I can almost taste the turkey.
It may still be eight days away, but I can feel the excitement in the air. Thanksgiving is upon us. This is my last column before our glorious five-day break, and as such, I thought I'd share my personal list of a few things for which I'm thankful.
I'm thankful that the Celtics have finally won a game. I'm thankful that my phone, after 24 hours of playing dead, came back to life last night. I'm thankful that I don't live in a dorm whose residents are awakened by 2 a.m. fire alarms. And I'm thankful that my future senator, Jim Webb, became a national hero by winning the Virginia Senate race, giving the Democrats a 51-49 majority in the Senate.
But most of all, I'm thankful for Daisuke Matsuzaka.
For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past week, Matsuzaka is a 26-year-old pitching phenom from the Seibu Lions, famous for leading the Japanese team to a bronze medal at the Summer Olympics and a world championship at last winter's World Baseball Classic.
The Lions made him their first overall pick in 1998 after he posted one of the most memorable careers in high school baseball history. In his senior year, he led his school team to a national championship in legendary fashion - throwing 275 pitches in a 17-inning complete game, earning the save in the following game and then becoming the first pitcher ever to win the championship game by pitching a no-hitter.
Now he's 26, and he's in his prime. In 2006, he shattered his career highs in wins (17) and ERA (2.13) in Seibu, and on that note, he leaves his team after eight years to come to America.
It appears that the Red Sox have landed the most talented pitcher on the free agent market; according to Peter Gammons, the Red Sox' bid of $42 million is enough to land the exclusive right to negotiate with Matsuzaka and agent Scott Boras. Now, we all know that Boras has a long history of ripping teams off, and I'm certain that signing Matsuzaka won't be cheap. But I don't care.
Matsuzaka is worth every penny. I don't care if he signs a $100 million contract; I still want him, and here's why.
Every free agent the Red Sox get is another free agent the Yankees don't. This may sound like just sour grapes, but let me tell you a story.
This isn't the first time the Red Sox and Yankees have gone after a prized foreign import. Think back to 2002, when the Yankees, deprived of an AL pennant for the first time in five years, went on a spending spree. They signed Hideki Matsui away from the Yomiuri Giants in December, and then days later engaged in a bitter fight with the Red Sox for prized Cuban pitcher Jose Contreras.
Of course, the Yankees got him. They won the pennant the following year, and two years later, Contreras went on an epic 17-game winning streak, cementing his place among the best pitchers in the game. Theo Epstein, just weeks into his career as general manager, defended himself in the wake of his failure to land Contreras, saying that the Red Sox "went to the limit of fiscal sanity," but "would not go beyond.'"
It may have taken Theo four years to realize it, but eventually, he did - fiscal sanity is no way to beat the Yankees. This is a team that spent over $5 million this past season on Kyle Farnsworth, almost $8 million on Jaret Wright, and $25,680,727 on a third baseman (who shall remain nameless) who made 24 errors and was consistently booed out of Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees overspend at every opportunity, and call me crazy, but I envy them for it.
There are two different ways to run a baseball team. One is to employ a rational business strategy - to make your team into a well-oiled money machine and always watch that bottom line. The other is to throw money out the window and focus on your one and only priority: winning.
Most teams follow the former model. George Steinbrenner, however, proudly opts for the latter, and it's the reason he's won six pennants in the past 11 years.
That's why I'm thrilled to see the Red Sox pursuing Matsuzaka. Because it shows that the Red Sox are willing to compete with the 210 Million Dollar Men to the south. The $85 million gap between the two teams' payrolls is no small matter; it's enough to pay David Ortiz's 2007 salary - 10 times. Luckily, the Red Sox are beginning to appear willing to close that gap.
So when I sit down to my Thanksgiving dinner, I'll be proposing a toast to a 2007 Red Sox rotation that includes Daisuke Matsuzaka sandwiched beautifully in between Curt Schilling and Jonathan Papelbon. I hope you'll do the same.
Evans Clinchy is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major.
