The question here suggests itself: Is this a good move by the Red Sox, or is their plan to get on the overseas ball destined for failure?

The answer won't be clarified until the first week of April, but in the meantime we can be sure of this much: Although the Sox seem to have taken the offseason wheel from the New York Yankees by making a move on Matsuzaka, the Bombers are still riding shotgun.

 

Sometime between last offseason and this one, Theo Epstein and crew decided the Hub needed a financial empire on par with the one in the Big Apple.  Suddenly, young Theo has the traits of George Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman—including a fondness for dumping money on hearsay and hype.

 

By anointing Daisuke Matsuzaka as their savior to be, Boston has actually taken a step back in the AL East race. The Sox have holes all over the field—holes that won't be filled by a 26-year-old right-hander with no major league experience and a resume that's most notable for his showing in the watered-down World Baseball Classic.

So why is Matsuzaka so appealing that Theo blew $40 million just to chat with him? The simple answer might be that the Boston brass is tired of getting outbid by New York on every available foreign superstar. But the Sox should take a hint from the Yankees' "success" in the international market. By landing players like Jose Contreras and Hideki Irabu, the Bombers earned the right to pay a whole lot of cash for a minimal amount of production—Contreras' brief renaissance during late 2005 and early 2006 notwithstanding. The lesson—that treasure from distant lands often turns out to be fool's gold when you get it home—should be an obvious one.

But maybe this time will be different.  Maybe this time the pitcher with the super-special secret pitch will turn out to be as good as advertised.

I, for one, am inclined to agree with Keith Olbermann, who assessed the history of unknown hurlers with unfamiliar pitches on Friday's Dan Patrick Show:

"Hideo Nomo's special pitch turned out to be a balk in the major leagues. And Hideki Irabu's 98-mph fastball was really 88."

The Yankees, of course, know a thing or two about false foreign promises—and so they were happy to sit on a "realistic" bid for Matsuzaka while the Red Sox were busy taking out a second mortgage. Right now, it looks like the Bombers had the right idea.

The $40 million down payment effectively takes the Red Sox out of the running for both Barry Zito (who could well end up in the Bronx) and Jason Schmidt. And that's to say nothing of the infield, the outfield, and the bullpen, where Boston has apparently resigned itself to plugging gaps with "affordable" (read: subpar) free agents. All told, it's a not a recipe for building a postseason contender in 2007.

The Yankees, meanwhile, are making some major strides. They freed up $13 million by trading Gary Sheffield to the Tigers, and picked up three minor league pitchers to boot. They shipped the washed-up Jaret Wright to Baltimore for young reliever Chris Britton. From where I stand, it looks like Steinbrenner and Cashman have revived their pre-2001 m.o.: creating a team based on chemistry and role-playing instead of money and numbers.

When the dust settles, it's possible that Daisuke will make good on the hype. If he's wearing a "B" on his hat come Opening Day, maybe the Red Sox will have the last laugh—and maybe they'll have gotten lucky and filled their position holes with undervalued free agents, à la Mike Lowell. Until we know for sure, though, the Japanese superstar remains an overpriced mystery. The Boston faithful had better start praying that Theo knows what he's getting into.