That is also what I heard (see earlier posts in this thread), but that then leaves open the question of deciding what is a "serious" bid (and who decides it).
If the Cubs, Red Sox, or any other team bids say $35 million, is that not serious just because he may not sign there? If the Yankees decide they just HAVE to get him and go over the top and bid $75 million when the next highest is say $25 million, is their bid not serious? There is no way to decide that. The highest bid wins, period.
If Seibu or MLB feels a team is bidding that much money with no interest in signing him, only to block another team from getting him, the bid will not be counted. MLB is going to investigate how legitimate each bid is, that's what they have said publicly.
I'll try to find a link where it says exactly that, but I thought it was already well known that if Selig investigated and felt a team was placing that bid only to block another team, the bid would be disqualified.
The question is if the Red Sox outbid the Yankees would that not be serious conisdering that the Yankees always seem to overpay for everybody and anything.
Diamondbacks | Team to unveil new color scheme Wednesday Mon, 6 Nov 2006 10:06:24 -0800 MLB.com reports the Arizona Diamondbacks will unveil a new color scheme for next season. The Diamondbacks will switch from purple, teal and copper to Sedona red, Sonoran sand and black, and the new look will be unveiled Wednesday, Nov. 8.
Zito will make 15 mil per year easily if not more, so it isn't the same, there is a huge gamble either way with either one, but it just that we pay a lot more for D-Mat this year, but will get a lot of that money back through marketing, while we will have to deal with an overpriced Zito who for most of the last 4 years were one of the most overrated pitchers in the league
Unless Omar believes that Zito will be much better in the NL than he has been in the AL for the last few years, any deal for him will involve overpaying. As they say, it's not my money, but since the team is already overpaying for several people (Glavine if they sign him, Pedro, Beltran) this is a concern. $10 million here, $10 million there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money! As MSU notes, if Ichiro and Matsui are any indication, the deal for Matsuzaka should cost much less than it seems because of Japanese marketing and TV money. In fact, this is one reason why Matsuzaka is more valuable to the Mets, Red Sox, or Dodgers than to the Yankees or Mariners, since the latter two already have a big presence in Japan.
Also, looking back at other recent Japanese imports, the average salary is about 6 million, and that's for many who were free agents, not posted. That means there was more than one team to up the amount, and that's as high as it got. Given that the posting fee is a one time thing that doesn't count toward the team salary, teams should view it as a marketing expense for Japanese exposure. Matsuzaka probably won't end up costing as much as people seem to think in the long run.
