yankeessuck013

doubt it, i heaard borass has had this press conference planned since the winter meetings.

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I dont know what everyone is getting freaked out by. This is SCOTT BORAS we are talking about. He was going to bring this down to the final hour no matter what the Red Sox offered. I imagine the night before the deadline we will hear they're back at the table, then mid day on the deadline day we will hear they are close, and by 10 PM rumors will leak that a deal is done

The funny thing is if Boras does not get him signed he can kiss any future Japanese players hiring him. If Dice-K doesn't sign with the Sox he will have no place to go as the Lions want the money b/c they are having financial troubles. He'll be in a Sox uniform with or without Boras. As far as the money goes Boras always goes high with the Sox and in turn they always go low but end up meeting in the middle. I figured the Sox would give him 12-13 a year (schilling money). Take Teks contract Boras said he had other teams offering him 5 years @ 12 a year (even though there were no signs of any other teams interested) and the Sox offer 3yrs @ 8 a yr hence the 4yr 40 million dollar deal.

Welcome, JD.

I think they over-payed but I cant hammer them to much b/c its a deal the Astros had to make because the Astros offense is so bad.

Gonzaga with the big upset over #2 North Carolina 82-74.

Daisuke Matsuzaka appeared intrigued with Boston's sales pitch before returning to Japan this week. "I have a feeling I want to come (to Boston) next season and I hope I can be (in Boston) in a good environment," he told Japanese reporters in Los Angeles. The Red Sox have until Dec. 15 to sign Matsuzaka. -------------------- Per Rotoworld

Also, OSU and Michigan are still #1 and #2 in the BCS Poll. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/BCSStandings The Trojans, who beat Cal 23-9 on Saturday to lock up the Pac-10's automatic BCS bid, passed Michigan and moved up to No. 2 in both the coaches' poll and the Harris poll. The polls count for two-thirds of a team's BCS average. Michigan remained second in the computer ratings that account for the other third of the BCS average. USC is third in the computers, a mark that should get a boost if the Trojans can knock off a highly rated Notre Dame team and crosstown rival UCLA the following week. After seeing the game last night ... I think Mich, OSU, Arky and Florida are all in the same league. I guess it'll be fair to see any of the three play OSU in the BCS title game.

Other rumors for you: -Bob Stoops may be interested if the right NFL job comes open; -Bill Cowher to NC State is looking more and more real...not from him, but from big-time bosters. They want to throw a lot of money at him and make it tough for him to say no. -Don't know what's up with Michigan State, except that the Mariucci has reportedly taken himself out of running for "family reasons." So, here are the other top names: Pat Schurmur (Philly Eagles QB Coach), Bo Pelini (Defensive Coordinator at Louisiana State), Charlie Strong (Florida DC), Central Michigan coach Brian Kelly, and Todd Grantham (Cleveland Browns assistant). -Brad Scott may go back to run FSU's offense. He was their OC once before and has been at Clemson. -Bobby Ross (Army) and Fisher DeBerry (Air Force) may both retire. -Lloyd Carr's job still not safe if they don't make and win the national title. A lot to be decided there in the next 2 months.

I'd like Theo to go after Meche.

the bid does not count against the payroll...why is that so hard to understand. John Henry's been saving millions of dollars per year. 40-50 million is chump change to a billionaire like him.

Pretty weird/gutsy statement considering you were one person who really wanted him on the NYY.

So, the Yankees have cut 20 million from the pay roll in 1 weekend Its interesting what they want in return to. All young arms They could be doing this for a multitude of reason. The 2 that I think are the most plausable are: 1.They have rededicated themselves to rebuilding the Farm system and have taken the attack the problem w/ numbers approach. There first 8 draft picks were pitchers this year and they seem to be gearing themselves on getting there future pitchers from the farm system rather then going the FA route which they have been burned on lately. Pitchers also retain there value and are much more valuable chips in trades. The returns wont be immediate but I think they know they have to rebuild the farm system. They went from having no pitching prospects that projected to be future aces to having 3 and maybe 4. or 2.The Yankees are loading up for a big trade. By aquiring as many young pitching prospects as they can they can make a competitive offer for say a Willis or a Kazmir. Kazmir is highly unlikely but isnt a player the Rays would consider trading untill the are fully certain he wont resign. The reality is that the Yankkes dont have to many movable parts at the major league level so by aquiring prospects they make themselves more flexible in the future.

