MLB offseason dealings and wheelings

Did everybody catch the news about the Red Sox's outrageous $51+ million bid for Daisuke Matsuzaka? That's not a typo: they were willing to shell out $51 million to the Seibu Lions for just the right to negotiate with the pitcher.

Now, Matsuzaka is a very talented pitcher. He has been the best pitcher in Japan since 2000, and he's only 26. During the playoffs, he absolutely dominated the Softbank Hawks (my favorite team) in the only game he pitched, walking away with a 1-0 victory. But I could have never imagined that he would command such a ridiculously high sum. To make a comparison, the Mariners "only" had to pay Ichiro's former team $13 million for the right to negotiate.

I suspect that the Sox made the high bid to keep him away from the Yankees. In any case, they'll have a month to negotiate a contract with Matsuzaka and Scott Boras; if they can't agree to one, the Sox don't owe Seibu anything, and Matsuzaka will stay in Japan.

 

They're already about to pay $51 million for the right to talk to the guy; if he were to sign a deal for, say, three years and $30 million, that would mean that the Sox are investing to the tune of $80 million on him for three seasons. That's a helluva a lot of money to pay for a guy whose only real experience of pitching in the States came during the World Baseball Classic.

Then again, there's every chance that he might not even get a deal.

 

If that is the case, it was a waste of their time. The Mets apparently had the second highest bid.

This is definitely a flaw in the posting system. MLB needs to fix it to prevent this kind of shady dealing. Maybe the winning team needs to pay a penalty if they cannot reach a deal with the player. That way the Sox would have to decide how much they are willing to pay to screw the Yankees. Or the player establishes his desired terms before the bid and the teams bid on the right to sign him at those terms.

Maybe the Sox actually intend to sign Matsuzaka. Perhaps he is a big enough star in Japan that the Sox think they can recoup the money over there on merchandise and broadcasting rights.

 

RE: Re: MLB offseason dealings and wheelings

51 mill is a lot to recoup..

ESPN put up a list of pitchers that could be signed for the same money.. pretty impressive and would fill out a whole pitching roster that would win

 

RE: Re: MLB offseason dealings and wheelings

This Matsuzaka deal is the same kind of a "transfer" that happens with soccer clubs. The Red Sox won the rights to negotiate and paid what they did because they think he is going to be a great pitcher.

Now, I do not agree with the 51.1 million they spent to talk with him, but Matsuzaka was great in the World Baseball Classic last spring and many scouts/GMs think he will do well here in the Major Leagues.

Many people want to say that the Red Sox got him to block the Yankees but I honestly do not buy that. The Red Sox did NOT make the playoffs last season and they were in need of making some impact moves. This is one of those moves.

 

Re: RE: MLB offseason dealings and wheelings

Because unfortunately he is the agent of many, many good players. He is the Drew Rosenhaus of baseball.

 

RE: Re: RE: MLB offseason dealings and wheelings

Don, I know the Yankees are the only team with the bigtime money like Chelsea, but in free agency there are always teams willing to spend exorbent amounts of money to get a player. Free agency = overspending more times than not.

Even if the Yankees said they would not deal with Boras, it would not matter. Boras would find other teams to get his players the money. Additionally, it wuld not be beneficial for the Yankees to not go after big players simply because an agent. That will never, ever happen.

 

RE: Re: RE: MLB offseason dealings and wheelings

Some GM's do refuse to deal with Boras, or at least avoid him whenever possible. Billy Beane in Oakland is one, and I think Kenny Williams with the White Sox is another. Teams regularly pass over Boras clients in the baseball draft because they know they will have to overpay to sign them. Steinbrenner is notorious for overspending on free agents, but Tom Hicks of Texas is the one who signed the biggest Boras boondoggle, the $250 million, 10-year contract for A-rod.

People are saying that the Matsuzaka deal is just the beginning of the crazy money that will be spent in the current free agent season. Baseball is apparently spinning profits at a record level and there just isn't a lot of talent on the market this year. So, the guys who are available are really going to cash in.

 

RE: Re: RE: MLB offseason dealings and wheelings

I am hoping the Phillies spend a boat load of cash and sign Alfonso Soriano. That is what I want for Christmas!!

 

The Astros did sign Carlos -- for $100 million. It seems a bit excessive, but hey, that's how much they think he's worth.

Speaking of excessive, the Yankees won the rights to negotiate with Kei Igawa of the Hanshin Tigers (a Japanese team) for -- get this -- $26,000,194. I'm not making this up. The Yanks actually think he's worth the $26 million that they'll spend just to get a contract done, not to mention the salary that's going to follow.

Igawa's a good pitcher, but he does have a reputation for being rather inconsistent. Even some of the Tigers fans that I talked to have said that they'll be glad to see the back of him.

 

Then he's PERFECT for George!

How DOES he do that magical tax thing?!!!