Oakland Athletics Sign Hideki Matsui

The Oakland A’s finished 11th in the American League in runs scored (663), 13th in HRs (109) and 10th in OPS (.702) in 2010. Despite those pedestrian offensive numbers, the A’s still managed to finish .500 on the season.

Going into the offseason, offense was and still is a top priority. The A’s have been in on a couple of free agents this season, but so far have been spurned by some of the bigger names on the market. It seems like Oakland at times can’t even give away their money.

However, one guy willing to take their dollars is Hideki Matsui. Matsui or “Godzilla” signed a one-year, $4.25 million contract on Tuesday.

Matsui will serve as the A’s primary DH, replacing Jack Cust who signed with the Seattle Mariners last week.

Here is my take on this signing. While $4.25 million is a bargain for Matsui, I have to question if he is really an upgrade over Cust? I am not so sure he is.

Take a look at Cust vs. Matsui last season.

Not only can you see that I used Oakland's color to illustrate my point, Cust is almost better across the board in 2010. The A’s are banking that Cust will not repeat his 2010 season in 2011 and that Matsui is the more reliable option.

As I mentioned above, Matsui is a good signing for $4.25 million, but he’s not a big enough upgrade for the A’s to make a difference in 2011. If they plan on catching up with the Texas Rangers, they are going to need to add some more offense.

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