If I'm the Red Sox, I stick to my guns. I tell Scott Boras to take it or leave it. And come midnight Thursday, if Boras gets up from the table and walks, I turn around and give $25 million to Roger Clemens.
I've just filled a hole in my starting rotation.
I've ensured that all of Japan will be climbing up Boras' back with a microscope.
And I've just saved $26.11 million.
Baseball's annual winter meetings came to a close yesterday, and there are now two major issues facing your free-spending, free-wheeling Red Sox: Matsuzaka and a closer. The latter is a problem that could take some time to solve. The former will play out by midnight on Thursday, at which point the Sox' exclusive 30-day negotiating window with the pitcher slams shut.
From the very start of Matsuzaka Mania, the Sox have known this negotiation was going to be a case of kidney stones. As we here at the Herald told you almost two weeks ago, the Sox’ initial offer placed Matsuzaka’s average annual value in the range of $7 million to $8 million. Boras was targeting something more like $15 million in a classic case of apples and oranges.
Despite what anybody tells you, that is not normal. In fact, nothing about the entire Matsuzaka sweepstakes could be categorized as normal. It’s not every day that someone walks into a car dealership and forks over $51.11 million for the right to drive an automobile that has never really been road tested.
At this stage, there remains every probability that the Red Sox and Boras will get a deal done by Thursday. After all, we live in a deadline-driven world where people do things only when they have to. But the simple truth is that the Red Sox have been far more reasonable in this negotiation than Boras has, and Clemens would be a nice alternative if there is no deal with Matsuzaka.
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木曜日の夜まで時間は十分にある。
万一、松坂と決裂しても、クレメンスはレッドソックスには入らないだろう。