From a purely baseball stand point, letting Matsui go is a no brainer, as it makes no sense to bring back a 35 year old DH with bad knees.
From a financial and business standpoint, the Yankees will be taking a bit of a risk if they don’t bring “Matty” back.
There are members of the Yankees organization who feel that the team will take a PR hit in the Japanese / Asian markets if they allow Matsui to walk.
Besides being a solid and professional player during his tenure in New York, “Godzilla” has also been a consistent “Cash Cow” for the franchise. His mere presence on the Yankees has meant millions of extra dollars flowing into the Yankee coffers. he brings in so much money from Japan that it’s going to be hard to let him go.”
More on the Matsui Revenue Factor A theme that may become part of the Yankees decision making process is the revenue stream that Hideki Matsui’s creates.
After reading the articles by Russo and Newman it’s going to be awfully hard to walk away from this type of cash cow.
Remember, the New York Yankees didn’t get to their current economic position by ignoring the dollars and cents or, in this case, the yen.
It’s not crazy to think Matsui, even if he doesn’t perform to 2009 levels in the future, may be worth a multiyear investment because of the non baseball economic return.