Daisuke Matsuzaka: News vs. Message Board vs. Blog

This is getting interesting. Here's the basic deal. Daisuke Matsuzaka is an outstanding, young pitcher currently controlled by the Seibu Lions. Teams from Major League Baseball have submitted bids to Seibu for the right to negotiate with Matsuzaka. The highest bid amount will be revealed to Seibu, but not the team. Seibu will likely accept the bid.

This process is meant to be secret to avoid tampering. Leaks are bound to happen, but who has the best contact information?

Here, watch Jackie MacMullan casually state Matsuzaka "is going to go out west to the Angels... they've got the sealed bid that's going to put them over the top."

A poster on a Yankees message board declares "I have a source telling me that the Yankees won with 27 million. He is reliable but I still have some doubts as that seems a little low."

The Matsuzaka Watch blogs "[i]t's Thursday evening in Japan and we're all still waiting for word on the bidding process. Rumors abound...the Yankees at $27 million, the Rangers at $25 million, but nothing concrete or from a remotely reliable source."

Mainichi Daily News reported last night:

"[Matsuzaka's] Japanese club, the Pacific League's Seibu Lions, said Thursday they have been notified of the highest bid by a major league club for the 26-year-old right-hander, but will not make a decision on whether to accept until after a meeting of its board of directors -- not expected to be held before Friday at the earliest. 'We have confirmed the amount of the bid, but we cannot make any comment for now on whether the club will accept it,' said Seibu spokesman Ryuichi Chikamune, who refused to disclose which MLB team offered the highest amount, or how many teams bid."

The bidding opened on November 2nd.