The Sports Truth

One has to wonder, with the deadline to sign Daisuke Matsuzaka fast approaching, if not signing the Japanese pitcher was part of the Red Sox plans to begin with.

Was the $51.1 million negotiating offer just a preemptive move to prevent the Yankees from landing the prized Japanese pitching standout?

Probably not, and here’s why. The Red Sox learned from the 2006 campaign that a team can never have too much front-line pitching. When it comes to top-notch, top-of-the-rotation starters, the Red Sox now realize a little goes a long way.

Case in point: While the Sox were tired of Pedro Martinez’s indiscretions, they now understand the impact a quality starter makes on the staff as a whole. There is a cumulative effect. When one piece of the puzzle is removed, the entire staff takes a collective step back.

And pitching is the name of the game. The primary reason the Sox coasted to their 2004 title was starting pitching. The 2004 staff gelled at the perfect time and the team never looked back.

Certainly a strong argument can be made for the Sox not pursuing Martinez. Since he has left Boston, Martinez has not exactly been a world-beater. Also, the former Sox ace has been riddled with injuries.

So the question remains: If the Red Sox were correct in letting Martinez (and Derek Lowe) leave, where have they come up short? By not making the proper plans to address their starting pitching, the Sox have discovered themselves with a mediocre staff.

The fix is as simple as adding a front-of-the-rotation guy. Many baseball observers believe that Daisuke Matsuzaka is the guy. By inserting a starter with the potential to win 15-18 games, you not only gain those wins, but improve the overall quality of your staff.

One can only believe that at this juncture it is simply a question of who is going to blink first - Daisuke Matsuzaka and his super-agent, Scott Boras, or the Boston Red Sox.

Of course, the silver lining to all of this is that, no matter what, the New York Yankees will not be vying for the pitcher’s services this year.

The Sports Truth has its eye on sports… and enjoys nothing more than to spout its truthiness at every turn. So with a nod to the the incomparable Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, we pay tribute to recent developments in the sports world with our very own version of the “On Notice” board. We have no intention of letting stat corrections, K-Fed and marathon-running cyclists off the hook:

Certainly an eclectic assortment of items, individuals, and inanimate objects in the crosshairs this time around. Time for an in-depth look at what the Sports Truth is putting on notice:

1. With Brandon Webb being named the National League’s most outstanding pitcher for 2006, the legendary hurler for whom the award is named must be rolling in his grave. Or scratching his head trying to figure out who the hell Brandon Webb is.
2. O.J. Simpson may be the worst person on the planet, but Regan Books, the company publishing his newest literary work, If I Did It, is selling out and giving this waste of oxygen a forum. You’re on notice, Regan Books. And most likely going to hell. Dress accordingly.
3. 51.1. The amount, in millions, the Boston Red Sox will pay on top of any contract offered Daisuke Matsuzaka. We understand the craftiness in bidding $51.1M instead of $50M, but when the next-highest bid is rumored to be around $40M? Come on, people!
4. He struck gold when he somehow convinced Britney Spears to marry him, but Kevin Federline couldn’t keep it together. His antics and deadbeat nature forced Brit to divorce him, costing him access to millions of dollars, private jets, a hot wife and two of his four kids. Nice work, K-Fed!
5. No one decides to run the N.Y. City Marathon on a whim, finishes in under three hours, then says they thought it’d be easier. Whatever designer steroids Lance Armstrong is on, we condemn thee.
6. Hey, NFL: Next time you go change the scoring of a critical play days after it happened remember that some of our fantasy football seasons are on the line.
7. College basketball season hath begun. That means more Dook than a sane person can stomach.
8. Package stores make the list for two reasons. One, New Englanders’ moronic insistence that they be called package stores. It’s a liquor store, not a UPS or FedEx depot! Second, for their recent scare campaign in Massachusetts. The Sports Truth could not care less if grocery stores in the Bay State sell booze, but the liquor store lobby’s assertions that mass hysteria and anarchy would ensure if they did signaled a new low in political advertising. And cost us $20.

Last week, rumors regarding who won exclusive rights to negotiate a contract with Daisuke Matsuzaka (right) and his agent, Scott Boras, began to swirl and the Boston Red Sox were the unlikely (at least to this writer) team predicted to be the winner.

Rumors of bids in excess of $40 million floated around, mostly to the stunned eyes of sports fans (again, including this columnist).

“$40 million for the rights simply to negotiate with a pitcher estimated to be on par with Roy Oswalt?!” gushed the talking heads of Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption, and other sports talk shows.

