Great story in The Boston Globe detailing the entire contract negotiations between the Boston Red Sox and Daisuke Matsuzaka [Wooing of pitcher was wowing].
Who knows, maybe you can be as lucky as Scott Boras in a negotiation, and be given the gift of time (a clock) from upper management.
By the way, if you are not interested in the whole Matsuzaka/Red Sox story and want to cut directly to the Boras section, start reading on page 5 of the 6 page story.
Here’s an excerpt:
To maximize the deal, he [Boras] had to create a perception, and the one he sought to create was that Matsuzaka was an elite player and therefore should be paid like one, which in a baseball market flush with cash meant he should be paid like Roy Oswalt, who had just signed a four-year deal for $70 million, or maybe even be paid more.
Some say that Scott Boras was beat in this particular negotiation, but I am not sure that there has to be a distinct winner and loser in every negotiation. I think that all interested parties will end up benefiting from the agreement in the long run…even the Seibu Lions.
-Darren Heitner
