The Associated Press

TOKYO - Godzilla knows he's only as strong as his bat. Hideki Matsui has asked his Bat Meister to craft the perfect piece of lumber, allowing the Japanese slugger to succeed in the majors with the New York Yankees.

Shortly after he announced he was leaving Japan, the player fans call Godzilla because of his enormous power knew he'd have to make some changes next season to deal with the faster, trickier pitches in the majors.

"I made 17 bats from Japanese ash, American white ash and maple for him to test," said Isokazu Kubota, the master bat maker for Mizuno Corp. "He'll try them all in batting practice in Japan before making his choice next month."

Matsui, who has used a Japanese ash bat for the past decade, will need them soon enough.

On Thursday, Matsui became the biggest Japanese baseball star to join the major leagues when he reached a preliminary agreement on a $21 million, three-year contract with the Yankees.

So why all the fuss about bats?

Once he decides, Matsui never changes his Mizuno Pro - even during a slump - until the season is over. That was one of the first things Kubota advised Matsui when he was an 18-year-old rookie out of Seiryo High School.

"I told him that he would never know what changes he wanted made unless he used it for at least half the season," Kubota said.

Bats in the majors usually are made of white ash, though recently players such as Barry Bonds have switched to maple, which are harder to break.

Each bat is custom-designed.

In Matsui's case, the 59-year-old Kubota begins with a 1.2-by-2.7-inch wood block that is about 78 inches long. The block, which weighs between 3 and 3 1/2 pounds, is carved by machine, and then painstakingly shaved by hand. A lacquer coating makes it durable.

The 70-plus bats Kubota sends Matsui every season are about 35 inches long and weigh between 31 1/2 and 32 ounces. And the precision is astonishing.

A master craftsman and Mizuno's sole Bat Meister, Kubota can shape a bat to within 0.04-to-0.08 inches of its final specifications by hand with only a manual carpenter's shaver - and without a tape measure. He keeps an old-fashioned metric scale nearby to check the weight.

Kubota has made every bat Matsui has used as a pro, and with his two assistants he carves between 12,000 and 13,000 a year for about 180 ballplayers, including the Seattle Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki, New York Mets slugger Mike Piazza and the Anaheim Angels' Troy Glaus, last season's World Series MVP.

It's an impressive clientele for a man who picked his profession 43 years ago, based on its proximity to his house.

"I was only looking for someplace close enough to commute to. I got this job completely by chance," Kubota said.

Kubota said Matsui's bat for next season has a bigger sweet spot - the part that can launch a ball the farthest. It's also lighter, weighing about 0.35 ounces less than last season's model.

"Over the past 10 years, the sweet spot on Matsui's bat has gradually narrowed from 49.5 millimeters (1.98 inches) in his rookie year to about 44 millimeters (1.76 inches) this past season," Kubota said. "He wanted it back at 47.5 millimeters (1.90 inches) for next season, because major league pitchers can be more deceptive."

Not surprisingly, that's similar to the bat Japan's only triple-crown winner, Hiromitsu Ochiai, used when he played during the 1980s and '90s.

For now, Matsui is cautious about his prospects in the majors.

"The power of home run hitters in the majors is different from those here," Matsui said. "It's probably difficult for me to match that power right now. It remains to be seen how I'll do over there. I'll have to wait until I get there."

Kubota is more confident.

"I'm hoping he'll hit as many home runs in his debut season as he has here - and go all the way to the World Series," he said.

BLUE JAYS: Toronto signed free agent right-hander Tanyon Sturtze to a $1 million contract.

Sturtze, who became a free agent when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays didn't offer him a contract Friday, went 4-18 with a 5.18 ERA in 33 starts last season. He has a career record of 22-33 with a 5.07 ERA in 119 games with the Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox and Devil Rays.

CARDINALS: Rick Ankiel, St. Louis' star prospect whose career was undercut by wildness, will enter spring training as part of the Cardinals' bullpen after missing almost all of last season with tendinitis in his left elbow.

"He feels good about it," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said, adding that Ankiel sees the role change as a challenge.

DIAMONDBACKS: Arizona agreed on a one-year deal with first baseman Mark Grace. Terms weren't announced.

Grace, 38, will serve mainly as a backup and mentor to rookie Lyle Overbay, who will move up to the Diamondbacks after a highly successful run through the minors.

INDIANS: Cleveland signed outfielder Chris Magruder to a minor-league contract and invited him to spring training. Magruder played in 87 games with the Indians last season and batted .217 with six homers and 29 RBI.

METS: Outfielder Cliff Floyd passed his physical, finalizing his $26 million, four-year contract with New York. The Mets officially will announce the deal Monday at Shea Stadium.