According to a report by Buster Olney of espn.com, the Red Sox may have won the rights to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka, of the Seibu Lions, and his agent, Scott Boras. It is reported that the Sox may have bid upwards of $40 million dollars just for the right to negotiate. The Seibu Lions have until next Tuesday to announce their intentions.
For those who don’t understand why the Red Sox are bidding for him, I will explain briefly. Most Japanese players who are under contract and want to come to the Major Leagues are usually put up to bid by their team in Japan. Teams will bid on the player. Those bids are given to the Japanese club. The Japanese club usually has a week to decide whether or not they want to accept the highest bid. Once they accept the highest bid, they are then notified of the winning team. The winner of the bid then has 30 days to get the player signed to a contract otherwise he is returned to his team for the upcoming season.
Ultimately, the Red Sox could end up spending about $80 to 90 million dollars for Matsuzaka. He should command a $10 million dollars a year contract and knowing the antics of his agent, Scott Boras, he will probably get at least that a year.
