Hideki Matsui wrapped his fingers around his lips, producing a megaphone with his left hand. In a deep voice that required no translation, he bellowed a sound he didn’t hear frequently in seven seasons using the Yankees: “Booooooo!”
Matsui was guessing how the crowd would react at Yankee Stadium following month if the Yankees bestow a championship ring over a visiting player. The Los Angeles Angels, Matsui’s new team, are the very first visitors towards the Bronx this couple of years, having a three-game collection beginning April 13.
“I do not know what it is heading to become like,” Matsui mentioned via his interpreter, Roger Kahlon, right after an Angels practice at Tempe Diablo Stadium on Tuesday. “It’s type of weird, simply because I’ll be putting on a various uniform. Will I be part from the ceremony? I do not know if we’re all supposed to become putting on casual clothes.”
The Yankees have not announced plans for that ring ceremony, but if they recognize Matsui about the area, the fans will undoubtedly salute. He ended his Yankees tenure by winning one of the most Important Player award within the Globe Collection, and he left without having the usual acrimony of free of charge agency.
Believing they had gotten the very best from a player with surgically repaired knees — and discounting his .615 Globe Collection regular being a tiny sample size — the Yankees showed no desire to bring back the 35-year-old Matsui. He didn’t wait for them and didn’t complain. He took a one-year, $6 million deal in the Angels on Dec. 14, and also the Yankees produced no effort to stop him.
“I produced my choice to sign using the Angels prior to receiving any provide in the Yankees,” Matsui mentioned. “Had I waited, I do not know. They may have produced an provide, they might not have. That part’s not really obvious. But that was the scenario.”
Right after signing Matsui, the Angels also hired Kahlon and Isao Hirooka, who was the Yankees’ coordinator of Japanese media relations. Numerous reporters who covered Matsui using the Yankees have also relocated. About 50 Japanese reporters are pursuing the Angels this spring, in comparison with 3 every day beat writers from American information organizations.
The Angels won the World Series in 2002, but they aren’t utilized to such a singular focus over a player. The final time it happened, in 1982, it absolutely was an additional free-agent designated hitter in the Yankees.
“We haven’t had a player of that magnitude, with that kind of media pursuing, because Reggie Jackson,” mentioned Tony Reagins, the Angels’ general manager. “It’s an adjustment for us and for our clubhouse, but it is not heading to become a distraction.”
For Reagins, Matsui was an appealing alternative towards the incumbent designated hitter, Vladimir Guerrero, who played in only 100 games final couple of years simply because of injuries. With Guerrero seeking a two-year contract, the Angels produced their provide to Matsui, giving him 1 day to choose. Matsui pounced about the provide, and Guerrero, 35, ultimately signed using the Texas Rangers for 1 season and $6.5 million.
Matsui was 1 of two Yankees coming off four-year, $52 million contracts. The thought of the spend cut initially offended the other, Johnny Damon, who took until final week to sign for 1 season and $8 million with Detroit. Matsui took much less but signed previously, accepting his standing within the marketplace.
“At least for me, personally, it does not truly bother me,” Matsui mentioned. “You need to take into consideration what the present marketplace is as well as your worth being a player, how teams assess you. My marketplace cost 4 or five years ago was various simply because my age was various.”
He added: “In my mind, it wasn’t so significantly about cash. It absolutely was a lot more about the scenario, the problems, likely to a winning team, as well as getting the chance to perform each online game, hopefully. After which also — regardless of whether I can do it or not, putting that aside — a minimum of getting a possibility to perform the outfield. That’s what truly drove my choice.”
The Yankees didn’t permit Matsui to perform within the area final couple of years, and resisting the temptation worked well. But Angels Manager Mike Scioscia mentioned he hoped to make use of Matsui within the area twice a week to rest an additional outfielder, like Bobby Abreu.
Matsui has elevated his running this week, taking side-to-side routes on fly balls, and Scioscia mentioned he could tell that Matsui wants to become a full player once more. But the Angels, like the Yankees, will tread cautiously.
“We do not wish to perform him within the outfield and put at danger something he’s likely to do within the batter’s box,” Scioscia mentioned. “He’s available, he’s moving in drills maybe previously than we had anticipated. But he has a methods to go.”
Matsui is already comfy within the clubhouse. He played with Abreu and Juan Rivera about the Yankees and has recognized Torii Hunter because an all-star event in Japan in 2002. Matsui and Hunter have adjoining lockers.
“He’s got a truly great sense of humor,” Hunter mentioned. “It’s unbelievable. I’ve been bringing him up in our meetings at 9:30 each morning. It is like a comedy show. He gets us warmed up, laughing, cracking up, sweating, and we go out about the area happy. He fits correct in. He told me, ‘Man, I really feel comfy here.’ ”
Matsui left indelible memories in New York, in the grand slam in his very first house online game towards the comeback against Boston within the 2003 playoffs, from his gruesome 2006 wrist injury to his World Series triumph. But he has produced a clean break, he mentioned, and whilst he retains his apartment in New York, there’s nothing associated to baseball he will miss.
“Once I produced my choice, it absolutely was obvious,” Matsui mentioned. “I was prepared to move on.”
