Who will sign Matsuzaka?

NEW YORK, New York – (PRESS RELEASE) -- Daisuke Matsuzaka, the most dominant pitcher in Japanese baseball for the last eight seasons has been cleared by his Japanese club to play in the Major Leagues next season. Immediately the most sought after free agent on the market, Sportsbook.com, the world's largest online sports book and casino, has posted odds on what team the star pitcher will sign with to pitch in the 2007 regular season.

Matsuzaka, just 26 years of age, was 17-5 with a 2.13 ERA and 200 strikeouts this year and stole the show at last year's World Baseball Classic, where he was selected as the MVP after Japan won the title. He throws consistently in the high 90 mile per hour range and has mastered the "gyroball," a pitch that a right-hander uses to get the ball to break to the left.

Through MLB's unique 'posting system', the league will accept bids from all interested teams and the winning bidder will receive the right to negotiate a contract with Matsuzaka's North American agent, Scott Boras. The expectation is that the winning bid could top $30 Million dollars, which would go to Matsuzaka's current team, the Seibu Lions. In 2000, Ichiro Suzuki became the first player to exercise the posting system when the Seattle Mariners won the right to negotiate with him with a bid of around $13 million.

Given Seattle's ownership ties to Japan, through Nintendo of America, and the fact that Suzuki still plays for the Mariners and was a teammate of Matsuzaka's at the World Baseball Classic, the Pacific Northwest could well be the star pitcher's next home. Seattle, along with the New York Yankees, post the best odds at 2-1 to land Matsuzaka's services. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles have also shown strong interest and are listed at 3-1, followed by the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets at 5-1. While other teams will certainly be interested, few will have the financial backing to outbid the richest teams in the league.