Fielder signed for $3 million for 2 years with the Detroit Tigers back in 1990 after one season with Hanshin where he produced as much or slightly less than Cabrera did with Seibu last year. That was 12 years ago, for crying out loud!

> I couldn't believe my eyes when I read that Cabrera
> had only signed for 1-oku yen. This had to be the
> biggest bargain in all of professional sports. After
> the season he had last year and the leverage he had
> after MLB teams expressed interest in him, I can't
> believe Cabrera settled for only 1-oku!
> I tried to figure this one out, but I can't. Seibu
> either played some serious hard-ball, or Cabrera's
> new agent wussed out and took what he thought was the
> best offer. Either way I still can believe it.
> To put this into perspective, Cecil Fielder signed
> for $3 million for 2 years with the Detroit Tigers
> back in 1990 after one season with Hanshin where he
> produced as much or slightly less than Cabrera did
> with Seibu last year. That was 12 years ago, for
> crying out loud!

Well, Cabrera said in an interview last year that he intended to never return to the Majors. He was really upset with the way the Diamondbacks treated him. With two hot first base prospects (Cabrera and Durazio), they went and signed Mark Grace. Durazio came up to sit on the bench, and Cabrera was stuck in Triple-A. I think Cabrera likes playing in Japan, he thinks he can be a big star, and it looks like he basically gave Seibu a hometown discount. Certainly he's guaranteed a starting job with Seibu, whereas he probably would have had to win a job at Spring Training in the Majors. Although I wouldn't be surprised if he's also getting some perks, as well. His own hotel room, training schedule, etc. By settling for less money, he could still be able to live like a Major Leaguer...

I read an article a few days ago that said Cabrera was told by the Seibu front office to stop horsing around with his teammates and also with players from other teams since some players took offense to it. First Cabrera is low-balled into oblivion, and now he's told he has to stop horsing around! What's next? Are they going to tell him to stop fooling around with women since that kind of thing gets picked up by the weekly tabloids?!?! BTW, that woman that was caught fooling around with Cabrera last season claimed that she didn't know he was married. Give me a break.

This seems like the rep he likes. Is he coming back to Japan for 2006. Doubt it?

Michael, can you give me Cabrera's salary information in US dollars? Last year he earned around $3,600,000 for the Seibu Lions.