Thursday news
DMZ · November 16, 2006 at 8:06 am · Filed Under General baseball
Devil Rays are top Iwamura bidder (mlb)
Frank Thomas may sign with Blue Jays (mlb)
Bonds, Giants spar
Also, because a reader emailed to point out we haven’t mentioned this beyond “the Missions left us”, the M’s had a whole affiliate shuffle.
AA swaps from San Antonio to the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx. The extra ‘X’ is for eXtra.
Their Cal League affiliate for A ball moves from Inland Empire to the High Desert Mavericks.
That 51 million posting bid for Matsuzaka is the “official” amount. But the actual amount may be significantly less.
I was reading the Sons of Sam Horn message board, and somebody on there quoted Peter Gammons’ private e-mail to him saying that the entire posting process is about as “shady as NCAA recruiting.” And the Red Sox possibly had some under-the-table deal with Seibu to kick back some of the posting fee. Gammons also hinted that this is how the Mariners got Ichiro.
As they say, that’s just bidness.
As they say, that’s just bidness.
That’s cute.
I would be inclined to say that that ISN’T “bidness” and that it violates some sort of anti-trust rule (or something, I’m not a lawyer). Regardless, that posting process is highly bizarre (not to mention flawed) and needs to be addressed before the predicted influx of Japanese and East Asian players.
“That’s just bidness.” Cracked me up. : )
Minor point: baseball is exempt from antitrust laws.
Let the Mets sacrifice their farm team for a Dontrelle trade.
I’m sort of glad I’m not the only person who thinks it’s a red flag that Willis’ pinpoint control went hoo-ha last year. After the severe overuse he’s had in previous years, for him to shoot up to a 3+ BB/9, 19 hit by pitches (previous high 8), and 6 wild pitches (previous high 2), should be concerning.
But, then again, one year’s worth of data may not be showing a trend, merely a blip on the radar.
Well… that should have said “previous high 8”, but love those smiley’s.
well, thats (51 million posting fee + 45 million contract)/2, which works out to 32 million per year. I’m not hatin’, but Boston could’ve signed Zito and Schmidt for that…
Can Zito and Schmidt pitch at the same time and figure out a way to occupy only one roster spot?
All of the evidence I’ve run across (and I’ve tried to find a lot of it) indicates that Matsuzaka will be a lot better than Schmidt or Zito. The Sox are making a calculated risk here, but like they say, no risk, no reward. Having a ginormous payroll to cushion the blow if he turns out to be a bust doesn’t hurt, either.
More Thursday news.
Cards sign Spiezio to a 2 year, 4.5 million extension with a club option for 2009. Friggin Spiezio
gosh, can we hope he reverts to the contract-holding Speez we all remember?
re: #52.
Sadly, that is how “bidness” really operates these days. See Enron et al. for examples. It would be suprising if Major League Baseball is immune, especially given its history of sordid scandals like the Steroid/HGH Era.
Minor point: baseball is exempt from antitrust laws.
Not to mention, this is an international transaction, so who exactly would pass that law? I don’t think the US and Japan have any treaties regarding ballplayers (though I believe they do have a tax treaty, and some aspect of this might fall under a clause of that, but IANAL and I certainly have never looked at that treaty).
I have a hard time equating this with Enron. Who is the harmed party? It’s not even clear there was an uneven playing field: Seibu might have been quite willing to return the same percentage (or even absolute dollar portion) of the posting fee no matter who won the process or how much the fee was — assuming they returned anything, which is hearsay at this point. Now, depending on how the Sox and the Lions account for the transaction they could get themselves into a heap of trouble with their respective taxing authorities, and if the “stated” posting fee has an effect on the Red Sox’ luxury tax the other owners might have a beef.
posting fee has no effect on luxury tax.
my problem with this conspiracy theory is what is in it for Seibu? A kickback on marketing rights?
61 – good points, but:
1) I believe it has been stated here before that posting fee’s do not affect luxury tax.
2) Offering the same percentage to every team doesn’t make much sense – it would be of no benefit to them, because the bidding field would be the exact same as it was prior to the offer. Offering it to teams with the budget to actually sign Matsuzaka benefits them; offering it to teams they know Matsuzaka has an interest in playing for benefits them; offering to everyone does not.
Sandfrog was quoted as follows in regard to his resigning with the Cardinals today:
“It’s a blessing to be a part of this organization with the tradition and the fans after two horrible years in Seattle when baseball just wasn’t fun.”
Well Sandfrog….it wasn’t much fun watching you occupy space for the two years you were in Seattle!
“It’s a blessing to be a part of an organization where I can dye my chin landing strip red, and not blue or green or something.”
What? Spiezio only got 4.5 / 2? I thought that awesome red rat tail under his lip was worth $3 million a year alone!
The Awesome Red Rat Tail has its own agent (Boras) and is negotiating a separate merchandising contract… (word is it’s looking for a deal similar to the one Ohno’s chin strip got in the wake of the ’02 Olympics)
complained about the J-Wash signing……….(or sign a no better Millwood)