Matsuzaka to the BoSox-- the BoSox's way
by Joey C. on Dec 13, 2006 9:27 PM PST
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PrintI know, I know, this isn't a Boston Red Sox blog. And trust me, I'm no AL East fan, let alone a Red Sox fan. But the Matsuzaka signing was important to me, and for one reason and one reason only: Scott Boras got served.
Boras is the number 1 reason to not like free agency. Any shot your team might have to land a big player on the market because he might be sentimental about the area, might want to be close to his family, etc., goes right out the window when he makes Boras his agent. Same goes for top draft picks. When Scott Boras is on the case, all he cares about is money, and lots of it. Boras spent the last month talking endlessly about how Matsuzaka should be given Roy Oswalt money, how Matsuzaka is one of the top 3 pitchers in baseball, how Matsuzaka is going to create a perpetual motion machine and provide energy for the entire western hemisphere. Well, the Red Sox never blinked. They gave Matsuzaka exactly what they thought he deserved: 6 years, $52 million. Now that he's lost a little face, I hope other teams will treat Boras this way when he makes outrageous contract demands.
And while this may not affect A's fans directly (although it may a little, since he's Zito's agent), I really just wanted to say this:
Eat it, Boras. Eat it raw.
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Unfortunately
Boras knew his client had no other options and in that case, I still think he got a pretty good deal done. Especially because it was known that the pitcher didn't want to go back to Japan.
by Tyler Bleszinski on Dec 13, 2006 9:31 PM PST reply actions
Giving the devil his due
And I mean zero leverage. As Peter Gammons noted in his espn.com column, if Matsuzaka had not signed with the Red Sox, his Japanese team, Seibu, would have been very angry to lose out on the $51.1 million posting fee, and would likely have punished D-Mat by sending him to the minor leagues for a few weeks at the start of next season, making him ineligible to be a free agent until after the 2008 season. That would have cost D-Mat not only his dream of pitching in MLB for at least two years, but also two years' of a major-league salary that might be ten times his Japanese salary.
In theory, the Red Sox should have been able to offer D-Mat three or four million per year and he would have been foolish to turn it down. But Boras got the Red Sox to pay D-Mat nine or ten million a year instead.
Nice job, Satan.
Good points, all
Plus, there's something to be said when he has to accept the fact that he got about half of what he was demanding (a $100 million contract, NOT counting the posting fee). I still think Boras lost some of his intimidation factor, here. Or, at least, I'm hoping.
boras is losing some of his power because
by larrysgurl on Dec 14, 2006 3:29 AM PST reply actions
Every year
I'm sick of it.
We need a salary cap.
by Checkswing HR on Dec 15, 2006 5:13 PM PST reply actions
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