Dice-K blaming Red Sox for shoulder problems
Daisuke Matsuzaka has gotten to the root of all of his shoulder woes this season: The Boston Red Sox…or so he indicated recently in an article for a Japanese newspaper.
In the story, Matsuzaka suggested that his effectiveness and health are being negatively impacted by the training techniques of the team. He blamed his current predicament on an inability by the club to account for the needs of Japanese pitchers, and suggested that he was ready to take a stand in an effort to return to the practices that he followed before coming to Major League Baseball.
The Red Sox consistently have cited the World Baseball Classic as the chief culprit for the pitcher’s struggles and subsequent time on the sidelines. Matsuzaka, however, blames his season on the throwing program and training techniques that the Sox outlined for him once he came to the U.S.
“If I’m forced to continue to train in this environment, I may no longer be able to pitch like I did in Japan,” Matsuzaka is quoted as saying in the article, which was written by Taeko Yoshii. “The only reason why I managed to win games during the first and second years (in the U.S.) was because I used the savings of the shoulder I built up in Japan. Since I came to the Major Leagues, I couldn’t train in my own way, so now I’ve lost all those savings.”
Nonetheless, Matsuzaka indicated that he may be less inclined to listen going forward. The pitcher cited the history of Japanese starters whose careers have endured steep declines (Hideo Nomo and Kaz Ishii come to mind) — often accompanied by injuries — after just a couple of years of effectiveness in the U.S. (It is, however, worth noting that Nomo rebounded from that decline to enjoy renewed success later in his career.) Because of such examples, Matsuzaka said that he is emboldened about the need to return to the training techniques with which he grew up.
Point: The Red Sox shelled out quite a lot of dough to bring Dice-K over from Japan and make him a major league pitcher. So if they want him eating blueberry Pop Tarts while hopping on one foot all while watching reruns of “I Love Lucy,” then that’s exactly what Dice-K should do. Boston is essentially Matsuzaka’s boss, so he needs to meet them half way and work something out. And I think it was a little childish of him to run off to a Japanese newspaper bitching and crying about the Red Sox training procedures when he’s making that much money.
Counterpoint: Players know their bodies more than teams do, so if Dice-K thinks that eating the cinnamon Pop Tarts while hopping on both feet all while watching reruns of “Alf” make for a better training program, then Boston should step aside and let him do what’s comfortable for him. After all, if the Sox don’t want him to wind up like Hideki Irabu, then it would behoove them to allow Matsuzaka to perform the methods that made him so successful in Japan and the first couple years in the U.S.
I don’t think either argument is wrong, but one thing is for sure: the Red Sox have a problem here. Dice-K has been filthy atrocious this season and can’t stay healthy. If he starts closing his eyes and plugging his ears while stomping around his bedroom whenever Boston tries to reason with him, then the club will have an even bigger problem than Dice-K’s bloated ERA.
“If I’m forced to continue to train in this environment, I may no longer be able to pitch like I did in Japan,”
The only way this piece of garbage is going to pitch like he did in Japan is to pitch in Japan. It’s not the training that’s his problem, it’s the caliber of hitter he faces in MLB and the scouts figured him out. The guy was a gimmick from the beginning.
I always find it funny when someone completely discounts the training changes Dice-K has had to endure since signing with the Sox. I’m not going to pretend to know why he’s struggled in the States, but the fact that Boston has completely changed his year-round training regimen (both in-season and during the off-season) could very well be a legitimate factor, especially when you’re talking about an injured shoulder. He spent eight years in Japan and his body became accustomed to that particular training style. Then he comes here and the Sox change everything to fit MLB’s standards.
It’s interesting that, during his final four seasons in Japan, Dice-K had been able to significantly lower his walk rate, but since signing with Boston, his control has been erratic at best. Something clearly isn’t right.
T-Bone, you say he’s struggled because of the caliber of hitters he sees in MLB, but considering Japan has won the WBC twice now, I’m not sure that argument holds much water.
I don’t think training has anything to do with Dice-k’s inability to find the strike zone, which he hasn’t been able to do since he arrived (4.2 bb/9 for his career). That will eventually catch up to any pitcher. His windup was a gimmick and hitters have figured out how to time him. He’s a mediocre talent at best, but the Redsox wanted a piece of the Japanese market.
The WBC is a joke. MLB players don’t care about it and they’re just trying to get through it without an injury. It’s nothing more than and extension of spring training for them. I wouldn’t use that as a barometer for the level of talent in Japan. I think the fact that Ichiro is the only Japanese player to produce anywhere near what he did in the Japanese league is all you need to know. But no power hitter and certainly no power pitcher has come close. Matsui has been solid but not exactly the “godzilla” monster he was in the smaller Japanese parks.