Devil Rays in for Iwamura

The Devil Rays submitted a winning bid of about $4.5 million to the Yakult Swallows, well below the $51 million the Boston Red Sox paid to the Seibu Lions this week to negotiate with pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.

The Devil Rays will have 30 days to reach a contract with Iwamura. If a deal cannot be reached the Swallows will return the posting fee and Iwamura will have to wait a year to restart the process.

A five-times all-star and six-times Gold Glove winner, Iwamura helped lead Japan to victory at the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

In eight seasons with the Swallows, the slugging third baseman has hit 188 homers and 570 RBIs.

Iwamura holds the Yakult record for most homers by a Japanese native with 44 and has hit 30 or more home runs in each of the last three seasons.