Sox win Matsuzaka bidding.

[Johnny Mac]

According to Gammons, and other sources.

 

[italia44]

According to Gammons, and other sources.

You're jumping the gun.......The Japan Group won't decide until Tuesday whether to "accept" the highest offer.

 

[Johnny Mac]

There is a 0% chance they don't accept it.

 

[patriotspride]

There is a 0% chance they don't accept it.

hes right your jumping the gun.there is a chance the lions might take less of a offer from the yankees to make matsuka happy.the reports have said matsuka wants to play for the yankees.

 

[Johnny Mac]

They can't do that. It's accept the Sox bid, or nothing, and they're not turning down 5 billion yen.

 

[sdaniels7114]

5 billion Yen. How much is that in real money?

 

[Johnny Mac]

~$42 million.

 

[primetime]

Great, 42 million bucks (plus whatever they pay him, so probably 42+10/year) for a guy who will probably have worse problems than Josh Beckett and has alot of wear on his arm. I love baseball.

 

[Johnny Mac]

Actually, ESPN is saying it was $51.1 million. Huh.

 

[maverick4]

I don't understand the bid. Can someone explain this?
Do the Red Sox pay Japan 51 million up front just to TALK?

Or will part of the 51 million be used as part of the contract if he signs?


If it's the former, I don't see the rationale behind blowing 51 million just for the right to have a conversation...

.

 

[primetime]

They only pay the money to the Japanese ballclub if the guy signs a contract and comes over. It's like European football in that regard, you pay a transfer fee and then the club chooses to accept a bid and the team gets to negotiate a contract with the player.

51 million for a guy who could be a complete dud (remember Hideki Irabu?). Jesus.

 

[maverick4]

OK, I get it now, but it seems really high to me. 51 million to talk; I mean, many teams don't even have that much for their entire payroll.

I am thinking the Sox sent their top talent scouts, and reports probably say something like 'top 5 MLB pitcher', or Santana and Pedro level projections.

That is the only possible reason I can think of for this. It doesn't make sense to spend 51 million just to deny the Yankees.

.

 

[sdaniels7114]

The good news is that he's 26 and went 3-0 in the WBC. He didn't face a whole lot of MLB players in those three games though. Lot of stamina, but that's typical over there.

 

[maverick4]

Actually, the more I think about this, the more I think it is brilliant. The argument of how 51 million is a lot of money and how it could have been spent elsewhere is wrong.

I believe a good portion of that 51M will be made back in a few years through Japanese TV-NESN deals, radio, internet, jerseys, merchandise, etc. So we can't think of it the same way as if we spent 51M on current MLB players.

Let's use an example with guessed numbers. If we sign this guy for say 13 million over 5 years, for 65 million, that is 116 million total including bid money. However, if we conservatively assume that we make 40 million in Japan over the next few years, we end up paying 76 million over 5 years, which is ~15M/year. Not bad, if this guy is a rare talent according to our MLB scouts.

Basically, if our talent evaluations are correct, this is a great move to get a 26 year old in his prime, compared to say, an old Roger Clemens.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Yes Maverick 4 .... I agree.

Now one thing I have not heard much of...

Think of all the MLB players who could best be marketed in Japan.

Who better than "Big Papi" to be marketed over there.

I can see all the Japanese baseball fans lining up for their "Big Papi" gear.

Even on WEEI .... all they talk about is Matsuzaka....I think Ortiz factors in this real big.

Now....if we could just trade Manny for some more players from overseas.
Players who go to the bathroom inbetween innings especially.

 

[DarrylS]

I did not understand the logic at first but after listening to Ordway, Masarotti and crew it makes a ton of sense.. for most of us 51.1m just to have a conversation makes little sense, but for these guys it makes huge sense and the marketing stuff is incredible. Now all the Japanese kids will wear Yankees, RS and Seattle jerseys.

The alternative would have been outbid by the Yankees, that would have been bad, listening to Masarotti yesterday made me change my mind, guess he really likes the decisiveness of this move and they were stopping at nothing to get the right to negotiate. I would also suspect to make his wife happy, she might come also and bring something to NESN as an announcer, with some type of feed to Japanese Sports outlets... just a guess, but gotta make this kid happy.

They had no other choice, crappy pitching staff, no one who is really tradeable and very few front line pitchers available. I hope they sign him long term and it all pans out for the RS.

 

[mikiemo83]

Appears he is heading to Boston with Boras to finalize the deal as I type this.

So Dice-K is a sox pitcher - hope he does well at Triple a next season

according to the Glob, only the wording is left to finalized and the physical tonight or tomorrow

 

[3 to be 4]

the bottom line: Is your team better?
they were short on SP last year. Even if hes 12-10 this year, add that to Schilling, Beckett, Papelbon, and Wakefield and its a MUCH better rotation than last year.
But the expectation from the scouts is that he's something special, in which case they are a closer away, if they hold on to Manny, of being a WS caliber team again.
4 years/52 million, with a ton of money to be made up in overseas endorsements. What exactly is the downside to this?