It seemed preposterous, but little did they know.

At 8 p.m. Tuesday, Major League Baseball and the Seibu Lions reported that the Boston Red Sox had won the bidding for the Daisuke Matsuzaka’s rights. The surprising part was the total: $51.1 million dollars. This total is reportedly well ahead of the second place bid; $39 million by the New York Mets.

The aftershock of such a huge bid was astounding. Even Yankees fans were crying foul. A Red Sox fan and longtime friend of yours truly called to say that he couldn’t go on like this with the Red Sox anymore and was switching to the Phillies (conveniently located in Philadelphia, where he resides). Met fans started calling the Red Sox the “Evil Empire,” an ironic statement, as this marks the first time the Mets have been outbid for anyone since Omar Minaya took over.

What is most interesting about the $51.1 million dollar bid is not the staggering sum of money it represents, but the exact nature of the bid.

This was not some arbitrary bid thrown out there. This was a bid designed not to lose, and that could mean a multitude of things.

First, let’s examine the precise amount of the bid and its purpose. The most obvious fact is the size. $50 million dollars to negotiate with a player when the former high was $13.3 million (for Ichiro Suzuki) and most people expected a bid of $40 million to win. Bidding that much more than the anticipated high bid emphatically states the Red Sox earnest in hoping to sign Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Secondly, the Red Sox bid $51 million. Adding the extra million to the already-high $50 million bid ensures that if another team tries to high ball the offer at $50 million, the Red Sox have them beat. That explains the $0.1 million (or $100,000) portion of the bid as well. In case any other club was trying to be sneaky and slip in a bid of $51 million, the Sox it covered.

While a $50 million bid would most likely be the high offer, by making it $51.1 million, the Red Sox put together an offer that would not lose the bidding war.

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In dollars, it comes to $51.1 million.

In yen, it is about ¥6 billion.

Whatever currency you want to go by, that’s what it’s going to cost the Boston Red Sox to speak to — not necessarily sign — 26-year old Japanese righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka (right).

Making a record-setting bid that blew away offers from the rival New York Yankees, Mets and others, the Red Sox won the auction for the pitching ace who was named MVP of last winter’s World Baseball Classic.

Now the Sox have 30 days to sign Matsuzaka to a contract. If they don’t, they keep the money and the standout pitcher will have to stay with the Seibu Lions of the Pacific League.

“No one could believe the amount,” he told reporters Wednesday at Narita Airport before boarding a flight to the U.S. “I’m happy, but there will certainly be pressure. I’m not a Red Sox player yet, so I haven’t thought about it deeply, but if a contract is done I want to visit the stadium.”

The previous high bid for a player from Japan was $13.125 million by the Seattle Mariners for Ichiro Suzuki prior to the 2001 season.

“We have long admired Mr. Matsuzaka’s abilities and believe he would be a great fit with the Red Sox organization,” said Boston GM Theo Epstein.

Boston’s bid shows exactly how the market for pitching talent has soared (if Brandon Webb can win the Cy Young Award, there’s no telling), and also how far the Red Sox are apparently willing to go to stymie the Yankees. There are theories that Boston’s bid is merely a ploy to block others from getting Matsuzaka — although the pitcher’s agent, Scott Boras, does not seem worried.

“I’m going to first assume that this whole process was done in good faith,” the evil agent said.

Seriously, why does this guy have to be represented by Scott Boras? Doesn’t he taint enough American players? If the Red Sox are truly interested in signing him, estimates of what it will take range from $7-10 million annually over 3-4 years. Don’t be shocked to see Boras try to bilk a three-year, $45 million deal out of Boston, though. Yes, he’s just doing his job. Yes, it’s a business and yes, the financial side of baseball is fascinating. But he’s still the breathing embodiment of everything we don’t like about pro sports.

Regardless of Boras’ impact, can you imagine paying upwards of $90 million over 3-4 years for a guy who hasn’t thrown a pitch in the major leagues. People can talk about the inroads Boston will make in Japan all they like, but this is a staggering amount of money. Hopefully, the team will gain some leverage in the fact that Matsuzaka does not want to return to Japan, which he must if a deal isn’t struck.

Boston has until December 14 to sign Matsuzaka, who was 17-5 with a 2.13 earned run average and 200 strikeouts for the Lions this year. He throws around 95 mph, or 152 kilometers an hour, has good off-speed pitches and is known for his “gyroball,” which has been likened to a screwball.

But can he hold up in the U.S.? Can he help get Boston back to the World Series? Do the Sox even have intentions of inking him? We’ll have to wait and see.