It's about time someone took Okajima off of our hands. The Yankees have signed Okajima to a minor-league deal after he spent most of 2011 with the Pawtucket Red Sox.
The Yanks signed Okajima, who turned 36 on Christmas Day, to a minor-league contract Wednesday with an invitation to spring training. As you can by clicking the link, it's been a while since Okajima was an effective big-league reliever; we'll find out if a few months if he can recapture the magic that made him so effective in his first few seasons with the Sox.
This may be, what Scott is calling, New York's retaliation to the Sox scoring on Aceves. The only difference is, Aceves didn't suck in his last 2 seasons with the Yankees. This makes me nothing but happy, because Okajima is finally gone, and the Yankees just got that much worse (assuming they are dumb enough to add him to their roster after spring training). He has nothing left in the tank and he can consider himself lucky that he has another shot to play in the big leagues with a playoff contender. I just wish the Yankees blew more than a minor-league contract on him. If it doesn't work out, Aaron thinks there may be a shot he can land an usher position at the stadium. I would take it if I were him.
