How is Seiya Suzuki to the Red Sox already a foregone conclusion?

Funny how things work out if you’re the Boston Red Sox. Cry about an 86-year curse and then break it by becoming the first team to ever overcome a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series … against your most hated rival, only to effectively ruin their next ~18 years. Then claim you “deserve” four World Series victories over that span because of “all you’ve suffered” when that suffering only truly affected people born in the 1970s.

Then, on Tuesday, you watch one of your franchise icons, David Ortiz, get elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame his first time on the ballot … despite the fact he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs back in 2003. Meanwhile, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens couldn’t get in on their 10th try because of their connection (no positive tests!) to steroids.

We’re not going to go through everything else in between, but the timeframe from 2004-2022 beginning and ending with those two instances should tell you all you need to know.

And now we have the MLB lockout, which has been terrorizing New York Yankees fans because of all the team needs that have yet to be addressed … coming off a year where the Red Sox bounced them from the playoffs.

Speaking of the lockout, it seems to be a major issue for just about everyone. Oh, wait! Not the Red Sox, though! Apparently they’re working on deals behind the scenes?

Reports surfaced Tuesday night suggesting Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki is expected to sign with Boston when the lockout ends … but how?

Yankees Rumors: How are the Red Sox and Seiya Suzuki linked this closely?

A report from Yahoo Japan said the Sox were the favorites to land Suzuki once major league transactions were again permitted, but then came a conflicting report from Nikkan Sports that named the Cubs, Padres, Mariners and Giants as the finalists while dismissing the Red Sox and Yankees.

Regardless of what’s true, it’s certainly puzzling how there’s one report out there claiming this is as close to a done deal as possible when we haven’t heard a peep out of anything free agent-wise on this side of the Pacific. We know the Red Sox talked to Suzuki prior to the lockout, but what’s changed since then?

Couldn’t have been anything because teams aren’t allowed to talk to players!

Maybe Suzuki made up his mind months ago and decided to divulge that information to a source? But that doesn’t seem like an ideal scenario when you’re leaving your home country to play in Major League Baseball and seek the most amount of money as possible. How much negotiating could’ve possibly taken place for the 10 days after he was posted on Nov. 22?

Maybe it’s just an erroneous report and we’re talking about nothing. But it’s certainly fitting that the slimy Red Sox have been deemed the unquestioned front runners by a reputable source when player interaction isn’t permitted and when there’s no end in sight to the lockout.

Did Seiya Suzuki hint he’s spurning Yankees for their biggest rival?

Did Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki hint he'll be joining the Boston Red Sox over the New York Yankees on Koji Uehara's podcast? Seems like he did.