30 million just to negotiate with Matsuzaka? WTF?

Karak567 · #1 11-01-2006, 10:36 AM

Who would honestly pay this just to negotiate with him? I can't imagine he's worth 30 mil + a 15 mil/yr salary.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6124634

Daisuke Matsuzaka, the most dominant pitcher in Japanese baseball for the past eight seasons, is heading to the major leagues.

"I feel very relieved today," Matsuzaka told a packed press conference. "I've wanted to go to the major leagues for a long time and am happy this day has finally come."

Matsuzaka was 17-5 with a 2.13 ERA and 200 strikeouts this year in Japan, and he impressed many major league scouts last March during the World Baseball Classic, where he was selected MVP as Japan won the title.

The Seibu Lions said Matsuzaka's rights will be "posted," meaning that all 30 major league teams can bid on the 26-year-old right-hander. The team with the highest bid gains the right to attempt to sign the pitcher.

The Lions reportedly plan to seek $30 million from a major league team just for rights to negotiate with Matsuzaka. That's not including the $13-15 million annual salary he'll likely earn.

Matsuzaka has selected Scott Boras to represent him in negotiations with major league teams.

"I'm not sure which team I will end up playing for," Matsuzaka said. "I know there are several teams that are interested and I'll go with the one that most appropriately evaluates my ability."

The New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners have shown interest in Matsuzaka. The Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and New York Mets could also be in the running.

Kneel B4 Zod · #2 11-01-2006, 10:42 AM

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Who would honestly pay this just to negotiate with him?

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duh

samjjones · #3 11-01-2006, 10:42 AM

Do not underestimate the MLB clubs' ability to collude against Seibu.

BobLoblaw · #4 11-01-2006, 10:44 AM

I'd pay any sum of money for a pitcher who throws a Gyroball. Dood, its a Gyroball, he must be sweeeet.

danvh · #5 11-01-2006, 10:46 AM

Is there any truth to Japanese pitchers burning out early because they have to throw to many pitches? Ive read this as a side note in a few Matsuzaka articles.

HajiShirazu · #6 11-01-2006, 11:19 AM

Why do the MLB teams have to pay anything at all? Why can't he just get on a plane and sign a contract? This is America, we have no need for international law here, see poker legislation.
What are they going to do to us/the MLB anyway?

HajiShirazu · #7 11-01-2006, 11:24 AM

Yeah, this definately happens, they start the arm torture in high school over there. The team that won the high school national title (koushien) had a guy pitch a 16 inning complete game then come back and throw 7 the next day (would have gone the distance but he got shelled) during qualifying. Most teams run a 1-2 man rotation playing 2-3 games a week.
In the pros they have kind of modernized in recent years but starters (especially this guy) tend to go deeper into games. The difference is that they don't play baseball on monday and combining that with other off days they usually end up only pitching about one game a week, so on a pitches/season basis the workload is probably less than MLB.

silentbob · #8 11-01-2006, 12:10 PM

But from I understand, the damage to your elbow/shoulder comes from throwing pitches when tired (i.e., deep in games). So it's much worse to throw 180 pitches every six days than 90 pitches every three days.

JordanIB · #9 11-01-2006, 12:37 PM

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Who would honestly pay this just to negotiate with him?

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duh

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Needle77 · #10 11-01-2006, 12:40 PM

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Who would honestly pay this just to negotiate with him?

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duh

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I might be dumb, but I'm not sure if I'm on the same page as you. Are you meaning just the Yanks or Yanks/Sox/Mets/Angels/Mariners. Cause I feel its those 5 in the running.