ボストンのMatsuzaka 氏へようこそ。 (Welcome to Boston, Mr. Matsuzaka)

[JimG.]

Originally Posted by ChileMass

Roark - that's not gonna be a very popular attitude up there in NH. You are way behind enemy lines, so better keep it to yourself. Remember that "Live Free or Die" and "Let's Go Red Sox" are equal local mottos.

Never told this story here:

I was at Dartmouth for my summer semester in 1978 when the Sox were 14 games up in early August. All my frat brothers knew I was from NY and a Yankee fan. They tortured me relentlessly, going so far as to announce in the dining hall that I was a Yanks fan so the whole school could ridicule me at dinner time. I learned to eat with drunken "Red Thawx" fans jawing at me and trying to intimidate me. All of the New Yorkers on campus learned to stay together in packs as a form of defense.

Then the Yankees came back; there was the 4 game "Boston Massacre" that pulled them even. And then of course Bucky Dent. In a flash every Red Sox cap disappeared from campus. And I enjoyed my revenge, part of which involved all of the NY Yankee fans serenading Red Sox fans from the middle of the quad at 3am in the morning, with microphones and amplifiers to make sure everyone heard.

Bucky Dent was my sports hero for years after that.

[roark]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...yhoo&type=lgns

If Boston does work out a contract with Matsuzaka over the next 30 days – Boras will push for three years to get Matsuzaka back on the free-agent market before he turns 30, and the Red Sox will pull for four or five years to get the full value of the posting fee they pay the Seibu Lions – he becomes the new Alex Rodriguez, around a $25 million-a-year man.
Only he'll play in one-fifth the games.

...

As sound a maneuver as signing Matsuzaka seems for the Red Sox – they import a No. 1 pitcher ready to enter the prime of his career and block the New York Yankees from signing him – this is dangerous for baseball. Though the infusion of cash into the game calls for an equitable amount to go to the players, here is what the public, already wary of exorbitant salaries, sees: The Red Sox paying more per year for a player who has never thrown a major-league pitch than Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Randy Johnson or Ken Griffey Jr. ever made in a season.
Now it's salaries on steroids.
With its posting bid, the Red Sox threw into flux a market already primed to go nuts. However much it changes things this winter – Alfonso Soriano will get his $100 million or more – the ramifications of the Matsuzaka deal will sock baseball in the face next winter, when there's a free-agent class worth spending over. Would it surprise anyone if Ichiro Suzuki, Andruw Jones, Vernon Wells, Bobby Abreu, Carlos Guillen and Carlos Zambrano signed contracts worth a combined $650 million?
"And this," one American League personnel man warned, "is just the start."

[JimG.]

Originally Posted by roark

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...yhoo&type=lgns

How totally ironic!

The Sox will be the catalyst for salaries escalating out of control, not the Yanks.

Hey, we can call you guys the Boston Steinbrenners from now on.

[jack97]

Originally Posted by JimG.

How totally ironic!

The Sox will be the catalyst for salaries escalating out of control, not the Yanks.

Hey, we can call you guys the Boston Steinbrenners from now on.

This is the reason why I won't watch MLB baseball. Way out of control.

If I have time, I don't mind watching a couple of innings of little league or what ever is on the neighborhood field.

[smitty77]

IMHO, that money (and the money to fund the resulting contract) could have been much better spent on a few, good free agent pitchers or up and coming prospects. You don't build depth by pinning your hopes on one guy. And he's not even proven to boot. All I can think of is BK Kim all over again.

[2knees]

Originally Posted by JimG.

How totally ironic!

The Sox will be the catalyst for salaries escalating out of control, not the Yanks.

Hey, we can call you guys the Boston Steinbrenners from now on.

actually, it isnt the red sox or the yankees. I was half listening to some talking head on espn who works for Scouts Inc. he was saying that the amount of money available to each team through revenue sharing and what have you was going to drive the price up on all free agents. The guy was saying the Jeff Suppan may end up making like 10 million a year next year. The whole salary structure was going to go waaaayyyy up.

[Paul]

Originally Posted by smitty77

IMHO, that money (and the money to fund the resulting contract) could have been much better spent on a few, good free agent pitchers or up and coming prospects. You don't build depth by pinning your hopes on one guy. And he's not even proven to boot. All I can think of is BK Kim all over again.

No offense Smitty, but you sound like the callers on the Big Show..

I'm not saying I'm 100% behind Andrew Diceclay Matsuzaka (cool Berman impression, no?) however, the only 2 FA hurlers that will be available are Zito and Schmidt. Schmidt at best might be another Beckett, transitioning to the AL, and Zito, although a proven commodity, hasn't exactly struck fear into opposing offenses. He's good, but he's no Clemens. Plus, he's a bit older than Domo Arigato Mr. Matsuzako...

And next year Shill takes a hike.

Could you imagine this line-up?
Zito / Schmidt
Beckett
Papelbon
uh...Wake?
uh...

ugh...



no...

Cl..

C..
Cla...


Clem..eh....uhhhhh...

That friggin' jug-eared hick

[ChileMass]

Bleacher seats at Fenway, 550 feet from home plate going for $150 each - you heard it here first.

