I'm away for a day...

... and craziness ensues. So I was away from a computer most of today, and just got home now. I've learned the Sawx 'may have' won Matsuzaka for an insane bid of $38-45 million! I don't know what 'may have' means, but if that's seriously their bid, good for them. That's Tom Hicks crazy. I know they wanted a pitcher and a hitter, but spending that much $, plus the contract, I don't think will allow for another hitter. The strange part is that I heard Seibu was delaying their acceptance of the bid because it was so low (less than $20 million). If the Sawx outrageous bid is true, why is it taking Seibu so long to accept? They were saying on the radio how (if this is true), signing Matsuzaka will help generate Sawx fans in Asia, as they're opening up a baseball camp of some kind in China. But if Boston wanted to entice Chinese players to their organization, I don't think signing a Japanese pitcher is exactly the way to help. Yes, Matsuzaka is Asian, but Japan and China have historically not been the best of friends, and outright enemies at times.

Check this out. So apparently, the winning bid is either extremely high, or extremely low...

In good news, the Yanks traded Gary Sheffield for 3 Detroit prospects (all RHP): Humberto Sanchez, Kevin Whelan and Anthony Claggett.

'The 23-year-old Sanchez was a combined 10-6 with a 2.53 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 123 innings with Triple-A Toledo and Double-A Erie this year. Whelan, 22, was 4-1 with a 2.67 ERA and 27 saves for Class A Lakeland. Claggett, 22, was 7-2 with an 0.91 ERA and 14 saves for Class A West Michigan.'

Wow. I must give a lot of credit to Cashman. I never thought they'd get this much for Sheff. I remember Sanchez was the starter for the World team in the Futures Game, and he dominated (albeit in one inning). Sanchez, 6'6", 230, was rated the 14th best pitching prospect in baseball by Scout.com (before 2006), and now must slot right behind Phil Hughes as our #2 pitching prospect (in fact, he was). He's also had some arm problems in the past, but I expect we'll see him in the Bronx in '07 - perhaps as a reliever at first. FYI: in 123 ip this year, he allowed just 4 HR.

Whelan (#97 among pitching prospects) they say could be setting up for Rivera next year (his stuff is that good), and Claggett obviously has great numbers so far.