Offseason Lowdown: Decision Time
Now we wait. The bids are all in for the right to try to sign Japanese ace Daisuke Matsuzaka, and now the Seibu Lions will decide whether to accept the winning bid. Within the next few days, we’ll finally know who Matsuzuka might be taking the hill for in 2007. But what else do we know about this guy? In this week’s Offseason Lowdown, we try to unravel the mystery that is Matsuzaka — a mystery that’s spun tighter than his mythical gyroball (or is it real?).
We’ve also got notes about San Diego’s new manager, plus the big deal it swung yesterday, and whether it might re-sign catcher Mike Piazza.
All this, plus a cornucopia of other fantasy baseball goodies awaits you in the Offseason Lowdown.
Hey Rob – I’ve been a Matsuzaka fan for two years now. Our league allows us to draft players not in the MLB and I’ve been holding a spot just for him. My fingers are crossed he will end up in the NL, but something tells me he’s gonna be a Yank. Either way, I see him being closer to top 10 and maybe even being top 5 in SP’s today. But a tip to some of you, Kei Igawa is also gonna be something special. He’s a solid LHP, with a low 90’s fastball. He was the Central League Sawamura winner in ‘04 (Japan’s version of the Cy) and I see him being a solid #2 on a good team. he’s also a K/IP kind of guy. Pick him up if you can.
Thanks for the tip, Mike. As for Matsuzka, I agree he looks like he’ll be something special. I got a lot of feedback from this column, so apparently this guy is creating quite a buzz. One interesting conspiracy theory I had presented to me is that the Bosox could seriously outbid everyone to win the right to negotiate with him and then lowball him with a bid they won’t accept, forcing Boras to send the kid back to Seibu. Sounds like dirty pool to me, but hey, who knows?