101 Damnations

I'd just like to thank everyone who send cards, flowers and congratulations over my 100th post last Friday. That's very kind. I was a little overwhelmed by the big surprise party to celebrate 100 blog posts this weekend, and consequently was in no state to post yesterday. See what all the bacchanalian lifestyle buy you, people? Do you?

Actually, this weekend really held nothing but anxiety for Red Sox fans. Well, some lucky Sox fans got to experience "Christmas at Fenway" and buy some single-game tickets. The daughter of one of my colleagues had the privelege of spending about $2000 on a couple of games' worth. She did get one Yankees game in September, but also had to settle for an evening game in early April. Crikey. I wouldn't feel too badly for her, though- all the offseason buzz will, in my estimation, assure her or a tidy profit should she decide to...um...allow someone else to see the game in her stead.

So today, the news is the same as yesterday, which is the same as the day before. The Sox are still waiting on Scott Boras to blink in the Matsuzaka negotiations. They've taken a delegation out to Newport Beach, CA (Boras HQ) to make this thing happen before the deadline this Thursday. Boras, now starting to refer to Matsuzaka as "Fort Knox" (very classy, Scott) is posturing that his pitcher is worth $100 million, which means around $17 or $18 million over 6 years. The Sox last known offer was around $7 or $8 million per. I'm sure that Matsuzaka chose Boras for a reason, but he's taken over these negotiations in a way that seems somewhat unhelpful to his client. He has forbidden Matsuzaka from sitting in on the negotiations- probably for fear that he knows what the Sox are really offering and demands to accept it.

From what I can guess and what I've read, it seems like Matsuzaka, more than anything, just wants to play ball in the U.S. He doesn't want to return to Japan for another year or two, especially while he's in his prime. One or two years for a pitcher is really huge. I'm not suggesting that the Sox deliberately lowball this thing (especially with only two days to go), but they need to convince Boras that paying market for a non-free-agent and a pitcher who has never played in the majors is simply not reasonable. They need to make him present their offer of $10-12 million per to Matsuzaka and get his reaction. He must be the ultimate judge of what he can accept. I'm sure that Boras, when these negotiations started, said to Matsuzaka that he's got to just trust him completely, but it is starting to seem like Boras is taking advantage of that trust. I know I'm just a hopeless fanboy, but there is no one- except maybe Boras himself, that truly benefits from seeing these negotiations fall apart. Actually, I'd suggest that Boras stands much to lose as well. If the whole bit about saving face and not returning to Japan is true, if the deal falls apart and Matsuzaka goes back to Seibu next year, I'm guessing he enters the bidding process next year with a new agent.