"A guy with a year of major league experience should get at least $500,000," said Hiatt, who turned a 42 HR, 119 RBI season for the Toledo Mud Hens and a September call-up with the Detroit Tigers into a 1996 contract with the Hanshin Tigers.
The cash is so good that a low-entry player in the majors may elect to try his luck in the land of the rising sun instead.
After eight minor league seasons, Jamie Brown made his major league debut in 2004. He pitched in four games for the world champion Red Sox. The team liked Brown enough to offer him a contract for 2005. The right-hander decided to sign with the Hanshin Tigers instead.
"I'm 28, and with the pitchers on the Red Sox roster, I decided to take care of my family," he said. "Hanshin offered me $506,000 guaranteed plus pretty good incentives."
Mutiny Because of the Bounty
Japanese baseball benefits from the contract bloat of MLB. Underperforming players with high dollar contracts rarely, if ever, see themselves sent down to the minors. So players who have all the makings of a major leaguer, who would have been given a shot in the less lofty salary system of old, may find themselves "stuck" at the Triple-A level for years, playing for a club that has them in reserve for injury call-ups, but leaves little or no opportunity for them to advance.
Most return, either to better opportunities, or the same rut that they left. A few wrap up their careers as stars in Japan. What is most interesting, is how many players would love to play in Japan, or go back after an injury.
Hiatt says that players constantly ask him how to play in Japan.
"I'd go back in a heartbeat," Doster declared. "I have been trying to go back over to Japan since I came home. "
