is Daisuke Matsuzaka going to mlb this year

[albanese]

just read something on him..What is known: The New York Yankees want him. Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP, Seibu Lions (Japan) – Projected contract: four years, $50 million.. 25-year-old Matsuzaka in the midst of his best season yet – 10-2 with a 2.03 earned-run average, a Japan-best eight complete games and 114 strikeouts in 102 innings ..maybe i should wait and use my waiver on him??????

[The Big Train]

He isn't going to play here this year. He's under contract with Seibu. There's no guarantee he will play here next year either since Seibu has the right to decide whether to post him or not. It seems likely they will since he wants to play over here. Seibu will get a lot of cash in return and he will figure to get a huge contract from someone like the Yankees or Mariners.

[Philliebuster]

He isn't going to play here this year. He's under contract with Seibu. There's no guarantee he will play here next year either since Seibu has the right to decide whether to post him or not. It seems likely they will since he wants to play over here. Seibu will get a lot of cash in return and he will figure to get a huge contract from someone like the Yankees or Mariners.

[The Loveable Losers]

He isn't going to play here this year. He's under contract with Seibu. There's no guarantee he will play here next year either since Seibu has the right to decide whether to post him or not. It seems likely they will since he wants to play over here. Seibu will get a lot of cash in return and he will figure to get a huge contract from someone like the Yankees or Mariners.

This is right on but I'd like to add a bit to it. Matsuzaka would be Japan's equivalent of an unrestricted free agent in the 2008 season. If Seibu allows him to post (ie pursue FA in the US prior to becoming an unrestricted FA) Seibu stands to rake in somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 million dollars as there is a bidding process (I believe the bids are blind but can't remember that offhand) for the rights to negotiate a contract with a posted player and the Yankees and Mariners are both expected to bid agressively. If they don't allow him to post and he comes to the US just one year later Seibu gets nothing in compensation for him leaving. I can see almost no reason that Matsuzaka - who already has stated repeatedly he wants to play in the US - will not be here in 2007. The money is just too big for Seibu or Matsuzaka either one to ignore.