The Boston Herald reported negotiations between the Red Sox and Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka have broken down and he might not sign by Thursday’s midnight deadline.
It’s not the last minute yet, so don’t be surprised if this still gets done. The Red Sox put a $51 million deposit for the right to negotiate, so they want to get this done. Matsuzaka has already gone through the posting process, he has bid farewell to Japan. He’s not going to want to go through this again next year.
Reports are agent Scott Boras is the cause for the snag. However, dragging out negotiations to get the last dollar is what Boras does. There’s no other team he can use against the Red Sox as leverage, so he’s using the deadline.
That’s something that has to be remembered in the bidding for Barry Zito. He has one offer on the table, and that’s from Texas. The Mets are interested, but so is San Francisco and possibly Seattle. We’re not at the point yet of teams bidding against each other.
All this means Zito signing isn’t imminent.
6 Comments
John: Is there any chance at all Seibu could re-offer D-Mat to another ML team if Boston continues to lowball Boras? I know these are uncharted waters, but if nothing explicitly forbids it, then why not?
It always seemed to me a fatal weakness of the posting system that one team could sabotage a division rival’s play for D-Mat by lowballing Boras in contract negotiations.
The $51-million deposit is refundable, should the two sides fail to reach an agreement; hence, in and of itself, it is no indication that Boston wants to get this done. Rather, both their outrageous bid and their subsequent negotiating posture (that Matsuzaka should accept less because Boston paid more) suggest more of a blocking stunt than anything else.
MealTicket …
My understanding is that the way this works is if Boston doesn’t sign him he’ll go back to Japan and can go through the process next year.
To BennyAyala …
You could say it is a block by Boston, but if the numbers are correct, they are offering $8 million a year for somebody who has never pitched in the major leagues. If they were blocking and Boras takes it at the last minute, they would lose the $51 mill plus the salary. That’s a gamble. I suppose, however, if that happened they could get out of it by failing his physical on purpose. Then Boras gets a second opinion and this whole thing becomes a mess.
I think it’s likely a block based on their attempt to effectively “tax” Matsuzaka the $51 million. From what I’ve read, they’re essentially saying, “Whatever you think you should be getting, subtract $51 million from it.” That just doesn’t seem like a realistic, good-faith bargaining position. Instead, it looks like an exit strategy.
To BennyAyala …
Your argument makes sense. As of now, he’ll go back to Japan. This is no doubt a bad system. Japan does not have a true ``free agent’’ system, so to placate the Japanese and not risk losing millions in marketing, it goes along with it.