Hello, my name is Shawn. This is where I put things. This site has been active since 2002. A lot has changed since then but basically I'm still writing ridiculous articles about ridiculous things. You can also look at my Flickr photostream which is a lot of fun if you aren't blind.
A Japanese commercial for Asahi Super Dry Beer featuring Daisuke Matsuzaka in a Red Sox uniform. Could you imagine any American athletes chugging beer in a TV commercial? There would be absolute outrage. Unless it was David Wells. (via Matsuzaka Watch)
The best initial reaction to the Red Sox’ $51.1 million winning bid I’ve read so far is by Tom Verducci:
It would seem to be a stunning reversal of philosophy until you understand this: There is no more valuable commodity in the game than young ace pitchers, and the Red Sox boldly just redefined the value.
I definitely agree that this is not a departure from the Sox policy of setting a value on a player and sticking to it. It’s just that this time that value was extremely high. This caliber of player may not be available again by trade or free agent signing over the next 4 years.
The criticism is that if the Sox were willing to spend so much on Matsuzaka, why did they not sign Johnny Damon or trade for Bobby Abreu due to financial concerns? The reason is obvious to me: overspending on good veteran talent is a lot different than overspending on great young talent. It’s not that the Red Sox aren’t willing to spend money, it’s that they will save their money for when it really counts. I’ll take Matsuzaka over the combined efforts of Damon and Abreu any day.
Make no mistake, the Yankees feel burned. Matsuzaka would have been a perfect fit for the Yankees and solidified their playoff chances for years. It’s hard to put a price on (preventing) that.
It’s also worth reading Gammons piece on the deal (subscription required). Specifically:
Second, the Red Sox strongly want to build an Asian foundation. When Theo Epstein left the Red Sox last fall, after he turned down the Dodger job, he worked with two Japanese teams as a consultant. Epstein believes in the next decade the mass of baseball talent coming out of Asia will alter the landscape, and his owners want to be entrenched in Japan as well as China;
I really just need to start a baseball blog. But that would make this site exclusively about Lost, huh? Well either way, we’re now hopefully only hours away from finding out who won the Matsuzaka bid. Daisuke Matsuzaka is Japan’s best pitcher. He’s currently under contract with the Seibu Lions but they decided to post him so that he can fulfill his dream of pitching in the United States (and also so the Lion’s can make a ton of money).
The posting process is like a blind auction. Teams submit bids without knowing what the other bids are. The winning bid is presented to the Seibu Lions, but they are not told who the winning bid is from. They either decline the bid and Matsuzaka is retained for the last year of his contract or they accept it, in which case the winner and the bid are revealed and that team has 30 days to negotiate a contract with Matsuzaka. If they can’t agree on a contract then Matsuzaka goes back to the Lions and the bid is refunded.
The suspense is killing me. Will the Yankees get him and finally get the ace they’ve been missing since the late 90s? Will it be a dark-horse like Texas? Or… will it be the Sox? Furthermore, will the winner get the pitcher they are expecting or will there be a rough transition between Japan and the majors? Pitchers are always such a gamble.
There is a report on ESPN that the Sox may have won. Also worth keeping an eye on is Matsuzaka Watch, written by an American living in Japan who has been following Matsuzaka for years.
The Sox going all out for Matsuzaka makes some sense. Keeping him from the Yankees is just as important as adding him to their rotation. If they can do both, that’s a huge, huge move. Is such a move worth $40 mil before even paying Matsuzaka anything? It would be awfully tough to answer “Yes.” $30 million, probably. Anything less, definitely. Stay tuned.