According to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News, free agent designated hitter Hideki Matsui isn't close to signing with any team. While Matsui won't pull a Roy Oswalt right now, he's expected to keep playing the waiting game throughout spring training and see which teams eventually have needs he can fulfill.
Matsui, 37, hit .251/.321/.375 with 12 home runs in 585 plate appearances last season with the Oakland Athletics. Playing in Oakland won't help your statistics, but Matsui did have a pretty good 2010 with the Angels when he hit .274/.361/.459 with 21 homers in 558 plate appearances. Despite getting plate appearances in the mid-500s in each of the past three years, Matsui has this label of being injury prone that he isn't able to shake off.
It's been a rough free agent market for veteran outfielders that can't play the field as well as they used to be able to. Look no further than Johnny Damon, Vladimir Guerrero, or Hideki Matsui.
- Twitter / @BloggingBombers: Spoke with someone that said Hideki Matsui isn't close to signing anywhere. He'll likely wait and see which teams have needs as ST goes on.