Red Sox to negotiate with Matsuzaka in record deal
Seibu Lions baseball club has accepted a bid by the Boston Red Sox to negotiate with star pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka for more than 50 million dollars, a record for a Japanese player.
The deal, conducted under blind bidding, means the Red Sox have 30 days to reach a contract with the 26-year-old right-hander. If they fail, the Japanese club will keep Matsuzaka for a ninth season but lose the handsome payout.
The Red Sox will pay the Lions a total of 51.11 million dollars just for the rights to negotiate with Matsuzaka, said the club, which is owned by Japan's Seibu railway and hotel conglomerate.
"I hope from my heart that he can make come true the dream that he has had since he was 10 years old," Seibu Lions president Hidekazu Ota said in announcing the mega-deal for his club.
He signalled it was unlikely that Matsuzaka would turn down the offer from the Red Sox, who won the World Series in 2004.
"When I told him the news, he said he was happy with both the team and the price," Ota said.
"He's been evaluated to be at the top of his ability. I'm very happy," Ota said.
Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said they were "excited" at the deal.
"We have long admired Mr. Matsuzaka's abilities and believe he would be a great fit as a member of our organization," Epstein said in a statement.
Boston trumped other US clubs -- reportedly including the arch-rival New York Yankees -- for the rights to negotiate with the pitching sensation.
If Matsuzaka agrees to join the Red Sox, it would set the stage for a surge of interest in baseball-loving Japan in the consummate US team rivalry.
The New York Yankees feature top slugger Hideki Matsui, a national hero in Japan, giving Japanese fans the chance to watch how Matsuzaka pitches him when the Yankees face the Red Sox.
The two are among a growing number of top Japanese and other Asian or Latin American players who are pursuing their careers in the US Major Leagues.
The previous record for a Japanese player under blind bidding involved Ichiro Suzuki, who later went on to break the US record for hits in a season.
The Seattle Mariners in 2001 paid 13.1 million dollars to negotiate with Ichiro before signing him to a three-year deal worth 15 million dollars.
Ichiro earlier this year led the Japanese team in its hard-fought victory in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, a 16-nation event billed as baseball's answer to the World Cup.
Matsuzaka was named the Classic's most valuable player, spurring the interest of US talent scouts.
The Yokohama native has spent his entire career at Seibu, a relatively low profile Japanese team. His record is 108-60 over eight years with a 2.95 earned run average.
The Lions were bought in the late 1970s by Seibu's former boss Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, who was considered the world's richest man at the height of Japan's economic miracle a decade later.
Tsutsumi had a spectacular fall in 2004, resigning as Seibu's chief and later pleading guilty to charges of falsifying financial statements.
AFP
