Will Daisuke Matsuzaka crash and burn?

[monkeygone2]

No.

He's got people thinking his dirty two seamer/splitter is a gyroball, while the radar guns say it's a fastball.

Even if hitters figure it out, he's got nine pitches in his repertoire and uses his breaking pitches to set up his fastball.

He's no Irabu.

[BeTheReds]

Looks good in 2 innings so far...

[noname]

Dice-K's line at his MLB debut: 7 IP, 6 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 Ks, 108 pitches, 74 for strikes.

[Faithless]

Certainly, his first game was awesome. Long season, though, right? Will the pros catch up to him by some part of the 2nd half?

Barry Zito has had rough outings his first two starts. But that doesn't mean he'll necessarily be a bad pitcher this season.

[CBC guy]

So far so good for the new ace from Yokohama

[noname]

He gets tested by the Yankees for the first time this Sunday - on national tv too (on ESPN)

[Faithless]

Poor guy. 2 earned runs against him the other night (http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20070417&content_id=1915474&vkey=wrapup2005&fext=.jsp&team=away). But then his team could only scrap up one. :frown:

[Faithless]

Rocky win against the Yanks (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2007_04_22_nyamlb_bosmlb_1).

6 runs, all earned through 7. But 7 SO's.

His "splits" (http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_player_splits.jsp?c_id=mlb&playerID=493137&statType=2) are so-so in the early going. 6+ ERA against lefty batters.

[haplesshobo]

Rocky win against the Yanks (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2007_04_22_nyamlb_bosmlb_1).

6 runs, all earned through 7. But 7 SO's.

His "splits" (http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_player_splits.jsp?c_id=mlb&playerID=493137&statType=2) are so-so in the early going. 6+ ERA against lefty batters.

He's been really struggling for the past few games, where his ERA is now five something. But, I don't think the problem is because he's facing left hand hitters. Instead, what has been happening is that he'll do well but then struggle in a particular inning. What's happening is that once somebody gets on base, the way he's throwing out of the windup is messing with his mechanics. All pitchers have to deal with that problem, but he's seeming to have a lot more difficulty with that.

[Faithless]

Eh. The lefty thing was just an interesting stat at the time.

He's doing crappy against lefty or righty.

I see the fact that he's walked twice as many lefties as righties (10-5). But all his hit batters (4) are against righties.

Maybe he's no longer a mystery. :frown:

Daisuke has become dicey.

[haplesshobo]

Maybe he's no longer a mystery. :frown:

Daisuke has become dicey.

I don't think he's refaced that many teams, other than the Mariners, for teams to have already adjusted to him. And, I still think hitters will have to adjust more to him than he'll face to adjust to him.

The season's long, and his stuff is still electric. He just needs to finetune his pitching motion back to form.

[lethal]

I think he's still learning the strike zone a little and he hasn't earned the respect of the umpires to give him the borderline calls. It'll be up and down the first half of the year, then he should do better the second half.

[Faithless]

Detroit manager Jim Leyland on Dice-K: (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070514/SPORTS02/705140375/1050/SPORTS01)
"I don't give a (expletive) about him," Leyland said. "I'm not getting into all that. I could give a (expletive) less. It's another pitcher. We're playing Boston. Obviously, he's an outstanding pitcher. He's a major league pitcher. And that's who we're facing."

-- Well, (expletives), to you too, Jim. :rolleyes:

Why does it seem like the Japanese press can come down harder on a Japanese player (http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/05/13/okajima_is_much_more_than_ok____again/) more than their American counterparts:
The questions from the Nippon TV crew, asked of a somewhat startled reporter, started with the ridiculous and deteriorated from there.

Has Daisuke Matsuzaka been a disappointment? Should he be sent to the minors?

Until the last one: Has Hideki Okajima been a more valuable acquisition for the Red Sox?

[haplesshobo]

Barry Zito has had rough outings his first two starts. But that doesn't mean he'll necessarily be a bad pitcher this season.

Well, two rough starts is too small of a sample to extract too much from it. But, any baseball fan can tell you that it was a huge mistake by the Giants to sign him to the contract they did. Zito's been slipping since 2002, where it was on a downward trend, and yet the Giants paid him as if Zito was still putting up 2002 numbers by giving the most lucrative contract for a pitcher.

Zito will probably do better in the second half, but he's already got an ERA of 4.9 and 9 losses. Even if he does better, it still won't justify the money the Giants are paying him.

