Red Sox Pay $42M for Opportunity to Sign Matsuzaka

Old. Unproven in MLB. Overrated. Bad shoulder. Old.

That was me. I'd also like to add two words to all the Matsuzaka hype: Hideo Nomo.

I would love to see that rotation as a Yankee fan. Anon #1 summed it up nice. Boston will suck again this year, they are a miserable ball club.

Matsazuka did pretty damn well in the WBC, so I'm not going to shoot him down as Hideo Nomo just yet, but I'm also not going to say he is neccesarily worth a 5 billion yen (it sounds even more outlandish in yen!) posting price

Anon #2, I'm neither a Bo-Sox fan/hater or a Yankees fan/hater (I'm a Chi-Sox fan in fact) but that sure sounds like the pot calling the kettle black, considering your roation consists of Wang, Moose, Johnson, bupkus, and bupkus. And yes, I purposely listed The Big Unit third, because he is a shell of his former self.

Haha, good one Jeeve. I think the Yankee rotation is better. Wang is a solid number 1 pitcher, they bring up young phenom hughes to be number 2, moose is good at number 3, then they have johnson, rasner, karstens, etc. for 4/5. and their bullpen is now pretty deep so all of Torres stupid moves can't hurt them too much. or should i say end careers....sturtze, villone, quantrill.

The Yankees rotation is a joke. But as long as Yankees fans are happy with it, what do I care? Schilling (old and dominant), Matsuzaka (unproven in MLB until 2007), Beckett (overrated? maybe, maybe not), Papelbon (bad shoulder last year), and Wake (old and money).

What are you smoking shark fin? give it up!! that rotation is a joke with one unknown who might be great might suck.

don't minus me shark boy- fact is that boston rotation is crap and you know it. the japanese pitcher is the unknown. he could be dominant, he could flat out suck. that remains to be seen. don't give me your wakefield, schilling, crap. peddle that sorry ass rotations somewhere else. they also have NO BULLPEN!!!

Not minusing you, AF. Although I disagree with your clearly slanted take. I don't particularly like minusing people. We shall see what happens. Spring Trining is only 110 days away. C'Mon Baseball!!!

shark- now that we can agree on. baseball is great and right around the corner!!

Oops. A rare miss DNL.

They will get their money back, and then I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong) it is up to MLB (so Bud Selig) to decide whether or not (he will definitely) to give the Seibu Lions the right to okay (which they will) or deny the second highest bid. Then the whole contract negotiating process will start over. I know Boras will drive a hard bargain (ok so bargain is a poor choice of words with Boras) but I think there a 1% chance that they won't be able to hammer out a contract

I don't think that's correct. It's either come to terms with the hisghest bidder or go back to Japan. I am 98% sure they can't negotitate with the second highest bidder under any circumstances.

You're right...I must have misread an article before. There's NO second shot if the first team can't come to terms. Matsuzaka would then just have to play out the year in Japan and become a free agent next year.

He can command whatever he wants, the fact is Boras is pretty much useless in this stuation. The Red Sox, saying they are the highest bidder, have all the leverage. The kids value is very high right now, but Boras has no choice but to accept a fair contract, otherwise risk him injuring himself back in Japan or having a subpar year.

OK, so he gets 15 mil a yr. Add in the 42 they putdown for negotiating rights. That's a heck of a lot of bling to put out for someone with his risk (26 and who knows what shape his arm is in) and who has never played an inning of MLB. Just sayin that it takes a lot of cajones to say you can't afford an outfielder who would help get you to the playoffs and then two months later, to do something like this.

I agree with Anons #4/5. This move makes no sense and is uncharacteristic of this shameful franchise. Didn't they call the Yankees, "The Evil Empire"? What is boston now, "The mini-Evil Empire"? boston should be ashamed of themselves, this goes against all of their socialist tendencies. their liberal fan base will be very angry with this aggressive move.

A 15 game swing is a tad zealous, but you're really missing the pt. I was just saying that it seems odd that Sox mgmt would dump $42 for just the option to negotiate. Sure it keeps him out of yanks fans. But if that is a solid plan, what is the difference btwn that and signing Abreu at the trade deadline? Would've effectively done the same thing - prevented him from joining the yanks and plugged a hole they are in need of filling this offseason. The other gentlemen was indicating that if it were the yanks that secured the bidding rights, sox fans and everyone else would be up in arms as usual when the yanks win at anything.

To say that it doesn't make sense for management not to go for Abreu and go for Matsuzaka is ridiculous. Abreu is an OF, Matsuzaka is a possible dominating pitcher. Red Sox have plenty of offense, they lack starting pitching. The reason they didn't go after Abreu is because they were saving the cash to go after their need, which is pitching.

Abreu is a free swinging declining outfielder, Matsuzaka is (presuming everyone is correct) a top flight starting pitcher. This bid not only ensures the Red Sox get the cream of the crop in the best position available, but it drives up the price of every other starting pitcher, forcing other teams to take a salary hit just to sign these now higher priced commodities. And you're underestimating the effect an international star will have on the bottom line. Young good starting pitchers aren't becoming available like they once did, teams realize their huge value, and are paying accordingly. Santana is the next big time young guy to become available, and that isn't until 2009. This signing is a golden opportunity to expand fan/customer base, increase revenues, gain a foothold in an emerging market, and make the Red Sox a much better team. $42 million I still believe is a cheap price to pay. Abreu and Matsuzaka are not even close to the same thing, and shouldn't be mentioned in the same conversation.

The bid does not ensure the sox get the cream of the crop. It ensures them nothing but the chance to negotiate with the player. Who will command at least 15mil per yr at min and might even decline the Sox offers. How would you react to your team spending so much money but still not coming to an agreement? I can so see that happen with the Sox, lowball as they always do, and lose the player.

What I find ironic is that they are willing to spend so much for someone unproven whereas Abreu would've made an immediate impact, while derailing Yanks attempts to improve and reach the post-season (reason #2 to acquire Matsuzaka) and gave their budget as the reason. Abreu would've also fit their need for an OF which they are currently looking to address.

Addtionally, let's give Coco a contract extension at more $ value since he sux significantly worse than a player like Abreu.

You put all these moves together and all I'm saying is that the Sox front office doesn't make too much sense.

Next year he will have accrued enough playing time in Japan to become a free agent, meaning there would be no posting process next year.

They did go through the process, but I suppose Major League teams weren't nearly as sold on importing Japanese players at that point. Before Ichiro, you had Hideo Nomo and that was about it, and he flamed out, so teams were worried about posting for an unknown commodity. After the successes of Ichiro, Matsui (Hideki) and to a lesser degree Tadahito Iguchi and So Taguchi, MLB teams now have evidence that Japanese players can in fact make an impact in the Bigs. Plus everyone got to see Matsazuka pitch (and dominate) in the WBC.