| 22 June 2009
After winning 18 games in 2008, Daisuke Matsuzaka is 1-5 with an 8.23 ERA this season. He was particularly bad in his last two outings, lasting just four innings in each start and allowing a combined ten runs on fifiteen hits, including three homers.
With John Smoltz set to return to the majors this week, the Red Sox finally chose to send Matsuzaka to Pawtucket for a rehab stint, in an effort to determine what is bothering the Japanese starter.
"We don't know all the specifics yet, but it's not an injury [that has led to his struggles]," said Francona.
"We're going to start figuring this out," said Francona. "If he has shoulder weakness, it's not like he's going to come back and pitch and his shoulder is going to be miraculously strong. I don't have all the answers yet."
An MRI confiirmed that Matsuzaka's shoulder isn't 100% healthy and Dice-k agreed to be pulled from the Red Sox rotation:
"It was partly the club's decision. I also felt I couldn't keep going the way I was going, so they had to make changes," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter. "I thought that, if I keep going like this, I was going to be a burden to this team."
We all know that he was overworked in the WBC, but the Red sox really did everything they could to prevent this - short of locking Matsuzaka in one of the Fenway restrooms over the winter. Dice-K was going to pitch from Japan and he was going to throw too much... end of story.
Thankfully, Theo Epstein went out and signed Brad Penny and John Smoltz. And with Masterson making six 6 starts earlier this season, the Red Sox have been able to work around Matsuzaka's struggles.
Bottom Line: This was the right move and a healthy Matsuzaka cpuld be a nice addition to the best team in baseball come September. Think Matsuzaka is cooked? Consider this:
38-year old Jose Contreras was 0-5 with an 8.19 ERA before the White Sox sent him to Triple A to work things out and get healthy. Contreras returned nearly four months ahead of schedule after rupturing his Achilles last August. Undoubtedly, his premature activation was the primary factor for his early season demise, says Yahoo!'s Brad Evans.
Contreras eventually got healthy and started overpowering minor league batters, so the Chi-Sox called him back up in June and he has responded with two, 8-inning wins, 13 Ks, a 1.23 ERA and a .158 BAA.
If Jose can do it... I'm sure Matsuzaka can bounce back and contribute before the leaves start changing colors.
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