CENTER FIELD :: A Tale of Two Offers

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A Tale of Two Offers

The Red Sox front office guys have been busy little bees. Reportedly, the Sox have made two offers - one to Jason Varitek and one to Junichi Tazawa.

Per Rob Bradford, the Red Sox offer (categorized as "initial") to Varitek is for one year - and, not surprisingly, is for less than the $13m annual haul earned by the Yankees' Jorge Posada. That kind of short-term deal is most definitely not what super-agent/demon spawn Scott Boras is looking for, and is likely either an offer designed to be rejected offhand by Varitek... or as some kind of stalling tactic to buy the Sox time to continue to explore other options. Boras swears Tek has options, too:

Boras said the Red Sox are not the only team bidding for free agent catcher Jason Varitek, but declined to go into specifics. "Yes, of course," Boras said. "Obviously, there are teams that are looking at a catcher than can win 60 percent of your games. There are teams interested."

Meanwhile, that same article notes that Jarrod "Please, please let me come play in Boston" Saltalamacchia is tearing up the Dominican winter leagues.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Red Sox have also reached across the ocean to make an offer to Japanese dynamo pitcher Junichi Tazawa. Reportedly, the price tag is set at $6 million, and included a long-term development plan for Tazawa. Despite what some (perhaps over-eager) folks have stated, Tazawa has not actually signed with the Sox, but is leaning very heavily Boston's way.

All of the news on the deal is being reported by Japanese outlets (and repeated by English-speaking papers), but SoSH poster TokyoSox has collected together a good list of basic points: the Sox are very strong frontrunners, although the Rangers have also made an offer (along with the Mariners and Braves). Terms of the Rangers' offer have not been disclosed but it's thought to be a MLB deal, and the longest/richest of the 4 offers he's received so far. Tazawa's manager says it's not just about the money or number of years in the contract, it's also about putting Tazawa's future first and helping him grow, and the Sox get that (and Tazawa also likes that there are other Japanese pitchers and staff on the team). Tazawa's people indicated they expect to reach a decision about the whole process in "3 to 4 days".

Here's a great stop-action photo of Tazawa's delivery -- and, bonus! awesome high socks.

I've also got video of Tazawa pitching, after the jump...

Comments (11)

[ mhcranberry ] says:
on November 24, 2008 1:51 PM

Not too shabby. Do we know if it's a major or minor league contract?

Also-- suddenly transported back to late March, 2008.

[ mhcranberry ] says:
on November 24, 2008 1:56 PM

For what it's worth, by the way, Boras is saying that he wasn't aware of any offer to Tek.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2008/11/boras_sox_haven.html

Who the hell knows what's really happening...

[ anne ] says:
on November 24, 2008 2:33 PM

Oh yes, please, Tazawa - we need more players that wear high socks!! (Saltalamacchia can come, too, I love him.)

[ jules ] says:
on November 24, 2008 2:36 PM

I hope we sign Tazawa. He's 22 and hasn't played in the pros in Japan, so I imagine he might start in the minors here.

Interesting news on Tek. I saw the link that mhc posted. She's right, who the hell knows (other than Theo). The next few weeks should be interesting.

[ jules ] says:
on November 24, 2008 2:39 PM

PS: Cheerleaders in baseball are just so wrong.

[ Karen ] says:
on November 24, 2008 2:44 PM

All I want for Christmas is Varitek.

[ Rachel C ] says:
on November 24, 2008 4:29 PM

Yes, I will want Tazawa 200% more if he promises to wear high socks!!

The only high-sock-wearing players last year were Timlin, Varitek, and Aardsma...and several of those are quite iffy for next year.

I yearn for the high-sock days of yore, when Millar, Trot, Timlin, 'Tek, Bellhorn, Mueller, Bronson, and many others wore them. ...sigh...chicks dig the high socks, people!!

[ Texas Gal ] says:
on November 24, 2008 5:41 PM

It's certainly to Boras' advantage to deny that the deal on the table is 1 year - because it totally wipes out any bargaining position he has with other teams.

On the other hand, the Sox will not (and cannot) comment to confirm the report of the 1-year deal.

I trust Boras about as far as I can throw him. I don't doubt he told Cafardo that - I just 100% doubt that Boras is telling the truth in any way, shape or form.

[ Liza ] says:
on November 24, 2008 7:18 PM

Agreed on the tall socks. They look so much better.

As for Tazawa, he seems like a good investment. I like his windup/delivery.

[ Twinkie ] says:
on November 25, 2008 9:38 AM

Ooh high socks! We need more guys who wear 'em. There's one guy who used to wear them all the time on his first team and I think he really really needs to do it again, Three guesses who I'm talking about and the first two don't count. ;)

[ Andy ] says:
on November 25, 2008 7:40 PM

I cannot understand the hype around Junichi Tazawa. First of all, he is not physically imposing at 5-11 180 pounds nor he has good athleticism.

Secondly typical Japanese/Taiwanese amateur baseball players don't go to normal high school. They want to schools with intense baseball programs and live in dormitories. By saying "intense" I mean they don't require to attend school as regularly as other students in the campus. Their primary objective is to play baseball. So training and traveling occupy majority of their school career. It's hard to say if they are mentally properly developed as North American players. But I guess it's the same case with Latin American players.

Moreover, Japanese/Taiwanese amateur pitchers normally have had too much workload . The concept of pitch count virtually don't exist until recently. If you watch NPB games they are still managers let pitchers pitch 150+ pitches.

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