by Bert Humblecuss, Shin Seiki Post

8/4/2013: Nagoya, Japan – In a surprise move, the Shin Seiki Evas have brought back to town the biggest contract bust in team history: left fielder Eitoku “Mjølnir” Yamada.

Yamada was originally acquired by the Evas after the 2010 season from the Naha Shisa in a deal that sent Alberto Ramón to Naha.  Ramón went on to develop into an above average starter, but Yamada was a different story.  Prior to joining Shin Seiki, he was a very productive player with a good balance of power and speed.  He posted solid OPS+’s of 101,129,126 & 142 from 2007 to 2010, respectively.  He was an All-Star-level player but not a superstar.  Once he set foot on Genesis Park, however, things changed.

In 2011, Yamada became a force of nature.  He improved all facets of his game, from contact to base-running to power.  He racked up a league-leading 88 extra base hits and 55 steals.  His natural gap power seemed perfectly suited to the Evas’ home park and the future could not have looked brighter.

2011 was Yamada’s walk season, his chance to showcase what a force he could be in order to land a big-time contract.  He got exactly that from the Evas.  Inside sources confirmed that the Evas were in negotiations with Yamada for months before they finally got a deal done.  The major stumbling block was getting Yamada the cash he demanded within the season-to-season budget constraints that ownership placed on the front office.

In the end, Yamada signed a two-year, $26.7M contract for 2012-2013 that would pay him an ungodly $16.5M for his services in 2013.  Yamada was ecstatic, the Evas’ were thrilled and the fans could not have been happier.  The sense of satisfaction went so deep that the Evas officially dubbed Yamada “Mjølnir”, after the hammer of the Norse thunder god and comic book superstar, Thor.  Merchandise flowed off the shelves and the Evas looked to be stacked for 2012 title run.

Then Yamada fell apart.  Mjølnir took his nickname the wrong way.  Through a well-documented series of addictions, from booze to women to food, he because an over-indulgent mess.  He was disaster in 2012 for the Evas, posting a pathetic OPS+ of 75 with an anemic 42 extra base hits.  Desperate for reliable production from what was guaranteed to be a $16.5M salary commitment, the Evas dealt him to the Hyakujuu Shinkansen for Tashiaki Tanaka (who has been a model of reliable productivity).  Hyakujuu then immediately dumped Yamada on the Seoul Crushers in exchange for relieving them of the burden of Jon Wood’s massive contract.

Yamada was even worse in Seoul in 2013.  He struggled with injuries and inconsistent playing time on his way to posting a depressing OPS+ of 70.  He was then demoted all the way to the A-level Ranma Pandas.  After seeing the poisonous effect Yamada was having on the Pandas, his continued lack of production and the complete lack of trade interest from the rest of the LRS, the Crushers shocked the world by releasing Mjølnir.  Seoul had decided that it was better to eat his entire $16.5M deal at once rather than have him around at all.  It was a humiliating way to finish out the contract that his getting was the crowning achievement of his career.  He had hit bottom.

Yamada has once been a successful, even dominant player.  It was not long before offers started rolling in from teams with nothing to lose by taking a flier on a guy like him, but Yamada wanted no part of them.  His public relations team released the following statement.  They have turned away all further attempts at contact with the fallen star.

“My name is Eitoku Yamada.  Most of you know me by my family name, Yamada.  Some of you only know me by the vain title I took for myself after 2011, ‘Mjølnir’, but my mother calls me ‘Eitoku’.

I have made more mistakes than I can count the past two years.  I took my own hype seriously.  I thought I was bigger than any team, the game or nature itself.  I was an idiot and I am ashamed of myself and my behavior.

Many of you are likely asking why I would sign with the Evas on a minor league deal when other clubs were offering me significant money.  After all, the Evas have no great need of me and I am unlikely to even make the LRS club.  The answer is simple.  I owe them.

The Evas front office signed me to an amazing deal.  They bent over backwards to meet my absurd demands.  They invested so much in to me and I failed to deliver for them.  Simply put, they signed me through 2013 and I have not lived up to the deal.  I think it would be wrong of me to take even more money in 2013 in a new contract when I did not earn my last one.  So the Evas have me for the rest of 2013 for whatever they need.  If I get to play ball for them, I would be thrilled.  If they need a janitor, I’ll do that too.  I owe them that.

I don’t know what the future will bring, but for the remainder of 2013, I have to make some amends.”

Uncharacteristic words from Yamada.  Either he is a changed man or $16.4M can buy you a good PR staff.  Does he mean it?  What will he do after 2013?  Both are good questions.  Time will tell if Yamada has decided to be a better person, even if he is no longer the player he once was.