All Things Bubba: And it's official

Friday, June 26, 2009

Andy Phillips will be playing in Japan.

Hiroshima acquires former Yankees first baseman Phillips

The Hiroshima Carp have agreed to a one-year, 40 million yen deal with former New York Yankees first baseman Andy Phillips, the club said Friday.

That's about the same as minimum wage in the big leagues - roughly $400,000. A lot more than he'd make with the Charlotte Knights, but less than half of what Aaron Guiel got when he went to Japan. But then, the season's almost half over now.

And if you're wondering how Ralph Malph is doing in the land of the rising sun...he's still playing for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

According to Baseball Reference:

In early 2007, Aaron signed a 1-year, $900,000 (US) contract with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows with a club option for a second year. His curly blond hair and gentle behavior earned him the nickname "Angel" from the team's fans. At the All-Star break, he was leading the Swallows with 18 homers and drawing walks but struggling to make contact. He homered in five straight games in September, tying the Yakult record held by Chuck Manuel and Larry Parrish. Guiel finished with a .245/.381/.493 batting line with 35 homers and 88 walks. He was 9th in the Central League in runs (78), tied Yoshinobu Takahashi and Tyrone Woods for second in homers (one behind leader Shuichi Murata), led in times hit by pitch (23), was second in strikeouts (147, trailing only Woods), was second in walks (also behind Woods) and finished 4th in OBP behind Norichika Aoki, Woods and Takahashi.

He was re-signed for $1.3 million (US) in 2008. Unfortunately, he succumbed to injury part way through the season and was sent down to the Yakult farm team for recovery, having played only 79 of 144 games and with a disappointing 11 homers and .200/.306/.396 batting line.

The Tokyo Yakult Swallows announced (in January 2009) that they have re-signed Aaron for the 2009 season. His remuneration has not been disclosed. He is also on the provisional Canadian roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic. On June 14, Guiel hit a grand slam for the 10th straight hit by Yakult in a 14-10 win over the Orix Buffaloes, tying the NPB record; it would be broken when Yasushi Iihara followed with a double.

Here's a photo of him hitting that grand slam a couple of weeks ago: