Matsuzaka: Red Sox Win w/ $51.1M Bid

[Backtobanks]

Zambrano, Matsuzaka, Hill. Nice 1,2,3. plz.

 

 

The Cubs motto for 2007: Zambrano, Matsuzaka, and Hill then go take a pill.

[CuseCubFan69]

We all agree that our main focus this offseason is signing starting pitching.

Not sure I'm on board with that. I place an equal priority on a stud hitter and a stud pitcher. I think if we lack either one this offseason we will be pressed to be WS-worthy in 2007.

 

What do you define a stud hitter and a stud pitcher to be?

Well, ARod + Daisuke would make me happy. There are other combinations that would also qualify, but it would be tough to list them all.

 

Well, Mr. Hendry wants the list on his desk by zero 800.

[NorthsideAvenger]

Zambrano, Matsuzaka, Hill. Nice 1,2,3. plz.

 

 

The Cubs motto for 2007: Zambrano, Matsuzaka, and Hill then go take a pill.

 

Not exactly Spahn and Sain and pray for rain. And it doesn't roll of your tongue either.

[A New Era]

Zambrano, Matsuzaka, Hill. Nice 1,2,3. plz.

 

 

The Cubs motto for 2007: Zambrano, Matsuzaka, and Hill then go take a pill.

 

Not exactly Spahn and Sain and pray for rain. And it doesn't roll of your tongue either.

 

Carlos, Daisuke, and Rich. Boy we can really pitch!! We bewitch, we make hitters twitch, we'll make you our *****!! . . howszat.

[Wheelimus]

Carlos, Rich, and Dai...then you cry

[b_wiggy_66]

This from the New York Post today:

 

Daisuke Matsuzaka, arguably Japan's best starter, is going to be posted by his Japanese team in the next few weeks. Essentially that means, every team will have 72 hours to make a blind bid not to sign the 26-year-old righty, but merely to gain the exclusive rights to negotiate with him for 30 days and have his Japanese team, the Seibu Lions, accept the bid. The most commonly quoted price you hear for just the posting bid is $20 million. But one NL GM whose team plans to participate said his staff has made the "under-over $33 million." There is a feeling that one rogue owner, a Tom Hicks from Texas, for example, could simply decide he wants the player so much that he bids extravagantly to assure gaining negotiating rights.

 

 

Bidding is only 72 hours? I thought I read somewhere that it was 40 days.

[b_wiggy_66]

I found it

 

Process

A player may be posted from November 1 to March 1. For a player to be posted, both the team and player must agree on the posting; usually the player requests to be posted. The team then notifies the NPB Commissioner's Office that the player will be posted, who then notifies the MLB, which notifies all of its teams. The MLB teams then have four days to submit a "silent" bid for the right to negotiate a contract with the player to the MLB Commissioner's Office. After the fourth day, the NPB team (via the Commissioner's Office) is notified of the highest bidder and has four to accept or reject the bid. If the bid is accepted the winning MLB team has thirty (30) days to reach an agreement with the player. If the bid is rejected, the player is not posted.

 

If the player signs a contract with the MLB team by the end of the signing period, then the player becomes part of that MLB team and the NPB team receives the bid money. If the player does not sign a contract with the MLB team by the end of the signing period, the player is returned to the NPB team and the NPB team does not receive the bid money.

[CubColtPacer]

BTW, I did here Peter Gammons talking on the radio today about Daisuke. He said that the comissioner's office will have to step in on two issues. First is the one that we have talked about is a team like the Blue Jays bidding 60 million and then refusing to sign him, just to make sure he does not come to the Yankees or Red Sox. The second thing is to make sure the posting fee is completely fair. The Mariners have been rumored as possibly working out other arrangements than the actual money being sent to the Japanese club in return, and that could give them an edge in just writing an absurd amount for the posting fee.

 

Gammons did not mention us as one of the teams who is likely to bid-in fact they were all A.L. teams that he mentioned would be likely to get him-Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, Mariners.

[TruffleShuffle]

We all agree that our main focus this offseason is signing starting pitching.

Not sure I'm on board with that. I place an equal priority on a stud hitter and a stud pitcher. I think if we lack either one this offseason we will be pressed to be WS-worthy in 2007.

 

Agreed. The Cubs had the second worst OPS and third fewest runs in all of baseball. Their starting pitching was also really lousy, but even if Lee stays healthy all year, the Cubs have some major deficiencies offensively.

[treebird]

BTW, I did here Peter Gammons talking on the radio today about Daisuke. He said that the comissioner's office will have to step in on two issues. First is the one that we have talked about is a team like the Blue Jays bidding 60 million and then refusing to sign him, just to make sure he does not come to the Yankees or Red Sox. The second thing is to make sure the posting fee is completely fair. The Mariners have been rumored as possibly working out other arrangements than the actual money being sent to the Japanese club in return, and that could give them an edge in just writing an absurd amount for the posting fee.

 

Gammons did not mention us as one of the teams who is likely to bid-in fact they were all A.L. teams that he mentioned would be likely to get him-Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, Mariners.

 

that is a really cool idea and i'm surprised no one has done it yet.

[NorthsideAvenger]

I like where this is going.

 

What's the chances we like where this ends up? :(

 

50/50 on the Cubs.

 

FYI; Did anybody know why Scott Boras have such a great working relation with the Cubs organization?

 

It is because the Cubs once paid Boras tuition to go to law school. And say what you want about Boras, but apparently he will always give a call to the Cubs about any one of clients (giving them atleast a heads up). So, if the Cubs are interested in Matsuzaka, then this brings a smile both from a professional, and personal standpoint. And I think Matsuzaka association with Boras gives the Cubs a very good chance at him. Rather the Cubs win the bid or not, it don't matter. But I like the chances now.

[wilk]

And I think Matsuzaka association with Boras gives the Cubs a very good chance at him. Rather the Cubs win the bid or not, it don't matter. But I like the chances now.

 

Maybe you just worded this poorly but I don't see how this makes sense. Boras' association to Matsuzaka is what doesn't matter at all. Since it's a mutually blind bid, there's no upperhand here. Boras will only enter the picture once the top bid is accepted and at that point there's only one team allowed to negotiate anyway. Boras isn't going to make Daisuke sit another year out and there's no real fear of losing Matsuzaka altogether for any team making a legit attempt. The Cubs aren't going to significantly increase their bid in anticipation of Boras giving them a friendly discount of $1M. Besides, it's been known Boras would represent him for his posting for over a year.

[shnsajax]

Reading today that an NL GM said they were guessing the over/under of 32 million as the posting fee. That seems high, but its going to take a minimum of $20 million.

 

I think its hard for any team not named the Yankees to be overly optimistic.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Lots of rumors from my Texas connections that Hicks is going to go big on Daisuke.

[Neuby]

I don't see the logic in the Jays bidding all that money and then not signing the guy just to keep him away from there rivals. Wouldn't it make sense just to drop that money into there own team and improve it?

[sethuel1]

I don't see the logic in the Jays bidding all that money and then not signing the guy just to keep him away from there rivals. Wouldn't it make sense just to drop that money into there own team and improve it?

 

If they don't sign him they don't have to pay the money.

[RichHillIsABeast]

Bad news, Matsuzaka fans. :cry:

 

Daisuke Matsuzaka, the 26-year-old right-hander represented by agent Scott Boras, may not be their first choice, sources said. The Cubs will make a blind bid just for the rights to sign Matsuzaka, but they apparently are more intrigued by free agent right-hander Hiroki Kuroda of Hiroshima. The 31-year-old Kuroda could be targeted as a No. 3 or 4 pitcher in the Cubs rotation, after going 13-6 in 26 games last year. He's 91-81 lifetime in Japan with a 3.70 ERA.

