The bidding war to negotiate with Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka went a little overboard. The posting price, which is essentially gives the highest bidder in a blind auction the exclusive right to negotiate a contract with a Japanese player who is not a free agent, was well in excess of the $13 million the Mariners paid to negotiate with Ichiro.

Now Daisuke Matsuzaka is supposed to be something else. He supposedly can throw a gyroball, a pitch developed by Japanese scientists which maximizes spin and has a late, dramatic break. If I remember correctly, Hideo Nomo was supposed to also have a special pitch that no American had ever seen…. it was called a balk.

But here is my argument. In order to sign Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Red Sox have already agreed to pony up $51.1 million in order to just talk to his agent Scott Boras. $51 million to talk. A contract likely means at least $12-13 million a season. So let’s say the total contract value is $50 million over 4 years. That means that the actual cost of signing Matsuzaka is going to be $100 million over 4 years, and thus $25 million in 2007.

Honestly I don’t care how dominant this guy is, you could probably get both Barry Zito and Jason Schmidt for that kind of money. If you are a really good GM you might be able to coax Zito, Schmidt and Mark Mulder to sign with you and split the $25 million per season.

So yea. The Sox “won” the bidding war. Congrats.

• Red Sox win Matsuzaka sweepstakes (AP)