The Real Deal...

Dice-K now has 3 major league (albeit spring training) starts under his belt. His latest start against the Pirates yielded one hit on 92 pitches in 5 2/3 IP. Now, the Pirates aren’t exactly the cream of the crop, but only 4 balls made it to the outfield. The surprising thing is how many were baffled by pitches and not just at the plate. Pirates hitters were watching the replay of their at bats on a laptop in the dugout and still could not figure out some of the pitches thrown - ON REPLAY and in SLOW MOTION.

Scouts will tell you he has thrown between 4 and 7 different pitches in an outing. The ones agreed upon are; fastball, curve, slider, and changeup. You’ll also hear four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, splitter, and the “shuto” (described as; kind of like a changeup and kind of like a curveball, and kind of like a split-finger) – not to be confused with the mythical “gyroball”. Regardless, you have hitters saying “I don’t know what that pitch was.” The weapon of the unknown is very powerful. There are going to be some ugly swings and feet in concrete this season.

His other big advantage is his ability to continually keep hitters off balance with his delivery. Apparently he has a stop in his delivery and changes his movements each time he comes to the set position. Guys will not be able to get into a rhythm at the plate which should baffle baserunners as well.

This guy is just different. He’s also got some nasty stuff with fastballs hitting 96, sliders in the mid 80’s, and offspeed stuff in the 70’s. He seems to be smart, savvy, and a cool customer. He’s had a media circus follow him since the age of 18. Pressure has never seemed to affect him in a negative way and he’s seemed to thrive on it.

That being said, lets not create a bust and send it to the Hall just yet. Even Bill James has him slated with a 13-8 record in 2007. But he has all the ingredients to be GREAT. He has a number of obstacles to overcome with the biggest being cultural. The switch from every 6 days to 5 days shouldn’t be an issue but it will be interesting to see how they handle his pitch counts. The biggest question is will he adjust to the MLB style of pitching or will the Sox adjust to the Japanese style.

Get ready Sox fans. This is going to be a fun ride!

Sox land the beast from the East!!!

Welcome to Boston Daisuke!!!

The Sox landed what could be their franchise player. In the process, they also defeated the mighty Scott Boras. That’s almost as satisfying as landing Matsuzaka.

DOWN GOES BORAS! DOWN GOES BORAS!

The Sox front office was masterful in their negotiations. They held their ground and stuck with their original offer. Boras, the baseball anti-christ, played his only hand which was to not negotiate and to threaten to bring his client back to Japan. However, Seibu was in financial trouble and supposedly told Matsuzaka they would not be posting him in 2007, effectively making him wait two more seasons to be a free agent. Add in the pressure of family, friends, and fans back home, it was probably an easy choice for Matsuzaka. Whether he told Boras to make the deal is something we’ll never know, but it’s most likely what transpired.

Will he be the top of rotation guy here like he was in Japan? To take a page from Parcells, let’s not anoint him just yet. However, all the scouting reports are more than glowing, and Craig Shipley (Sox scout) watched him pitch every game last season. The fact that they were willing to pony up $51M speaks volumes.

It is a gamble, especially since he’s never thrown a pitch in the majors. But you have to figure that a significant part of that posting price will be recovered from new revenue sources. All of Japan will be watching (and buying #18 merchandise) when the season starts. His first pitch in the majors will be against Ichiro, and he will face Matsui a number of times each season. When you factor in the posting price with salary, he’s still less than Jason Schmidt / Mike Mussina money at a little over $17M per year. His annual salary (and luxury tax impact) is only $8.7M, which is less than Gil Meche, Ted Lilly, and even Matt Clement. He’s going to be good in the majors, and he’s still worth the money even if he only becomes your #2 guy. If he meets his incentives, its money well spent and averages only $1.3M per season. So, how much of a gamble are they really taking?

The Sox really pulled this one off. Has the front office redeemed itself? That will be determined on the field, but things look promising.