The Yankees announced that they could not reach an agreement with Japanese infielder Hiroyuki Nakajima after they won the posting for him last month with a $2 million bid.
The two sides actually had 30 days to reach a deal, its only been 29 days, but he would also have to pass a physical by 5 p.m. tomorrow which he won’t be able to do as he is still in Japan.
The Yankees get their $2 million posting fee back and Nakajima heads back to Japan. He’ll probably try to join the MLB next year when he has enough service time to be a full fledged free agent and can sign with any team.
“We unfortunately could not come to an agreement with Hiroyuki,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said in a statement. “We wish him the best of luck during the upcoming 2012 season.”
It seems like the Yankees almost won the bidding by accident as their $2 million bid would have been the lowest of its kind for similar Japanese infielders in past years. They took a hard line with him in negotiations too, only offering him a one-year deal, according to Jack Curry of the YES Network.
The Yankees will now turn their attention toward Eric Chavez to fill a bench roll, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Although Heyman reports that the Nationals, Rays, and Padres are interested in the oft-injured infielder as well.
