Gammons: Red Sox Win Matsuzaka Bidding

Sources tell Peter Gammons that Boston's bid of $42 million for the right to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka "far exceeded any other team's offer".

At 2:59, SoSHer Carmine Hose posted this:

Just walked by Yawkey Way and there is a 3-man Japanese news team there. The on-camera guy is wearing a Red Sox jacket. They said it's not official, but it is the Red Sox who won the claim.

Have Sox Made Top Matsuzaka Bid?

Buster Olney, ESPN:

The Boston Red Sox may have posted the top bid for the right to negotiate with Japanese right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, according to Major League Baseball sources.

There has been no official announcement, and the Seibu Lions, Matsuzaka's team in Japan, have until Tuesday to accept or reject the high bid.

But, according to officials monitoring the bidding, the Red Sox bid may be between $38 million and $45 million. ...

If the Lions accept the top bid, the winning bidder has 30 days to reach an agreement with Matsuzaka. If a deal cannot be reached, he would return to the Lions for the 2007 Japanese baseball season.

I would have expected Theo to submit a bid, but I figured it would fall short (signing Matsuzaka would mean dropping a total of between $80-90 million (though the bid presumably would not come out of the team's payroll budget)). Then again, if Boston is serious, they'd have to submit a mega-bid to make sure they ended up on top of the MFY.

SoSHers have been trying to get a handle on what his Japan numbers might translate to in the AL. Also, Olney's short article mentions nothing about a Yankees bid.

Nick Cafardo adds some info from the Globe:

There's growing steam behind a report by ESPN's Buster Olney that the Red Sox might have submitted the top bid for Seibu Lions righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka.

One major league source indicated, "That wouldn't surprise me one bit. I have heard the Red Sox were very competitive. It would be a strike against the Yankees, who have been considered the front-runner, and it show Red Sox fans the team is serious about rebuilding what happened last season." ...

If that should happen, the Sox would have three starters -- Jonathan Papelbon, Josh Beckett and Matsuzaka -- all within that prime 26 years old range and the hope that lefty Jon Lester can eventually rejoin the staff.

Cafardo notes that a Fort Worth Star-Telegram report earlier today stated that the Rangers might have made the top bid.

A Top 10 Prospect List

Top Prospect Alert has put up its list of the Red Sox's Top 10 prospects:

1. Jacoby Ellsbury (23) OF
2. Clay Buchholz (22) P
3. Craig Hansen (23) P
4. Jed Lowrie (22) SS
5. Lars Anderson (17) 1B
6. Michael Bowden (20) P
7. Bryson Cox (22) P
8. Dustin Pedroia (23) 2B
9. George Kottaras (23) C
10. Daniel Bard (21) P

I know most of the names on this list, but don't follow the minors closely enough to offer any informed opinion. I'm not even sure how reliable TPA is. Any comments? (In TPA's Top 100, Ellsbury is #26 and Buchholz is #31.)

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Also, reader Tim O. tells me you can hear a podcast interview with Joe Castiglione here.

Wakefield's 2007 Option Picked Up

Tim Wakefield's $4 million option for 2007 was picked up by the Red Sox.

Wakefield was sidelined last July with a stress fracture in his ribs and pitched only 140 innings, his lowest total since 1999. In 23 starts, he had a 4.63 ERA -- approximately the same as the AL league average (4.61). His ERA+ of 100 was second best on the staff, behind Curt Schilling (112) and ahead of Jon Lester (97) and Josh Beckett (92).

Wakefield:

As far as my health is concerned, I feel great ... I'm looking forward to getting back to the gym and starting to throw, probably by the first part of December. My body feels a lot better than in July. ... I think time is the cure-all for this injury, and now that I’ve been off for a month, it feels really good. ... I plan to pitch as long as the Red Sox continue to pick up my option.

Two more Boston players -- Alex Gonzalez and Mark Loretta -- filed for free agency, joining Trot Nixon, Doug Mirabelli and Gabe Kapler.

Former Royals GM Allard Baird was named as Theo Epstein's assistant. He will oversee the team's professional scouting department.