Should the Daisuke Matsuzaka negotiations with Boston fall apart and MLB deems the Red Sox dealt in bad faith in trying to sign the Japanese pitcher in the attempt to block him from going to the Yankees, the bidding could fall to next in line in the bidding, which would be the Mets.
MLB would have to investigate a complaint, but who would initiate it?
The primary wounded party would be Matsuzaka, who would lose out on a potential deal. Reportedly, the Red Sox are offering $7 million, and assuming four years, that’s $28 million. Add that to the $51 million bid for the rights to talk and we’re talking $79 million for a pitcher who has never thrown a pitch.
If the Red Sox were bluffing just to keep him from another team, who is to say Scott Boras wouldn’t force them to show their cards. If Boras said, “we’ll take it,’’ then the Red Sox would be out $79 million for a pitcher they didn’t want. That’s a huge gamble, which makes the bad faith argument by the Red Sox unlikely.
If this falls through, Matsuzaka could post again next winter. Should that not work, he would be a free-agent (the way Hideki Matsui came to the Yankees) in 2008 and be allowed to talk to any team.
More likely is Boras is holding out for the bucks and using the deadline as leverage to up the ante because there are no competing teams. There are too many people with something to gain here, which is why I think this should eventually get done.
5 Comments
as far as I can tell though, there is no legal precedent that can be used to make the argument that the bidding rights should default to the Mets. Me being a diehard Met fan, of course I would like this to happen, but realistically, this cannot. the bidding stipulates that 51.1 mil says the sox can negotiate within 30 days. if no deal is done, the 51.1 mil goes nowhere and dmat goes back to japan. there is no real way to “prove” that the bid was meant to block the yankees, only hearsay. so if he doesn’t sign, and the bid gets grieved with the player’s union, who don’t really represent dmat yet since he isn’t a contracted player, selig will probably just send him back to japan because anything else would be seen as unfair. if it was possible to prove that the sox bid was “immoral” in nature, then we might have some hope to cling to. the only way dmat is a met this season is if the sox, mets & boras sit down, negotiate a contact and a fair amount of money & milledges changing hands, and we have our ace. but that is about as likely as the royals winning the series. so as much fun as it may be to speculate, we must all temper our emotions and realize that having the second highest bid gets us nothing.
To Anon …
The rules dictate if the Red Sox are found to have dealt in bad faith with Matsuzaka, bidding just to keep him away from the Yankees. But, it would only be for one season and would be difficult to prove.
Theo Epstein has publicly agreed with Boras that D-Mat is a ”$100 million” player; so, signing him for $79 million wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for the Sox.
So, I don’t think it’s so much that Boston doesn’t want him—I think they’re more interested in blocking the Yankees from getting him than paying market value to have him on their team.
The telltale sign, to me, was the quote from Lucchino in regard to the chartered plane stunt: We’re doing this to show that we’re not just trying to block other teams from negotiating with the pitcher. If the Sox were really negotiating in good faith, they wouldn’t be pulling publicity stunts like this.
Finally, in regard to the reported $7-million-per-year figure, let’s not forget that’s the exact yearly salary given to the first Japanese player to go through this system—Ichiro—six years ago. If Ted F’ing Lilly is getting four years and $40 million, why would D-Mat, the MVP of that recent int’l series (can’t remember the name, too lazy to look it up), warrant significantly less?
To BennyAyala (RE: Market price/Red Sox)
I don’t think the Red Sox are doing this to block the Yankees. It’s just too big and expensive a gamble to do so.
And, you’re right. If Lilly and Gil Meche get at least $10 million a season, I don’t see why D-Mat will get much less.
Reportedly, the Sox tried to send Lucchino to Japan to try to do some negotiating with Seibu regarding the $51 million, which would have been counter to MLB policy. In addition, they’re reportedly telling Boras to include the $51 million in any contractual computations. Taken together, these are not the acts of a team negotiating in good faith; rather, it appears that they’re not that interested in having to fulfill that $51-million bid.
As for it being an expensive gamble, I don’t see it. They’re not committed to the $51 million unless they sign the player—and there’s nothing to prevent them from lowballing the player during their negotiating window. I don’t see the gamble: Either they get D-Mat at their reduced price or they recoup their $51-million investment.
Now, if a sizable portion of that bid was non-refundable, then you would have a gamble…
P.S. I would fully expect Boras to challenge the system should the Sox succeed in this game. His client has a right to make a living and it’s not clear whether MLB can legally restrain his options to one organization.