December 7th, 2006 → 9:58 am @ Seth Mnookin // No Comments
Today’s Globe has an unabashedly pessimistic story about the Red Sox’s chances of landing Matsuzaka. Here’s the money graf:
“According to sources with direct access to the Sox’ view, there is an increasing feeling that Boras is setting the stage, both privately and publicly, that there is not going to be a deal. ‘Unless he’s being less than honest,’ one source said, ‘there isn’t going to be a deal.'”
Well, that settles it: the Dice man ain’t gonna cometh. Because we all know there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that Boras would ever utter the smallest of untruths.
Post Categories: 2006 Hot Stove Season & Daisuke Matsuzaka & Oblique references to Eugene O'Neill & Scott Boras
miles44
17 years ago
Scott Boras has always operated on the condition that money is the only thing that matters, so I can’t imagine any of that “Dice wants to play in the majors” or “Dice will disappoint the Japanese people if he demands too much money” stuff will have one iota of impact on these negotiations. If Boras doesn’t hear the dollar figures he wants, he’ll send Dice back to Japan and challenge the posting system. After all, look where his “take a hard line and sue the system” tactics got Matt Harrington, White/Lee/Patterson/Seay, and Jason “26-year-old rookie” Varitek.
yerfatma
17 years ago
What’s the expected return to Boras on challenging the Posting System vs. signing DM for only $25 million or something? Sports writers have never been strong economists; I realize Boras isn’t starving, but you can’t feed your kids on a sense of satisfaction.
tinisoli
17 years ago
It’s a bluff. Boras knows that Daisuke’s public desire to be in the majors and the Sox’ exclusive negotiating rights have given the Sox leverage. Both factors will cost him serious $$ unless he plays hardball and pretends that he has the power to send Daisuke back to Seibu for another year. Unless Daisuke has agreed to do whatever his agent says, I don’t see a deal not getting done. If you think Varitek and Drew got it bad for sitting out a year, just wait and see how 125 million people respond to their #1 hero going back to Seibu because his agent told him to.
It’s also clear that the Sox front office is feeding this stuff to the press as a way of calling Boras’ bluff.
zoowah
17 years ago
Insightful post by tinisoli.
Love him or hate him (and we pretty much all hate him), you gotta admire Boras’s ability to play a weak hand well.
Even when no mystery team can be conjured from the mist.
branatical
17 years ago
I can’t believe Edes would just print this without any kind of detailed insight attached. Everyone knows that the front office has a new tight lipped edict. You have to presume that any leak is a staged leak. He briefly mentions this as being like a high stakes poker game, but come on, he could have come up with more than that. He should have flat out called Boras’ bluff in the piece.