The absence of Daisuke Matsuzaka is clearly being felt not only in the field but also in the wallet.
The average annual salary of Japanese baseball players in the domestic leagues this year decreased 5.3 percent from last year to 35.53 million yen, according to survey results released Monday by the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association.
The association's survey, which covered 744 Japanese players from the 12 clubs in the Central and Pacific leagues, has found that the average salary has dropped 1.98 million yen. It marked only the second year-on-year fall and steepest decline ever since the first survey of its kind began in 1980.
The salary fall this time is apparently attributed to the switches to the major leagues by high-profile players like Matsuzaka, who was acquired by the Boston Red Sox from the Seibu Lions with a
$103 million investment, and former Hanshin Tigers ace Kei Igawa, who signed with the New York Yankees.
Sharp salary falls for highly paid aging veterans also affected the results, including the case of 44-year-old pitcher Kimiyasu Kudo, who moved from the Yomiuri Giants to the Yokohama BayStars after accepting a salary drop of an estimated 200 million yen.
The defending Central League champion Chunichi Dragons topped all 12 teams at 105.48 million yen. The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks came in second with 97.17 million yen, followed by the Hanshin Tigers with 91.56 million yen.
The Yomiuri Giants, who appeared on top of the list for 12 consecutive years through 2006, slipped to fourth with 83.53 million yen, their first below 100 million yen in seven years.