By JOHN DELCOS
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

NEW YORK - The expected has become reality and the New York Yankees, the team that vowed to cut payroll, have another expensive toy: Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui, who is projected to add to their power numbers and bottom line.

Matsui, a three-time Central League Most Valuable Player, agreed to a three-year, $21-million contract to play one of the outfield corners, but Yankees owner George Steinbrenner figures to make up for the additional revenue he'll pay in luxury tax in his marketing to the Japanese community in New York and on his YES Network.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who hammered out the agreement with Matsui's agent, Arn Tellem, suggested the slugger's earning potential Thursday.

"The Yankees are very fortunate to come to an understanding with one of the world's premier players," Cashman said. "This demonstrates our organization's commitment to identify and secure talent on a global scale."

The Yankees made late contact with Boston free agent Cliff Floyd, but it was for show as a bargaining chip as nobody really expected the Yankees to not land Matsui. Even the marketers were sure; at the trade show during the winter meetings, one of the novelty items displayed was a Matsui bobblehead doll - as a Yankee.

"There's a brand new world out there and the Yankees will get their cut," Rick Burton, executive director of the Warsaw Marketing Center at the University of Oregon - which studies sports marketing - told the Journal News in mid-November.

"There is a tremendous potential upside to signing a player like (Matsui)."

The 28-year-old Matsui is expected to travel to the United States this weekend and a Yankee Stadium announcement, after he passes a physical, could be made before Christmas.

Matsui will make $6 million in 2003, $7 million in 2004 and $8 million in 2005, which doesn't help the Yankees' effort to trim their $135-million payroll, especially outfielders Raul Mondesi ($7 million next year) and Rondell White ($5 million).

They ideally want to deal Mondesi and play Matsui in right, but if they can't, he could play left field, which means less playing time for Juan Rivera.

The Yankees discussed dealing Rivera to Montreal, along with Orlando Hernandez and Nick Johnson, for either Bartolo Colon or Javier Vazquez, but those talks are at an impasse with the Expos' insistence of additional cash. Subsequently, the Yankees are expected to re-sign Roger Clemens, with the two sides negotiating within an $8-million to $10-million window, narrowed from the original $12-million and $5-million positions.

If not Clemens, a fallback option has emerged in 31-year-old Cuban defector Jose Contreras, who was declared a free agent by Major League Baseball Wednesday.

Matsui, nicknamed "Godzilla," is a .304 lifetime hitter with 332 homers and 889 RBI, including batting .334 with 50 homers and 107 RBI last season for the Yomiuri Giants.

There's speculation Matsui, a power hitter, might have a harder transition to make to American baseball than Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki, a contact hitter, but one American League scout believes after the butterflies he should be fine.

"He's a good player," the scout said. "Let me ask you this: Would the Yankees give him that kind of money if they didn't think he could play?"

Matsui played 10 seasons for the Giants - the Japanese equivalent of the Yankees - but rejected a five-year offer last December and instead signed a one-year, $5 million contract, which all but assured he'd become a free agent.

After that, he was immediately linked to the Yankees, although the New York Mets, Boston, Baltimore and Los Angeles expressed interest. However, everything always pointed to the Yankees, beginning with assistant general manager Jean Afterman's scouting trip to Japan in the summer, and continuing with letting Bernie Williams and Jason Giambi participate in the annual All-Star tour after the World Series, something Steinbrenner's players have rarely done.

Afterman laid groundwork for the Yankees' working relationship with the Giants, which was formalized shortly after the tour. The signs couldn't have been clearer had they been in neon when Matsui signed with Tellem of SFX Sports Group, who also represents Giambi and Mike Mussina.