"Nearly a dozen scouts and team executives that we polled informally indicated that the Red Sox would have a substantial market for Daisuke Matsuzaka if they intend to deal him this offseason. Whether teams actually step up and try to acquire him is an entirely different issue.

"With the state of pitching today, if a team can go out and get a still relatively young middle-of-the-rotation starter, they'll do it,'' said one veteran scout with an American League team, who had no doubt that teams would vie for Matsuzaka.

"Everyone knows what he is,'' said an executive. "He can be frustrating to watch, walks a lot of guys, throws too many pitches, but at the end of the day his stuff is so good that he's capable of doing what he did his first two years in the league and that's win a lot of games. Personally, I'd be surprised if the Red Sox did anything, but if they do, they'll have teams interested.''"