Orlando, Fla. – When Daisuke Matsuzaka arrived in Los Angeles last month to begin discussions with the Boston Red Sox, Rockies second baseman Kaz Matsui welcomed him into his home.
They are close friends, former teammates with the Seibu Lions. Matsui’s wife made dinner at their Brentwood estate, and the pair talked about the big leagues and raising kids in the United States.
Matsuzaka, for whom the Red Sox paid $51.11 million for negotiating rights, left happy, slightly more comfortable in a foreign land. And that was before Gil Meche ($55 million), Ted Lilly ($40 million), Vicente Padilla ($34 million) and Adam Eaton ($24 million) signed.
America, what a country. Never has there been a better time to be a talented pitcher, specifically from Japan, which became a pipeline for big-league teams this winter. What’s with the sudden adoration with arms from the land of the rising sum?
“There’s a fascination because none of them have ever failed here,” Cleveland Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said. “You don’t know their warts like the other free agents. And there are other related factors as well.”
The infatuation results from a perfect storm of talent, the World Baseball Classic exposure and the dearth of pitching throughout the big leagues.
Matsuzaka has long been a star in Japan, labeled by fans as a national treasure. Yet, there was considerable suspicion the 26-year-old right-hander was overhyped. Then he came over for the WBC.
“That allowed scouts to compare directly the quality of the Japanese players against others outside the country,” Astros general manager Tim Purpura said. “They put forth a great effort.”
Matsuzaka, in fact, won MVP honors in the inaugural event. Nothing was lost in translation, forming the seeds for the Red Sox’s historic posting bid that will be returned if they don’t sign Matsuzaka by 10 p.m. MST Thursday.
“He’s got the velocity, two breaking balls, and the thing I noticed is that he can throw his changeup in any count,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “That’s a great equalizer. Really, wherever good players are, you are going to see scouts there because teams are so competitive.”
If memory serves, the Yankees don’t like getting trumped by the Red Sox. So it was no surprise that after failing to secure Matsuzaka’s rights New York won negotiating privileges with Kei Igawa with a $26 million bid. The 27-year-old left-hander, if signed, will fill a spot in the back of the rotation.
“We’ll see if it’s a trend. It’s too early to say that now,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “In this case, it was just two guys that people thought highly of.”
Fair enough, but that’s not necessarily the case for Hideki Okajima, a 30-year-old left-handed specialist who joined Boston for $2.5 million over two years as a free agent. The reality is there isn’t enough good pitching to spread among 30 teams. As former Yankees great Rich “Goose” Gossage put it, “Most clubs only have three good starters.”
And holiday shopping offered no relief, with pedestrian starters like Meche, Lilly and Padilla priced as if they were on the racks on Rodeo Drive.
“The supply doesn’t even come close to meeting the demand with free agents or through trades,” said Phillies assistant GM Mike Arbuckle, smiling after his team acquired workhorse Freddy Garcia in a deal with the White Sox.
That the Japanese players are available this offseason is also a reflection of a new business strategy by their teams.
By Japanese rules, a player cannot become a free agent until after his ninth season. Matsuzaka and Igawa were posted – it’s a pseudo silent auction – before reaching that threshold to help their clubs regain financial footing. Their teams receive the entire posting bid, but only if the player signs. “It’s an easy way to make money,” Cashman said, “and the posting system is something I hope they change.”
There wasn’t necessarily a need to look to the Far East as recently as two decades ago. But the United States is not producing as many major leaguers, particularly in the African-American community, as in years past. The game has a heavy foreign flavor, with more and more stars coming from Latin America and even Canada.
“There are 300 million people in the U.S. and we can’t get enough players. That tells me we are losing a lot of players to other sports,” Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi said. “And with the world getting smaller, you are ultimately going to go to where the talent is.”
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
