NAPLES, Fla. -- The lure for the Japanese baseball fan will be watching the matchup between Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Matsui.
Evidently, a Japanese rivalry within the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry is blockbuster good.
"This story is huge," said Sports Nippon baseball writer Hideki Okuda. "It's huge news because Matsuzaka has become a national hero, and now with the posting -- if it's true that it's more than $40 million -- people look at that as crazy money, not only in Japan but everywhere."
Matsuzaka's current team, the Seibu Lions, held a news conference last night, but only to say there will be a simultaneous announcement with Major League Baseball tonight on the status of the pitcher's posting, the process in which US teams can bid for the right to negotiate for his services.
Multiple sources indicated last night that the Lions will announce they have accepted the top bid, which ESPN's Peter Gammons reported will be the Red Sox' $42 million offer (though some peg it closer to $50 million). Once the high bid is accepted, the team that made it will have 30 days to work out a deal with Matsuzaka's agent, Scott Boras.
Even on the verge of this historic overture, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein -- who again declined comment on anything concerning Matsuzaka -- made two other offers on free agent pitchers, whom he would not identify.
For the rest of the baseball people here for the general managers' annual meetings, Boston's acquisition of Matsuzaka seems only a formality, though there's always the potential for negotiations to get sticky.
"I've watched him on video," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, "and with his stuff, he could win 25 games in our league."
Though Matsuzaka is a popular player in Japan, the Lions play in Japan's Pacific League, which is not as high-profile as the Central League. The Red Sox-Yankees element to Matsuzaka's signing would provide great drama in Japan.
"The Red Sox-Yankees series will have new meaning to people in Japan because you have one of the best hitters against one of the best pitchers," said Yasuko Yanagita of the Hochi Shimbun sports newspaper.
"Boston is a popular team because they won the World Series not so long ago, and if Matsuzaka plays for them and Matsui plays for the Yankees, it will create excitement."
According to Yanagita, David Ortiz and Manny Ramírez are also popular in Japan, and adding Matsuzaka to the mix will draw more attention to the Red Sox, especially when they play the Yankees.
Yanagita thinks the acquisition of Matsuzaka would put a lot of Japanese reporters on the Red Sox beat full-time. When Matsui joined the Yankees, there were more than 150 Japanese media at the team's spring training camp in Tampa, and now 30-50 reporters and TV crews follow Matsui.
