TOKYO -- The Yakult Swallows accepted a bid Wednesday to sell the rights to left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii to a major league team in the United States.

The amount of the offer was between $11 million and $12 million, a baseball official with knowledge the bidding said on the condition he not be identified. The Los Angeles Dodgers bid about $11.5 million, according to another baseball official, also on the condition of anonymity.

Swallows spokesman Toshiyuki Sudo, without disclosing the amount of the bid, said the notified the Japanese commissioner's office that it had been accepted.

The Japanese commissioner's office was in the process of sending confirmation to the major league commissioner's officer in New York, which planned to notify the winning club on Wednesday. The Swallows knew only the amount of the bid, not the identity of the bidder.

The New York Mets, Texas Rangers and Anaheim Angels acknowledged making bids for Ishii.

Major league teams had until Monday to submit the price they would pay for the rights to the eight-year veteran. The winning team has 30 days to work out a contract with the 28-year-old pitcher.

Ishii was 12-6 with a 3.39 ERA and 173 strikeouts in 175 innings for Yakult last season.

After the 2000 season, Seattle paid more than $13 million to the Orix BlueWave of Japan's Pacific League for the rights to Ichiro Suzuki, who then agreed to a three-year contract worth $14.1 million.

Suzuki had 242 hits, the most in the major leagues since Bill Terry's 254 in 1930, hit .350 and stole 56 bases. He was the AL Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player.