Boom-Matsuzaka-laka

My long regional nightmare is over!

Not much to be said at this point, beyond mea culpas regarding certain earlier posts of mine.  Scott Boras got absolutely PWN3D.  Red Sox ownership is now officially Red Sox pwn3rship.  Brilliantly executed.

Now that I can breathe again, I'm more prepared to get excited about Matsuzaka's impending arrival.  In the cheerleading spirit, I thought Nick Cafardo's feature on the contract was very good, specifically the quotes from one of the few likable Yankees in history, Mike Pagliarulo.  Pags scouts Asian players (including Matsuzaka) and calculates what their value would be to American ballclubs.  He had unabashedly positive thoughts as a knowledgeable outside observer.  Excerpts:

When asked what he would have recommended as a posting figure for Matsuzaka, Pagliarulo said, "Fifty million. That's what I had written down long before the figures came out. That was based on the talent level of the player, the market for the player, and the value of the player to a team. The Red Sox did an excellent job in finding that value. They really did their homework."

[...]

Pagliarulo has watched Matsuzaka closely the past few years. "I only scouted him when the proper matchups were in place," he said. "If you're scouting him haphazardly against any hitter or team, you're wasting your time. I wanted to see how he reacted against top hitters and I analyzed his strikes in the strike zone. The thing about him is he wants the baseball. He wants to pitch in the biggest stage and in the biggest game.  If you beat him, he's not fazed by that. He comes right back at the next hitter. He's a winner. He'a tough kid on the mound and I think that should translate very well to the majors."

That kind of rave is encouraging.  Of course, I'm in a very easily-encouraged place right now.  I got excited this morning when the Japanese prime minister called Matsuzaka "Japan's best pitcher," and said "his ability was fully evaluated" by Boston.  I read that and thought, "Wow!  He wouldn't have said that if it weren't true!"  Basically, I'm a big sucker.  But I figure I'll take a few weeks to bask in the glow, and then move on to figuring out how this could go wrong, just so I'm prepared.