Jimmie G - here's my 1978 story:

By the time I went back to Albany State in late August for my sophomore year, Fisk and Lynn were on the DL, Zimmer had blown the Sox summertime lead down to just a few games, and the Yankee fans in my dorm were hysterical for Red Sox blood. When the 4-game Massacre happened over Labor Day, it was relentless. While you were getting crap up in Hanover in August, I took a solid month of abuse in September from everyone in my dorm (about 300 guys). Albany State was (and still is, I believe) about 85% residents of the 5 boroughs of NYC, plus Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and Rockland counties. Then there was me - the Red Sox fan from Maine and Glens Falls. I might as well have been from Neptune. Even after the Sox won their last 8 straight to tie the Yanks in game 162, there were exactly 2 other Sox fans sitting in my room with me watching the playoff game on a TV I had rented from the electronics store around the corner. I couldn't afford the $35/day rental fee, but I also couldn't miss the game and there was no way in hell I could survive watching the game in the only dorm TV lounge with all the Yankee fans. No way. But, when the Sox won the coin flip and the game was scheduled to be played at Fenway, I made five $20 bets (that I also couldn't afford) with the five biggest Yankee fans in my dorm, just to shut them up and to prove that the Sox had someone on their side. But deep down, I was trembling.

OK, so we all know the Sox won the World Series in 2004, but the 1978 playoff game was much more intense. Much more intense. Hard to imagine 28 years later, but it's 100% true. The 4th game of the 2004 World Series was a formality - the Cards rolled over and we won. The 6th and 7th games of the 2004 ALCS were more like the '78 playoff game. That game was totally do or die, and baby, back in those days it was truly do or die - possibly more than now - ?? The Yanks and Sox hated each other and those players probably still do. I HATED Reggie Jackson and Mickey Rivers and Graig Nettles and Munson and Chambliss and Pinella and Gossage and Guidry and Billy Fucking Martin and George Steinbrenner more than you will ever know.

Sox fans wanted to win so incredibly badly that the game at Fenway was pretty much played in silence punctuated with screaming fits of ecstasy and rage. Sox fans were so uptight it wasn't even fun. We HAD to win. When Yaz hit the solo homer in the 2nd inning, we went nuts, but we had to keep cool since a very-average Mike Torrez was pitching against Ron Guidry who was all-world that year. The Sox were nursing a 2-0 lead when Bucky F. Dent popped the fly over the Monstah and Yaz slumped like a rag doll at the base of the wall when the ball didn't come down. The Yankee fans in the TV lounge down the hall banged on my door and almost broke it down (it was locked, thanks). Even when Reggie homered to put the Yanks up 5-2 in the top of the 8th, I still thought the Sox could come back. The 1978 Sox team was that good. But as usual, it was obvious that God is a freakin' Yankee fan and somehow allowed Pinella to catch Lynn's liner in the 8th and blindly snag Remy's potential game-winning double (shoulda been a triple) in the 9th, or else the Sox win. But - as always - the Yanks won when Yaz popped to Nettles with runners on 2nd and 3rd. I thought the world had ended.

In 2003 when Grady left Pedro in too long and the Yanks won on Boone's homer in the 11th, I threw my Sox hat into the garage and left it there for a few days. But when the Sox lost the playoff game to the Yanks in 1978, I was inconsolable. It was as if my family had gone down in a plane crash. This was the first time in my lifetime the Sox legitimately had a chance to win the Series, de-throne and humble the Yanks and perhaps start a dynasty. Go look up the roster for that team and check out how many Hall of Famers and Near Hall of Famers were on that team - and they never won a goddamned thing. Every year was the same thing. And when 1999, 2003 and the first 3 games of the 2004 ALCS happened, I was bummed but my heart was steeled from 1978. Even when the Sox lost to the Mets in 1986, I had the scar tissue from 1978 to protect me (but that was #2).

All right - I will give Yankee fans at least this much credit - in 2003 when Grady's brain fart blew the game, the next day all of my Yankee fan friends called or emailed to make sure I hadn't driven off a bridge. And in 1978 the 5 guys I made the bets with took me out and got me loaded on my own money. After about 10 Scotches I finally was cooled out enough to try to sleep, and I think it took me a week to get my head back on straight. As you can tell, even 28 years later and even after the Sox won the Series, 1978 still left a scar. And I know 2004 did the same for the Yankee fans..........

[smitty77]

Originally Posted by Paul

No offense Smitty, but you sound like the callers on the Big Show..

I'm not saying I'm 100% behind Andrew Diceclay Matsuzaka (cool Berman impression, no?) however, the only 2 FA hurlers that will be available are Zito and Schmidt. Schmidt at best might be another Beckett, transitioning to the AL, and Zito, although a proven commodity, hasn't exactly struck fear into opposing offenses. He's good, but he's no Clemens. Plus, he's a bit older than Domo Arigato Mr. Matsuzako...

I know as much about baseball as I do figure skating. But....
I will say I have been rather disappointed at the pitching in general in the majors over the last 6-7 years. Are the hitters really getting that good, or are teams not developing talent the way they used to, blowing kids up at 22, 23 years old instead of grooming them like Pappelbon? Beckett was supposed to be "the answer" with Lowell as "added baggage" and it turned out the opposite. Beckett sucked last year for what he was being paid. I just think it's an aweful lot of dough for a guy that has never thrown on this side of the world. Are we more likely to lose guys like Pappelbon when he's due for contract negotiation because we won't may him Matsuzaka money? It just sets a bad precedent. Let someone else front the big bucks and we'll pick him up on free agency in 3 years when he's just an average pitcher.

[roark]

Nice stories Jim & Chile, cool to read.