Guest Author - David Landry
The Boston Red Sox have posted a $51.1 million bid to Japan’s Seibu Lions for the right to negotiate a contract with their pitching ace Daisuke Matsuzaka. The next highest bid was by the New York Mets at $38 million. Other teams involved in the bidding included the Yankees, Angels and Rangers. Experts had predicted that the bidding would top out between $20 and $35 million, so this was a surprising outcome.
The Red Sox have been working to reduce their payroll over the last two years, so this marks a major change in direction. It is believed that Matsuzaka’s agent, Scott Boras, will be seeking $15 million per year over three years. He wants three years so he can put Matsuzaka back on the market before he turns 30. This is the same Scott Boras who is seeking a $100 million deal for Barry Zito and who negotiated the richest contract in baseball history for Alex Rodriguez.
Matsuzaka first came to the attention of US baseball fans when he posted a 3-0 record in the WBC, including a win in the championship game against Cuba. Subsequently, much was made of the fact that he throws a pitch called the gyro. The gyro is most often described as behaving like a screwball, which is essentially a reverse curveball. Other descriptions ascribe mythical properties to the pitch (see link below). In fact, there may be no such thing as the gyro.
Is he worth upwards of $100M for three or four years? The answer may be yes if all angles are considered. Gyro or no gyro, Matsuzaka has five effective pitches. That’s one or two more than most major leaguers. In addition, it’s been estimated that the Yankees reap $21M per year in additional revenue from having Hideki Matsui on their team. The Red Sox may be anticipating a similar windfall to offset the posting fee.
How the Posting Process Works
The posting process was developed to compensate Japanese teams for making players under contract available to MLB. There is historical precedent for this as many Negro League teams were compensated by MLB teams for giving up players who followed Jackie Robinson into the major Leagues.
Teams submit a sealed bid, the bids are opened and the winning bid is presented to the Japanese team holding the player’s contract. The team can accept or decline the bid. If accepted, the money must be transferred within five days. The US team has 30 days to reach an agreement with the player. If no agreement is reached, the posting fee is returned.
Japanese Players in America
There have been a number of successful cross over players from Japan in the last twenty years. Ichiro Suzuki has been the most successful; posting what will surely be a hall of Fame career. Other standouts have been Hideki Matsui (my son’s favorite player), Tadahito Iguchi and Hideo Nomo. Three Japanese players have won the Rookie of the Year award, including Suzuki. Matsui came in a close second, but lost a number of votes in a backlash against these Japanese rookies who typically come to MLB with five or more years of experience in Japan.
There have also been several failures over the years coming from Japan. The most notable was Hideki Irabu, whom George Steinbrenner famously referred to as a “fat toad”. He managed to post an ERA of 7.09 in his first year with the Yankees and never distinguished himself for much other than his girth.
