...big day tomorrow as red sox nation prepares to spread it's borders to japan...meet daisuke matsuzaka, pronounced die-skay, not die-soo-ke as the folks on WEEI butcher daily...which is funny because they routinely have no problem pronouncing his last name...anyway, can't say i knew much about this guy until the last month or so when it was revealed he hopes to head to america next season...apparently he's NASTY though, and the red sox are in dire need of a NASTY pitcher...this is a huge story here, by the way, with lots of news coverage and i even saw a japanese reporter at fenway this morning...
...the process for him to get into MLB is crazy...major league clubs have to offer bids to the seibu lions, daisuke's current team...the highest bidding team then must be approved by the club, and if approved, that MLB team has 30 days to complete a contract with daisuke...if they don't get that done, they don't have to pay the bid money, but daisuke will still be playing in japan next year...this process may seem ludicrous, and it is, but it also insures that the japanese clubs at least get something (a boatload of money) for losing their best players to MLB every year...
...i suspect something shady is going on behind the scenes...the sox apparently bid about $40 million, just to TALK to this guy...but the yankees and the mariners are favorites over here and i wouldn't be surprised to see a red sox offer not get approved, and after next season see him head to one of those other teams...my suspicion is rooted firmly in nothing other than the paranoia that comes with being a red sox fan...
...but there are a few reasons i would love to see daisuke end up on with the sox:
1. if he's all he's cracked up to be he will be a huge asset to the team
2. i will finally get to see sox games on japanese tv...there are yankees/mariners games and yankee/mariners digests on tv here every week, along with nightly sports highlights as to what happened in yankees/mariners/white sox/cardinal (any team that has japanese players gets coverage)
3. more red sox hats on the streets...i see a few here and there but there is yankees crap all over the place and i didn't move 5,000 miles away from home to have to deal with THAT...
...so if you count yourself as a member of the nation, cross your fingers that we'll land this guy!
4 comments:
i sent your little red sox visor in the last box, no? yes? yes, i think.
xo
yes you did, thanks...can't believe i forgot so much stuff last time i was home...
Sox will sign him. Or at least try to. There is a timer on bostondirtdogs.com showing the time the Sox have to sign him.
yeah i've seen that on the bdd's site...i'll breath easy when there's a tangible contract...until then, no expectations...i'm optimistic though...
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