"The waiver wire is bustling this time of year, with teams jostling to add a piece to boost their World Series hopes and non-contenders looking to dump salary or trade a veteran for a prospect or two.

It is not known whether Angels designated hitter Hideki Matsui has been on waivers, but if he has, and a team wins a claim or trades for him, he will come with a little baggage in the form of the 40 or so Japanese media members who cover him on a daily basis.

Think it's tough for a major leaguer wondering where he'll be playing next week?

Imagine being a reporter who, after covering Matsui for seven years in New York and moving to Southern California for 2010, has to move again for a month, with more uncertainty to follow in free agency in November.

"It is very hard not knowing what is going to happen," said Gaku Tashiro, a Sankei Sports reporter who has covered Matsui in the U.S. for eight years. "The best-case scenario is for Hideki to stay with the Angels because the players and team are very kind to us.

"The environment in California is very good for Japanese media. Plus, Hideki likes playing here because of the good weather. He likes the Angels players. He wants to win here."

Matsui was asked whether it was strange to think the fate of roughly 40 media members hinges on his next move.

"I don't know if strange is the right word," Matsui said through an interpreter. "But it's certainly automatic that if that ever happens, everybody would go."

Even if Matsui, 36, finishes the year in Anaheim, his media contingent will go into limbo this winter, when he is a free agent.

"Some Japanese media moved here from New York because of him," said Takako Nakamichi, a director for the Japanese broadcasting network Fuji-TV. "If your company wants to continue covering him, they'd have to move to Kansas City, Baltimore, Oakland or somewhere else. It's hard."

With Matsui underperforming for much of May, June and July, the chances of his returning to Anaheim in 2011 seemed remote. But if he hits in September the way he has in recent weeks, he could go from foregone conclusion to a tougher winter decision for the Angels, who are all but out of playoff contention."