Holy Crap that's a lot of Yen!

1) $51.1mm to buy the negotiating rights for Matsuzaka. So the Red Sox essentially paid Johnny Damon's contract for the mere rights to negotiate with a guy that has never thrown a pitch in the major leagues (and, interestingly enough, uses a pitch that has never been thrown in the major leagues). Granted, I'm pleased that the Sox are getting him instead of the Yankees (or, if they do a sign-and-trade, basically purchasing prospects). I guess we now know what the Sox did with all that Pedro/Damon/Clemens money that they decided not to spend.

2) Another reason this move makes good sense: the money doesn't count against the luxury tax. The Red Sox, along with about 4 or 5 other franchises, have the financial ability to actually carry out large contracts. Despite what some media might say in the coming days, this posting fits in perfectly with the organizational philosophy that the Sox have been flogging. The Sox have stressed building a farm system and have cheap players, young players with bright futures littering their roster. The Sox were not doing that to reduce payroll and try to get by with a $60mm payroll. They are stressing this so that they can afford to post massive sums of money for foreign players, young free agents, and other guys not on the downslope of their career. Fancy this: Matsuzaka is 26. He is the same age as Beckett and Papelbon. These are the type of player the Sox are targeting, and in this case they had an opportunity to flex their finances and essentially purchase a player without giving up any talent, made partially possible by letting Pedro and Damon age on the fields in New York. The Sox don't want to be in situations where they are paying for production up front in lieu of having long money still in players that are old and no longer viable players on a championship level (that is why Trot is taking a walk).

3) Also of note is that the posting fee will likely make some of the money back for the Sox. I bet that the $12-$18mm that the Sox outbid the Yanks will come back in ad revenue and other marketing opportunities in Japan, moreso than the Yankees would have recieved (mostly because they already have a pretty decent market penetration because of Matsui). Of course, if the Sox really want to capitalize on the market, they could also go after Iwamura...

4) Of course, if the Sox splurged on the posting fee and it has a negative affect on their ability to operate on the open market this winter (Maybe JD Drew?), well, then, that might not be ideal.

5) Look at this guy:



This is Mowgli. This is the newest addition to the McGuffin family, as my brother and his wife recently got him. Cute as all heck, eh?

(note: my brother's previous canine was named Bahgeera. Just a hunch, but I bet his third dog will be named Baloo).