It’s official! Sort of! Almost!

December 13th, 2006 → 1:51 pm @ // No Comments

From Gordo’s Globe blog: “A source close to the negotiations confirmed that the Red Sox contingent in Southern California is flying back to Boston with pitcher Daisuke Matsuzka and his agent, Scott Boras, on board. ‘You can assume that a deal is done or close,’ said another source with direct knowledge of the talks.” (Who is this mysterious “source with direct knowledge’? Besides, I mean, someone who’s close enough to the actual negotiating room to know what’s what and who also has enough time to put in calls to reporters whenever anything happens.) Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but the Herald‘s Michael Silverman stresses that “negotiations are ongoing” and that “the final language of a long-term deal has not yet been struck.” In fact, “[o]ne source said it is too early to say that a preliminary agreement has been reached. However, it is safe to conclude that Matsuzaka and Boras did not board Henry’s private jet if both they and the Red Sox were not, at the very least, hopeful of striking a deal.”

I was covering Bush HQ in Austin, Texas, on election night in 2000…and honestly? I don’t think there was this level of minute-by-minute coverage back then. Of course, that wasn’t nearly as important a story.


Post Categories: 2006 Hot Stove Season & Daisuke Matsuzaka & Gordon Edes & Michael Silverman & Red Sox front office & Scott Boras

18 Comments → “It’s official! Sort of! Almost!”


  1. chris

    17 years ago

    Wow. Just wow. This was some high stakes poker. I wonder who blinked?

    Not that I have any way of knowing, but despite comments I made a couple days ago, I bet Matsuzaka told Boras he wanted to sign. I’m not sure he feels indebted to Japan and all that hooey, but I *would* guess that he’s dying to pitch in the Bigs. Going back to Seibu with nothing to prove would probably be depressing.

    Reply

  2. zoowah

    17 years ago

    Seth,

    Why the fuck didn’t you get Bush the Baseball Commish job?

    Think of the lives you’d have saved.

    Reply

  3. crimsonohsix

    17 years ago

    I’d just like to point out to all the naysayers that Epstein & Co. do really put in more effort that basically any other F.O. to get these big deals done. Do we ever see Cashman going to someone’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, or flying across the country to sign someone?

    Reply

  4. branatical

    17 years ago

    Funny observation Seth, about the minute by minutes. I was refreshing websites all night long waiting for the latest little tid bit of news, the latest update, the latest quote. How lame! At least I have an excuse, I was at work and had nothing better going on.

    I love that after all the speculation about what Boras wanted ($15m-$20m per) we will get Matsuzaka for a reasonable price (not including the posting bid) taking in to consideration what the Clements, Lilly’s, Meche’s of the world make and what Zito will rake in. $11million per is a fair asking price IMO, in this market, it’s not greedy. BDD needs to take down that “Greed is Good” post immediately before Dice-K sees it and is dishonored. I love talking about honor in conjunction with baseball. Maybe Manny will pick up on that.

    Reply

  5. HFXBOB

    17 years ago

    Man I followed this so much last night it ended up following me into my sleep. I dreamed about trying to convince Dice to sign with us and not to go over to the Evil Empire. I think this might go down as a great day for the franchise. Sure there’s lots of room for skepticism considering the amount of dough invested and all. But hell, think how sour it would have been if he got away. Assuming everything goes through, I’m elated.

    Reply

  6. sharrock

    17 years ago

    I’m ready for this contract soap opera to be over. Onward to the suspense of just how good will this guy be and how many quality Japanese players will jump over here in the next 5 years.

    Reply

  7. Shalomar

    17 years ago

    LUGO IS A COCKY SOB

    And that’s a good thing. On EEI this a.m., Callahan basically told him he knew Alex Gonzalez, and you, Lugo, are no Gonzo. Lugo said (to paraphrase): “Who says I cant make the plays Alex G makes? I’m damn good too. You’ll see what kind of defense I can play, with my baddass wheels and jumping ability. And I can smack the crap out of the ball. And I didnt smack my wife, she admitted to being a liar [unclear what happened there]. And I love the pressure and the fans and the intensity.” Given that it’s not my $$, I am fired up about the prospect of Lugo, Drew, and the Gun from the Rising Sun. That’s a nasty squad. Seth, can you tell us what the FY07 payroll is going to look like? It seems ginormous.

