After the 2003 season, the Texas Rangers decided that they could not afford to round out their club with quality talent whilst paying Alex Rodriguez the richest contract in sports. The Red Sox were coming off a heartbreaking loss to Aaron Boone and the Yankees in the ALCS and were desperate to land the reigning Most Valuable Player. Rodriguez was eager to don a Red Sox uniform and try to slay any so-called curses, even agreeing to take a salary cut to do so. The MLBPA took exception to the precedent of a player taking a reduction in order to help facilitate a trade and blocked it. Shortly thereafter, Boone once again hurt the Red Sox when he suffered a leg injury while playing basketball and George Steinbrenner set his sights on making Rodriguez his replacement third baseman. The 2004 season saw the fortunes of the Yankees and Red Sox reverse, with Boston winning the World Series and along the way Rodriguez replaced Derek Jeter as the poster boy for Red Sox Nation hatred. Theo Epstein, Larry Lucchino and company chose not to go the extra mile for Rodriguez, but on November 14th the Red Sox placed the winning bid of $51.1 million for the rights to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka. They eventually signed him to a six-year, $52 million contract. The Case for Matsuzaka Matsuzaka first became a household name in America during the World Baseball Classic of 2006, when he was named the MVP of the tournament. He posted a 1.38 ERA and a 3-0 record over 13 innings. Matsuzaka features a low to mid 90?s fastball to go along with a slew of off-speed pitches (slider, changeup, splitter, curve). He tends to avoid making mistakes with the fastball, shooting for the black, while he has deadly control with the off-speed pitches. He loves the slider, but will not throw it to left-handed batters. His stuff is often compared to Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt. ?He is an American-type pitcher,? said White Sox scout Ray Poitevint in an interview with Jack Gallagher. ?He has the kind of stuff that American major-league pitchers have.? The Case against Matsuzaka Matsuzaka arrives to the States with a lofty set of expectations, but zero innings of Major League experience. A pitcher like Matsuzaka is expected to have some success out of the gate, similar to Hideo Nomo, but once he faces the same batters in multiple games, his delivery and movement may be figured out rapidly. "He may eventually be a No. 1 starter. If you are looking at a first-division ball club, that has a good pitching staff already, you are looking at him maybe being your third starter at the outset." The Red Sox did not spend $100 million with the expectation of Matsuzaka being a third starter. The Case for Rodriguez In 11 full seasons, Rodriguez has hit 464 home runs, while hitting .305 and reaching the 100 RBI plateau all but once. There are few players that you pencil into your lineup and fully expect MVP-caliber numbers year in and year out like Rodriguez. His numbers in 2006 were down from the season before, but were actually better than they were in 2004, his first season with the Yankees. There is no significant sign of him slowing down now that he is in his early 30?s. He approaches his craft with the utmost seriousness and it is to be expected that Rodriguez, who has never experienced significant injury problems, will continue to take excellent care of his body. He is already a Hall of Fame player, who is likely to shatter career records that Ken Griffey, Jr., his former Seattle teammate, was poised to do before suffering a slew of injuries in Cincinnati. The Case against Rodriguez The perception of Rodriguez as a playoff choker went from bad to worse in 2006 when he posted a .071 batting average in the ALDS against the Tigers. The disappointing performance highlighted by a crucial bases loaded strikeout versus Justin Verlander, which changed the momentum of the entire series. In the previous season?s ALDS, Rodriguez batted .133 and grounded into a double play in the 9th inning of the series clincher. Despite the recent postseason failures, Rodriguez still has a career postseason average of .280, with the majority of those hits coming when he was a member of the Mariners. Until he gets big hits in big games in a Yankees uniform, he will not be able to shake the perception that his lack of clutchability is his unshakeable fatal flaw. Vote in our poll to determine which player you would rather start a franchise with. Click here for more information about this series and its full schedule.