Daisuke Matsuzaka: Boston’s $51.1 Million Man (and Counting)
November 16th, 2006 by Lucas Dwyer
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.
