It doesn’t seem that long ago (2007) that Dice-K was all the rage. Boston bought him from the Saibu Lions of the Japanese Pacific league. In his sophomore season Matsuzaka won 18 games for the Red Sox against just three losses. He had an excellent ERA of 2.90 and finished fourth in the CYA race. The trophy went to Cliff Lee that season.
Daisuke Matsuzaka will make $1.5 million in base salary if he passes physical and makes team. #Indians.
— paul hoynes (@hoynsie) February 10, 2013
He made $10.3M last season with Boston and managed only 45+ innings. He won one and lost seven and had a deplorable ERA of 8.38. He only finished six innings in two of his 11 starts. In his six-year career he has a record of 50-37 with an ERA of 4.52 and has only one complete game in his resume.
The last two injury-plagued campaigns, Matsuzaka has won 13 games total, posted an ERA of 4.99 and a WHIP of 1.51. Baseball worships at the altar of statistics. However, Epstein thought Matsuzaka, who went 9-6 with a 4.69 ERA last season in 25 starts, pitched above his statistical performance.