Tumbling Dice

[seawolf17]

Say wha?!?!

http://metsblog.com/metsblog/heyman-mets-sign-daisuke-matsuzaka/

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Mark my words: once SugarPants comes back, we are so poised to make a late run at the 2007 Wild Card.

[seawolf17]

5-8, 3.92 in 19 starts with Columbus this year. 39 BB/95 K in 103 innings.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Considering the injuries to Mejia and Hefner, and the lack of someone able to step up from Vegas, I don't think this is a bad signing at all. I'm assuming he'll just get us through the end of the season.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, if it's only about maintaining their commitment to innings limits, well, he'll be more interesting than Schwinden.

[Frayed Knot]

Whoa! Can't say that I saw that one coming.

On the other hand: with two starters going down essentially at the same time; the two young'uns due to hit a wall and/or an innings limit in the next few weeks; a desire not to burn any 40-man roster options before they're needed; and a possible audition for a 5th/6th starter for next year, it's not a totally crazy move.

On the down side: If you thought Met games have been taking too long before this ... Matsuzaka has been known to turn each pitch into a mini-opera.

[Benjamin Grimm]

In the Mysterious Transaction thread, I did call for the Mets to sign a throwaway veteran starter.

[Edgy MD]

This should do wonders for gyro sales at Citi Field.

Yeah, the Mets are always a potential landing point for a veteran of a huge contract that has gone bad. And if he's just around for 4-6 weeks while other stuff falls into place. Coolio. He's the nu Rick Ankiel.

Hey, I wonder if they considered Rick Ankiel?

[metirish]

I didn't even know he wasn't with Boston.

[batmagadanleadoff]

[Edgy MD]

If those games were for the Mets, he'd be 15th all-time on the team's win list.

Don't know if he has a second act. Likely not. Does hie have a knuckler?

[Theoldmole]

It makes sense to fill out this season. They need an arm that will eat up innings, if arms can eat.

[metirish]

TheOldMole wrote: It makes sense to fill out this season. They need an arm that will eat up innings, if arms can eat.

His arm can't eat but it sure can serve up juicy meatballs right down the middle.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: If those games were for the Mets, he'd be 15th all-time on the team's win list.

He'd be one win behind Bobby Ojeda. And I wouldn't want Ojeda pitching for the Mets either, unless the goal was to chase down next year's overall #1 draft pick, which is not an unreasonable goal once the team's out of it.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

metirish wrote: TheOldMole wrote: It makes sense to fill out this season. They need an arm that will eat up innings, if arms can eat. His arm can't eat but it sure can serve up juicy meatballs right down the middle.

Mmm... Gyro balls!

[metirish]

Damn, I new there was something I was missing.....

[Lefty Specialist]

[metirish]

That's hilarious.

[smg58]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Considering the injuries to Mejia and Hefner, and the lack of someone able to step up from Vegas, I don't think this is a bad signing at all. I'm assuming he'll just get us through the end of the season.

Pretty much my thinking. I mean, why not?

[Edgy MD]

In the quarterfinal of the 1998 Summer Koshien (Ed: the high school championship in Japan), Matsuzaka threw 250 pitches in 17 innings in a win over PL Gakuen. (The previous day he had thrown a 148-pitch complete game shutout.) The next day, despite trailing 6�0 in the top of the eighth inning, the team miraculously won the game after scoring 7 runs in the final two innings (four in the eighth and three in the ninth). He started the game in left field, but came in as a reliever in the ninth inning to record the win in 15 pitches. In the final, he threw a no-hitter, the second ever in a final. This performance garnered him the attention of many scouts.

And any coaches reading, that's the way you treat a young arm.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It's really not at all about how good or bad he is. It's just to prevent the Mets from getting too many innings from young arms in meaningless September games.

I was expecting a signing like this. I was actually thinking it might be Dontrelle Willis.

[Zvon]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: It's really not at all about how good or bad he is. It's just to prevent the Mets from getting too many innings from young arms in meaningless September games. I was expecting a signing like this. I was actually thinking it might be Dontrelle Willis.

I'd have preferred Dontrelle. That guy can hit.

[ashie62]

Dice-K is our heritage replacement for Hideo Nomo....Go get em!!

[Lefty Specialist]

Well, ten years from now he'll be part of a trivia question about how many Japanese players toiled for the Mets. I'm betting he'll be the last one named, and everybody will say, "Ohhhh yeah, I forgot he played for them".

[seawolf17]

Well, ten years from now he'll be part of a trivia question about how many Japanese players toiled for the Mets. I'm betting he'll be the last one named, and everybody will say, "Ohhhh yeah, I forgot he played for them".

This is the guy you're going to forget. The rest are all more memorable: Ishii, Nomo, Komiyama, the two Takahashis, Shinjo, Matsui, Yoshii, and Igarashi.

[smg58]

In the quarterfinal of the 1998 Summer Koshien (Ed: the high school championship in Japan), Matsuzaka threw 250 pitches in 17 innings in a win over PL Gakuen. (The previous day he had thrown a 148-pitch complete game shutout.) The next day, despite trailing 6�0 in the top of the eighth inning, the team miraculously won the game after scoring 7 runs in the final two innings (four in the eighth and three in the ninth). He started the game in left field, but came in as a reliever in the ninth inning to record the win in 15 pitches. In the final, he threw a no-hitter, the second ever in a final. This performance garnered him the attention of many scouts. And any coaches reading, that's the way you treat a young arm.

I think the Red Sox should have read Wikipedia before they signed him.

[Frayed Knot]

Eh, there was nobody who didn't know Matsuzaka's history prior to him landing on this side of the Pacific. In fact there were some stories talking about how his history was going to be a good thing and some of his routines were going to teach a few things to American pitching coaches. I believe there was a Verducci story along those lines right around the time of his arrival.

[metirish]

Dice-K will make the start Friday according to various Mets beat writers on Twitter.

[Edgy MD]

Eh, there was nobody who didn't know Matsuzaka's history prior to him landing on this side of the Pacific. In fact there were some stories talking about how his history was going to be a good thing and some of his routines were going to teach a few things to American pitching coaches. I believe there was a Verducci story along those lines right around the time of his arrival.

Right-ho! Good memory.

More important, Matsuzaka is a potential agent of change. It's his throwing regimen, rather than his place of birth, that makes him the ultimate foreigner to major league baseball. If he succeeds in the U.S., he could transform the accepted industry practice of overprotecting pitchers. The system guarantees diminishing returns: Despite advances in medicine, nutrition and training, teams work pitchers less than ever before and yet pay them more.

Then he supports that with a magic quote from Bobby Valentine that may be about a lot of differences between the US and Japanese games, but probably wasn't an unwavering endorsement of throwing 50 innings in a week.

"After being part of this for three years," former big league manager Bobby Valentine says by e-mail from Japan, where he's the manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines, "I am convinced we do a bad job of coaching in the U.S. for pitchers."

[bmfc1]

Edgy MD wrote: Don't know if he has a second act.

Nice cross-reference to G-Fafif's link in the "Pop Culture" thread.