Leave Dice-K Alone!
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by Tyduffy
Oooh! A Chris Crocker joke! That was so four weeks ago! How lame and uninspired to use such an overblown pop-culture reference in the title.
I agree.
The only thing more lame and uninspired than this, baseball writers and talking heads listening to one person say something and regurgitating the same nonsense ad nauseam.
Oh, look at Daisuke 's past two post-season starts. He's a bust. What a waste of $103 million dollars. They paid $51 million to negotiate with him? How ridiculous. Theo Epstein should cut his losses immediately, raise a white flag, and bow down to the skeptics (Who, by the way, were all eating a big fat piece of humble pie at the all-star break).
Here is a reality check.
Matsuzaka did tail off toward the end of the season, but his numbers (15-12, 4.40 ERA, 204 2/3 IP, 201 K) were not that terrible. In a hitters' park and against the AL East, that isn't terrible. When you consider that he had 7 starts where he allowed 2 runs or fewer and received a loss or no decision, the numbers don't look that bad.
When you add into the fact that he moved into a different league in a different country with a foreign language and he has had to throw for longer and more often than he is used to, his numbers are pretty decent.
He performed far better than his big investment counterpart, Barry Zito (the Giants' 7 year $126 million man). He moved to the bigger parks and softer lineups of the National League and put up this line (11-13, 4.53 ERA, 196 2/3 IP, 131 K).
Also, for good measure, here are the numbers for the Golden Boy Josh Beckett from his first season in Boston. (16-11, 5.01 ERA, 204 2/3, 158 K)
Oh, but the post-season performance is the most important you, say? Here are two lines for you.
(0-1, 6.75 ERA, 9.1 IP, 9K)
(1-1, 5.40 ERA, 9.1 IP, 5K)
The first stat line is Matsuzaka's from this postseason. The second stat line is that of Cleveland Ace and Cy Young candidate C.C. Sabathia from this postseason. They aren't really all that different. Yet, somehow, Sabathia still gets credited as being a dominant pitcher while Matsuzaka is a combustable freak, a complete waste of money, and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a Major League mound again.
Yes, Matsuzaka has struggled during the playoffs this year and he tailed off toward the end of the season, largely due to fatigue. But, does that mean a guy who probably would have won 18-19 games had he gotten consistent run support was a waste of money? Not likely.
The problem is his confidence and his command, not his stuff. He has a very good fastball and an excellent changeup and breaking ball. He has shown that when he is on, he can be a dominant presence on the mound. The confidence and his command are fixable problems. This is not a case of the Red Sox buying an expensive car on E-Bay and ending up with a lemon.
It is fine to criticize his post-season performance. It is probably warranted. But to take these two starts as a microcosm for his overall ability and level of performance, is sheer lunacy. A savvy investor holds onto a stock for the long-term while the fool sells at the first hiccup.
Yes, John Q. Talkinghead, blaming the foreigner is a tried and true strategy to win popular appeal. However, as in most cases, it proves to be pure idiocy.
Originally Published at the OddsandSods