Cubs Retain Aramis Ramirez Wow - an about face on everything we've heard lately about Aramis Ramirez. I was just reading about this complete failure and nodding. Ken Rosenthal reports that the Cubs have re-signed Ramirez at five years and at least $70MM. $70MM would be very much a hometown discount, but we still don't know the exact numbers. I guess Ramirez actually is fond of Chicago and the Cubs. By the way, why isn't ESPN on this yet? They should just acknowledge that Rosenthal does good work and link to his scoop. -------------------- From mlbtraderumors.com

Here's some news: Akinori Iwamura, 3B--Yakult Swallows: The Padres, Red Sox and Devil Rays all made bids for his rights. The Guardians and Phillies may also have made bids, though the Phillies had stated earlier this week that would not and the Guardians no longer have a huge need for him. The Swallows have till Thursday afternoon to accept or decline the estimated $5-10M winning bid. He is expected to seek $4-5M a year on a 3 or 4-year deal. Last updated: 12:34 PM - Nov 11, 06 by MLB4U.com | Source: San Diego Union-Tribune I'm glad to see that the sox made a bid. Now the waiting game begins, and we will hear something by Thursday.

Any idea who won the bid? He would be of great comfort to Matsuzaka.

If we win exclusive negotiating rights with him, Boras has no leverage in negotiations, other than threatening to go back to Japan for another season. I don't know how much Matsuzaka makes in Japan, but I would think it's less than 7 mill per year. If we offer her 10 mil/ yr I think he'd stay. He'd be leaving a guaranteed contract around $30 mill to go back to Japan. If he were to get hurt or regress in Japan, he would be losing a lot of money. I don't think this is just a play by Theo to block him from the Yanks and I do believe they will make an honest effort to sign him, because if this is just to block the Yanks, the Sox will have difficulty acquiring talent in the future from Japan and will also be damaging an untapped fan base for the Red Sox. I'm on record saying that they'll get a deal done, whether its 7 mill or 10 mill per year, because the Sox will easily make that up in TV and Merchandise sales in Japan. Curt Schilling was right when he said the Sox would be throwing around the money this offseason. I think this is worth the money and not just so that he won't be going to the Yankees. Matsuzaka is 26 and would give the Sox a fearsome four young guys in the rotation along with Beckett, Papelbon and Lester next season. Sometimes you have to overspend. But this guy has an average ERA of 2.54 over the last 4 years in Japan with over one strikeout per inning pitched or 9.3 Ks per 9 innings and averages 7 innings per start. It is definitely worth the money in this case. I also just read an article on cnnsi.com evaluating Matsuzaka and the author has a formula converting pitchers from Japan to the US and his stats are comparable to other top #1 pitchers in the game, and that's why the Sox went out and paid this much money for him. Here is the link if anyone is interested: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...aka/index.html We'll see if it works out.

If teams spend $200m on contracts for position players like a-rod, why not spend it on a pitcher? Pitching wins, it's been said over and over.

I've heard Iwamura has a swing that would translate into more doubles than HR's here in the states. And you have to wonder if he would have the same kind of first year that Matsui had with the Yankees. He wasn't a real HR threat right off the bat. He seemed to take a little while to adjust to the pitching before he really was able to drive the ball consistently. Iwamura is an interesting subject though. With no one on the Sox farm ready to step into third base short of Youk moving over from first base this guy might be well worth the gamble.

1310 Sports Radio in Dallas reported it.

Guess we'll have to wait for the official announcement.

I don't know how they know considering it was a closed/blind bid.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2654465 ESPN says an announcement is expected to come as early as Thursday. We will probably hear the winning bidder sometime tonight or tomorrow at the latest. Seibu has aparently been informed of the amount of the high bid.