Baseball: Daisuke Matsuzaka(!)

Scott Boras is a prick. And he is bad for baseball. My roommate Rob made a very cogent argument last night for how, objectively, that isn't the case, but I am not objective. And I think Scott Boras is prick who is bad for baseball.

But if ESPN.com is reporting correctly, the two sides are only $3 million a year apart at the moment and in spite of how much of a prick Scott Boras is, you have to believe a deal will get done today. On the Red Sox side, it's hard to justify losing a guy like that over $3 million a year when you just gave Julio Lugo $36 million dollars. On Matsuzaka's side, it's hard to justify letting your beelzebub of an agent hold you hostage and effectively take away the $8-14 million in earnings you'd leave on the table if you waited two years until free agency, not to mention the value of your exposure to the American market and how you'd be perceived in Japan for letting a few million be a deal breaker. There's a compromise in there somewhere, but whether it's closer to the Theo Epstein's figures or Scott Boras' is the question. Oh, and Scott Boras is a prick.


I'm really concerned with the amount of input DMat has on this matter. I definitely think Boras would stop at nothing to get the deal he wants, including misleading his client. It's obvious that Boras has a reason to not compromise with the Red Sox or with Matsuzaka; Whatever he ends up getting, that will be a measuring stick for Barry Zito's upcoming contract. Boras holds the top two free agent pitchers on the palm of his hand, and one contract will effect the other. So he's purposefully yanking Matsuzaka around in an effort to get leverage on Zito's first offer. Boras would rather let the best Japanese pitcher ever go home before letting him sign an 8 million dollar a year contract, even if it's in the best interest of his client. That way, a small DMat contract won't cause Zito's money to come down.

And to you roommate, I would explain to him that, like I just previewed, Boras only has his own well-being at heart, not his client.

Exhibit A: Alex Rodriguez. Arod could have signed with Texas for unreal money and never won a division OR he could have gone to the Mets (where he said he wanted to go before the 252 million dollar contract was signed). The Mets were ponying up 200 million, but Arod would have been happier. Instead, he signed his life away to Boras, as all of his clients are forced to go. (The Satan analogy is not lost on me.) When players sign with Boras, they forgo negotiating rights with teams. Boras handles it all. Why? Because a player will take less money to sign with a team he wants to play with, but for every dollar less he accepts, that costs X percentage. If X=10%, then that's 100 thousand dollars Boras loses for every million dollars less his client accepts. So, Arod breaks the bank, has some great years on a crappy team, then Texas trades him to the Yankees, and the rest is history.

Exhibit B: All players which don't get drafted because Boras represents them. This hurts their draft pick and their guaranteed money. Rick Ankiel comes to mind. If the Mets drafted Ankiel with the #6 overall pick, he makes more money. But they didn't draft him because of Boras. Ankiel ends up sliding to the 72nd pick, doesn't make a lot of money upfront, and ends up having a crappy career and never hits it big. He probably has to work when he's out of baseball now.

There are more exhibits, but I'll let you take it away. How about this: What's the max you would give him?


On a tip from my friend Dan around 12:45pm: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/

Hopefully we get the details soon.

Details: 6 years, $52 million. Watch the video of Matsuzaka heading into Mass. General Hospital to get his physical last night. That is simply an AWESOME coat.