[Faithless]

Who really deserves to be paid more money than god? :rolleyes:

[CARDINAL009]

Who really deserves to be paid more money than god? :rolleyes:

If the client is willing to pay the contractor, the "above the average" salary. The contractor desires it!? It is a free market. :cool:

[bluemonq]

I don't know about Dice-K crashing and burning, but have you seen slow-mo videos of his windup? Looks like a hell of a lot of stress. I'm thinking burnout in a few years...

[haplesshobo]

Seemed like he ran into the wall in the second half of this season. The RedSox better hope he gets a lot better next year.

In large part, the RedSox went after him because he was supposed to be a big-time pitcher that could win in high pressure situations like the playoffs. But, from what I've seen, he's been disappointing as well in these playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets hit hard in game three, where he gets pulled early.

[BeTheReds]

Well, I say money well spent... They are in the series afterall..

[noname]

well, congrats to the first World Series (I know it's a misnomer now, but that's what it's still called) championship team to have 2 Japanese (or Asian, for that matter) players, in the Red Sox, with Dice-K and Okajima

It's also the 3rd year in a row that a team with a Japanese player won the WS

[Zdrav]

In large part, the RedSox went after him because he was supposed to be a big-time pitcher that could win in high pressure situations like the playoffs. But, from what I've seen, he's been disappointing as well in these playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets hit hard in game three, where he gets pulled early.

Give him a break, he's still somewhat of a rookie. Look at veteran aces like C.C. Sabathia, Tom Glavine, and Chien-Ming Wang who also didn't perform up to par in the playoffs. Besides, Dice-K pitched a great game 3 for the Sox against the Rockies.

[authenticdna]

daisuke played great this year. if anybody's interested i have his japanese bbm rookie card for sale.

[authenticdna]

daisuke played great this year. if anybody's interested i have his japanese bbm rookie card for sale.

[authenticdna]

daisuke's mythical gyro ball never appeared though.

[haplesshobo]

Barry Zito has had rough outings his first two starts. But that doesn't mean he'll necessarily be a bad pitcher this season.

And, the Giants make another poor free agent signing with Rowland. LOL.

You just got to love the stupidity of Giants fans. They're too busy cheering for their cheater Barry Bonds to notice how shitty their front office is.

daisuke played great this year.

I wouldn't say that, considering that the RedSox paid over 100M for him. When you're paying that much for a pitcher, a team is going to expect better performance than he doled out. Dice-K's first year was a disappointment, and the RS are hoping that it was just a transition and that he becomes the dominating pitcher they thought he was going to be.

Well, I say money well spent... They are in the series afterall..

The RedSox got to the WS cause they were so loaded financially that they could shake off poor FA signings and trades that would financially cripple other teams like an albatross you could never get rid of. I think that the money RS were paying in terms of their bad contracts alone was worth what the entire Rockies team was getting paid.

[Faithless]

I stopped being a serious sports fan when I realized what little entertainment value there really is in it.

So, they moved the SF Giants stadium up the road. It still gets cold in the evenings by the bay.

Noticed that the Wii baseball game has a player named Daisuke. Can the real Daisuke hit a lick?

[AZNSLGR]

The investment in Dice-K is a five year plan with the objective for the Red Sox to become a "global" team. The Sox weren't expecting to see returns in $$ in the first year. But they won the WS and are a step closer to becoming a global franchise with names like Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Matsuzaka is a competitor and he needs a full season under his belt to make neccessary adjustments to the league. I wouldn't call him a bust after just one year. Josh Beckett, who was Cy Young caliber this year needed a full year of adjustment to the American League in '06, even after 5 full seasons in the Major Leagues. Compare Beckett's '06 stats to Matsuzaka's '07 stats and you'll see there is not much of a difference, with the advantage to Matsuzaka...

'06 Josh Beckett vs '07 Daisuke Matsuzaka

Innings Pitched: 204.2 vs 204.2
Record: 16-11 vs 15-12
ERA: 5.01 vs 4.40
Hits allowed: 191 vs 191
Runs allowed: 114 vs 100
Strikeouts: 158 vs 201

Matsuzaka gave up fewer runs and had more strikeouts in his first year in the American League East compared to Beckett's first year in a new league. I expect Dice-K to come back strong next season. You can bump this thread up in the summer of '08.

[BeTheReds]

I just found that even the losers on the shitty team I had remained loyal to were all on roids. I don't know if I can take baseball seriously anymore.

[AZNSLGR]

Haha, so Matsuzaka had to face roiders in his first year in MLB. More points for Dice-K.

BeTheReds> sorry about your boy, Brian Roberts!!