Fifteen million a year? Please. If [Matsuzaka] and [Scott Boras] are still asking for that today, the Sox have one choice and one choice only. They should help Matsuzaka pack his bags, call him a cab, then drop him off on the street corner before they board owner John Henry's private jet back to Boston. Matsuzaka can go back to Japan, back to the Seibu Lions, who paid him roughly $2.75 million last year to dominate a second-rate league.
Somehow, somewhere along the line, a funny thing happened in these negotiations between Matsuzaka and the Red Sox: the tail started wagging the dog, the Red Sox started acting like the the ones that had something to prove. Boras is a brilliant negotiator and a master at leverage, and the Red Sox somehow came to believe that it was their responsibility to convince Matsuzaka to pitch for them.
Let's rewind here for a moment. The Red Sox did not create these rules. They simply have played by them. Through agreement between baseball officials from Major League Baseball and Japan, the Red Sox competed in an auction for Matsuzaka's rights. They won that auction. They have since engaged in discussion with Boras, who wants to treat Matsuzaka as if he were Barry Zito.