 

link

 

 

A half-assed bid isn't going to get us Matsuzaka. Super. Give me that #4 starter, baby! Whoohoo!!

[NorthsideAvenger]

And I think Matsuzaka association with Boras gives the Cubs a very good chance at him. Rather the Cubs win the bid or not, it don't matter. But I like the chances now.

 

Maybe you just worded this poorly but I don't see how this makes sense. Boras' association to Matsuzaka is what doesn't matter at all. Since it's a mutually blind bid, there's no upperhand here. Boras will only enter the picture once the top bid is accepted and at that point there's only one team allowed to negotiate anyway. Boras isn't going to make Daisuke sit another year out and there's no real fear of losing Matsuzaka altogether for any team making a legit attempt. The Cubs aren't going to significantly increase their bid in anticipation of Boras giving them a friendly discount of $1M. Besides, it's been known Boras would represent him for his posting for over a year.

 

All I was saying to be blount, is that if the Cubs win the bid, signing him will not be a problem.

[NorthsideAvenger]

Bad news, Matsuzaka fans. :cry:

 

Daisuke Matsuzaka, the 26-year-old right-hander represented by agent Scott Boras, may not be their first choice, sources said. The Cubs will make a blind bid just for the rights to sign Matsuzaka, but they apparently are more intrigued by free agent right-hander Hiroki Kuroda of Hiroshima. The 31-year-old Kuroda could be targeted as a No. 3 or 4 pitcher in the Cubs rotation, after going 13-6 in 26 games last year. He's 91-81 lifetime in Japan with a 3.70 ERA.

 

link

 

 

A half-assed bid isn't going to get us Matsuzaka. Super. Give me that #4 starter, baby! Whoohoo!!

 

So apparently, Hendry plan is to COPY the Cards plan. Whoopie.

[Mephistopheles]

Ive been trying to find videos of Kuroda pitching, and well it isn't going very well. At 1:10 in this video he's throwing a slider. If you want to see a flat out filthy one, go to 1:50 and Nagisa Arakaki is throwing his. It's filthy.

 

Story time: When Arakaki was originally drafted by Orix. He didn't sign and went to college, the head scout for the Orix promptly jumped to his death from his apartment when he heard the news.

 

 

I found this on Kuroda. One pitch.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4YCuKkVgAI

 

A few pitches here in the first minute or so.

 

if i cant post these, someone just edit them out.

 

Ironically, while browsing the highlight videos (there are a lot on youtube) i noticed that the carp played in a lot of countryside games and a lot of those games are played on fields without mounds.[/url]

[Fro]

Kuroda sounds like he'd be a great innings-eater, he's led the Japanese league in complete games 5 out of the last 6 years.

 

He's having an amazing year this year, but his ERA in the previous years leaves something to be desired. Sounds like he does have the stuff to pitch over here (fastball tops out at 96 mph), and he's been third in Ks in Japan the last 2 years. And he'd come pretty cheap unless some other teams run up the bidding on him.

[questionmarkgrace]

typical cubs move. Don't go for the guy that can have the biggest impact go for the one that is the cheapest, and consequently less effective. Sounds alot like burnitz instead of Beltran in 05.

[Backtobanks]

typical cubs move. Don't go for the guy that can have the biggest impact go for the one that is the cheapest, and consequently less effective. Sounds alot like burnitz instead of Beltran in 05.

 

Don't you know that a #4 starter is all that's keeping us from the WS?

[Soriano12]

typical cubs move. Don't go for the guy that can have the biggest impact go for the one that is the cheapest, and consequently less effective. Sounds alot like burnitz instead of Beltran in 05.

 

Exactly.

 

Typical garbage from them.

[moorecg]

typical cubs move. Don't go for the guy that can have the biggest impact go for the one that is the cheapest, and consequently less effective. Sounds alot like burnitz instead of Beltran in 05.

 

Don't you know that a #4 starter is all that's keeping us from the WS?

 

That, and about 29 other teams that are better than us.