Johjima's Special Out-Clause

[Crazysilver03]

NPB Tracker noted that the Hanshin Tigers could look at bringing Johjima back to Japan, this off-season:

reports in the Japanese media say that he has an escape clause in his contract allowing him to return to Japan. Cot’s knows nothing about this. Hanshin is said to be prepared to offer 500m yen annually (about $5m), so for this to work Joh would have to take a pay cut, and the Mariners would have to not convince him to stay

This is the original website. The part that matters is in the last paragraph:

そこで調査、リストアップしたのが現役メジャーリーガーの城島だった。０７年にメジャー１位となる盗塁阻止率・４６５を記録した強肩に加え、日米通算２５９本塁打の強打。城島はマ軍と２００９年から１１年までの３年総額２４００万ドル（約２１億３６００万円）の契約を結んでいるが、０９年から各シーズン終了後に日本の球団でプレーする意思を示した場合、残りの契約を破棄できる特記条項を含んでいる。移籍先は日本の球団限定で、マ軍以外のメジャー球団への移籍は認められていない。このため、城島の５年ぶりの日本球界復帰に契約上の支障はない。

It is a very interesting out-clause and I wonder if there would be anyway to get confirmation from an American source on the issue.

[BRob51]

That's too bad. I really like Kenji and he seemed to be very promising after his first two years. I hope he stays in America and finds his stroke again.

[Crazysilver03]

That's too bad. I really like Kenji and he seemed to be very promising after his first two years. I hope he stays in America and finds his stroke again.

It is probably best for the Mariners if he decided to leave though.

[Bosibus]

It is probably best for the Mariners if he decided to leave though.

Looks like he decided to leave.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4577197

[nevadaO]

It is probably best for the Mariners if he decided to leave though.

Ya considering that they have a better catcher in Johnson and they'll save something like $15 million over the next 2 years.

[scOtt]

Ya considering that they have a better catcher in Johnson and they'll save something like $15 million over the next 2 years.

Didn't know that. I really only know the O's players. You think that was the reason Johjima opted out?

[nevadaO]

Didn't know that. I really only know the O's players. You think that was the reason Johjima opted out?

I'm sure it was a factor.

[Crazysilver03]

Didn't know that. I really only know the O's players. You think that was the reason Johjima opted out?

Johjima was told he would primarily be a back-up catcher in 2010.

I have respect for players that opt-out of large contracts and little playing time to take a lesser pay (I believe he is losing between $5-8M if he does sign with Hanshin) to play more.