Now the stage is set for another blockbuster off-season deal for the Yomiuri Giants. But Tuffy Rhodes says he is not yet ready to play for another team.
With Japanese baseball abuzz with talk about his future, Rhodes spoke out hours after the Kintetsu Buffaloes said their contract extension talks fell through and he will not come back to the Pacific League club for a ninth season.
"As of today, I'm still a Buffalo. I didn't sign any papers or nothing, and there's plenty of time to come back and get something settled," Rhodes told Kyodo News in a telephone interview from his home in Houston.