    Reply

  8. miles44

    17 years ago

    If you believe SI.com’s Jon Heyman that it’s a 6-year, $52 million dollar deal, with incentives that could raise it to $60 million, you have to think three things:
    1) From a luxury tax perspective, the Red Sox get a relatively manageable annual salary
    2) What happened to Dice being worth well over $100 million in salary?
    3) Few of the espn.com “experts” were even in the ballpark on guessing the contract …
    http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove06/news/story?id=2696021

    Reply

  9. branatical

    17 years ago

    Did anyone else see Steve Phillips last night saying how there was no way for this deal to get done? I don’t know what kind of standards ESPN has, but they went back to him today on First Report to get his take on the pending deal. They should have just rerun the soundbites of him from last night over and over and over.

    Reply

  10. maineiac

    17 years ago

    Yehaw!! 🙂

    If he is anywhere close to the pitcher anticipated, than Theo got him for cheap money. NESN in Japan will wipe out the posting fee. I heard the Sox had already starting working out a way to amortize part or most of the posting fee over the contract time period (ie., borrow the amount and have Time Warner of Tokyo make the payments).

    Can you imagine if Borass got his $20 million/year wish? The first bad game Dice-K threw, a chorus of boos would come down. That would be no good for anyone, except Yankee fans (just like we all enjoyeed this past summers antics with A-Rod).

    Seth the interesting thing about you bringing up the Bush thing was I remember being confronted with the option of “which would you want, the Red Sox winning the World Series or Kerry?” Regrettably I couldn’t have both. Anyway, that’s a different blog.

    Congrats to the Red Sox front office.

    Reply

  11. jacflash

    17 years ago

    Also in the “if you believe Heyman” file, the “source with direct knowledge” would be one J. Henry, who apparently sent email to an AP contact.

    Reply

  12. erk877

    17 years ago

    I haven’t been worried about this deal getting done, but as soon as I saw Steve Phillips declare the deal dead I knew we’d be seeing Dice-K, an exhausted Theo, and a smugly satisfied Lucchino in a press conference shortly. When does Murray Chass accuse the Sox of tampering in this one?
    If they’re able to keep this to less per year than Gil Meche got, then we can all stop front-office bashing for awhile (especially if they get a closer).
    Seth, love the book and the blog, and I’m sorry I missed your appearance in the Berkshires.

    Reply

  13. Trouthead

    17 years ago

    Does Steve Phillips ever get one right?

    Reply

  14. chris

    17 years ago

    If it’s 6x$10=$60mil, which is the high estimate right now, then it shows how completely full o’shit Boras(s) is. His pitches are usually incredible hyperbole, so this isn’t out of character — I often fantasize about being a GM and having him hand me a 120-page booklet on his client, where I tell him my kids will really love the book. The book thing, IMHO, is really insulting to teams who think they know how to scout a free agent. Now comes Borass asking for $100 mil for a guy who hasn’t pitched in MLB, and in the end all he really wanted was 60 cents on the dollar. The posting process essentially shut off Boras’s leverage. And the Sox have a pitcher who, if he’s near the projections, is an incredible bargain at less than Meche money.

    I guess my point is, if Boras uses such outrageous lies as bargaining chips, over and over and over, why do people take him so seriously?

    Reply

  15. cpicardvt

    17 years ago

    So, do you think Theo was smart enough to be negotiating in Yen instead of greenbacks? Wouldn’t that be funny!

    Reply

  16. tinisoli

    17 years ago

    Just took a stroll through the “crazy day” photo album the Globe has up right now. At times the business of baseball can be chilling, but it is great to see pics of Daisuke and Julio with big ole child-like grins on their faces. Lugo seems genuinely elated to be in Boston, and Daisuke appears to be giddy as well. If this isn’t enough to get fans optimistic about ’07, I don’t know what will.

    Hell, even Shaughnessy seems to be caught up in the hopeful joy of the moment. And in his case, I do stress “moment.”

    Reply

  17. branatical

    17 years ago

    Steve Phillips just said he’s pick the Yankees’ rotation over the Red Sox’s. Hmmm…I wonder why he isn’t managing anymore?

    Reply

  18. zoowah

    17 years ago

    anyone know if the 51.1 million gets deducted from the revenue sharing they have to furnish other teams? over one year or years? thanks.

    Reply

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