The Great Disappearing Dice-K

Two DL stints and a whopping 8.23 ERA, not exactly the kind of thing you would expect from a legendary, rubber-armed Japanese pitcher lured to America by millions of dollars and a ridiculous contract. After putting up amazing numbers last year, Matsuzaka seems to have self imploded and lost it all together. Posting a very unflattering 1-5 record through 8 starts, he is currently serving his second trip to the DL with a "mild right shoulder strain".

Although the numbers may not show it, this isn't really that big of a surprise. While posting a stellar 2.90 ERA through the 2008 season, Dice-K pitched much worse than the numbers would say to you at first glance. Matsuzaka would frequently walk the bases loaded and get inopportunely wild with runners on base. As a result, Dice-K walked nearly a hundred batters in just 167 innings pitched, a full 40 innings less than he pitched in 2007. For some reason, however, lady luck was smiling on the Japanese import as he always seemed to wiggle out of the trouble that he created for himself. Matsuzaka posted a 1.32 WHIP through 29 games, the same posting he put up in his 2007 season (15-12, 4.40 ERA).

If you ever actually watched the man pitch, you would understand about how frustrating a pitcher he really is. It's not just the walks that pain you to watch, its the undeniable fact that the man cannot pitch with a lead. Time after time, the Red Sox would open up a lead for their starter, just to see him tie the score back up single handed. In fact, there is rarely an outing where he makes it to the fifth inning without already pushing the 100 pitch mark. This ineffectiveness is easily proven by the lone complete game that Matsuzaka has posted into his third year in the major leagues. What ever happened to the whimsical rubber-armed wizard we all heard stories about? It almost seems like he has no motivation to even try in America. Honestly, he pitched well enough to earn the MVP honors in the World Baseball Classic, where did that go?

The big question still remains, what do you do when Matsuzaka returns from the DL? With Smoltz officially returned and Penny churning out solid starts, where exactly do you put the man if he continues to struggle? Add Clay Buchholz to the mix and you have a whole heaping mess of confusion in the rotation in Bean town. One way or another, somebody is going to end up on the raw end of this deal.