The Chiba Lotte Marines have announced that it has accepted the high bid for All Star infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka, but they won’t name the Major League Baseball team that amid the winning bid, according to the Star Tribune’s Joe Christensen.

The winning bidder will have the next 30 days negotiate how many millions they want to spend with Nishioka.

The teams hopes to make a wise investment, and if you were to ask one person if Nishioka could perform at a high level, he would tend to agree. Nishioka’s former manage, Bobby Valentine says that the infielder could succeed in Major League Baseball. Valentine managed Nishioka while he was with the Chiba Lotte Marines.

“I think in the right situation, if he stays healthy, he’ll be a very good player,” Valentine told the Japan Times (via Jason Coskrey) in a telephone interview. “He would be something there aren’t many of right now and that’s a switch-hitting leadoff hitter. There are not many guys who do that in the major leagues.”

Here area few excerpts from the interview:

“He’s now 26-years-old,” Valentine said. “I saw him the other day, he’s bigger, he’s growing into his body. Instead of just being a skinny young kid he’s becoming a man and he was healthy all last year.”

“I think he can play decent defense,” Valentine said. “Now I don’t know what park and what field he would be playing on and what kind of adjustments he would make. But in proper time he would be a good defensive player.”

“As far as moving to his left and his right, charging the ball and turning the double play, he can do all those things as well as some of the shortstops in the major leagues. Some of them are obviously more graceful and thinner than he is, but there aren’t 30 of them who are better than him.”

So far we’ve heard the Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres have expressed interest in Nishioka. Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman added that the Minnesota Twins are “very much in” on the infielder. It’s unclear if the Baltimore Orioles have made a bid or if they’re even interested.