2014 IPP: Daisuke Matsuzaka

[Benjamin Grimm]

It was moderately popular last year, so we'll try it again this year. IPP stands for Individual Player Predictions. These will be threads where we share our expectations of how a player will perform in the current year. Feel free to make your predictions as specific or as vague as you like. (You can find a listing of the 2013 IPPs here.)

Daisuke Matsuzaka will win the 5th starter job out of spring training and will stick in the rotation until he begins to suck or Noah Syndergaard gets promoted. He'll then spot start through the remainder of the season.

14 starts, 4.20 ERA.

[ashie62]

8 starts 4.66

[Zvon]

17 starts. 3.88 ERA.

[Theoldmole]

Stays in the rotation, 11 wins.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Will be decent, 8 wins maybe, some losses by bad luck.

[nymr83]

5th starter out spring, but 3 disaster starts in his first 5 lead the Mets to cut bait with him and give Mejia or Montero a try while waiting for Syndergaard.

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

Has a nice season, 11 wins, 3.80 era, stays in rotation after Thor's arrival because Gee and then Niese have injuries.

[MFS62]

8 mid year starts, 4.37 ERA.
Comes up when Niese has "tightness" in his arm, then traded when Niese comes back and one of the kids gets promoted.

Later

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I kinda like him. Will be motivated by circus following his countryman across town. Beats him when they line up as opposing starters in subway series. Walks too many guys.

Goes 8-8, 4.40 In 24 starts 145 innings 130 ks 50 bbs

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Starts strong. Then... well, squint, and you'll swear you're watching Steve Trachsel in a bad year, with blurry vision of his own. I'm hoping he proves me wrong, but... blecch.

20 GS, 105 IP, 5-6 record, 4.87 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 80 K, 6.86 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, OH GOD the home runs

[Edgy MD]

I like him. That is... I just love the narrative, finding myself hard pressed to think of anybody so fully deserving of an unconditional release, somehow dodging it, reclaiming his season, and turning what was left of the season around to give the impression of a defensible campaign.

I guess even better is Jose Valentin back in 2006, but even then, I didn't get the idea the sword was hanging over the guy's neck like it was over Matsuzaka's.

Definitely the best Daisuke in Mets history. Hard to guess what he's going to do, but wouldn't it be something if he and Warthen found that key?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

That Dice-K/Warthen stuff sure does seem like it'd make for a great flurry of pennant-race human-interest stories, wouldn't it?

[Ceetar]

Gets a "Dice-K was on the 2014 Mets?!" from most fans by the end of the year.

[smg58]

Does OK as the fifth starter out of the box but gets displaced by Montero. Finishes the year in the pen and does pretty well.

[metsmarathon]

starts surprisingly strong. stays in the rotation due to his production, and the struggles/injuries of jon niese, until things fall apart suddenly in mid august, followed immediately by an injury. mets fans, predictably, lament the team's being in contention at mid season as a reason he is not flipped to a contender for prospects.