Red Sox 'not involved' in Millar saga
Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2003 8:14 pm
Red Sox 'not involved' in Millar saga
02/06/2003 9:36 pm ET
By Brita Meng Outzen / MLB.com
BOSTON -- Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein refused to speculate on the status of outfielder/first baseman Kevin Millar on Thursday.
"We're really not involved," Epstein said.
Epstein did admit, however, to checking the Internet "a couple of times a day" for news on the Millar situation. "It's an interesting story," he said.
Millar agreed to a two-year, $6.2 million contract with the Chunichi Dragons after Chunichi paid the Florida Marlins $1.2 million for his rights. But when Red Sox claimed Millar off waivers from the Marlins, it caused him to reconsider playing in Japan.
"The claim was put in originally to express our interest in Kevin Millar," said Epstein. "Based on the Major League rules, it was the only way we could manifest our interest in him legally.
"So we claimed him, and that gave us, two or three days before he ended up rejecting the claim -- gave us time to talk to him, let him know how much we wanted him and where he really fit for us and how much interest we had. But since he rejected the claim, we've really been bystanders," the Red Sox GM said.
Until recently, Chunichi was prepared to enforce Millar's contract. But that changed after Mitsuo Kodama, Chunichi's manager of baseball operations, traveled to the U.S. for a meeting with the player.
"There's no point in wasting time with talks anymore," Chunichi GM Kazumasa Ito said Wednesday. "It would be extremely difficult at this point to convince [Millar] to play for Chunichi."
Meanwhile, Epstein and the Red Sox wait.
"I expect things to work out within the next week or so," Epstein said.