Via Hardball Talk, Jeff Passan blasts Daisuke Matsuzaka:

When Boston dropped a $51.1 million bid for the rights to negotiate with Matsuzaka, then in late 2006 handed him a six-year, $52 million contract, they expected an ace. They got an ACE: Another Chubby Easterner, Hideki Irabu 2.0, a disappointment, a waste of money.

A bust.

Craig Calcaterra writes that some of that vitriol should be directed to the Red Sox front office.

There are a lot of miserable-to-watch pitchers who failed to meet expectations. How much of what we hear about Matsuzaka is fair and how much of it is the result of blowback from the Red Sox front office, embarrassed and angry at how monstrous a miscalculation they made in the first place? Isn’t a player’s bad attitude and bad habits the kind of thing that should be evaluated before the check is cut? In criticizing Matsuzaka for those shortcomings, shouldn’t we criticize Theo Epstein and his talent evaluators as well?

You always hear about how bad Dice-K is. And that’s fair as far as it goes. But you rarely hear the Red Sox criticized for their hundred million dollar blunder. In this case, I think there’s room for a more evenhanded allocation of vitriol.

Actually, I believe the rule is that Brian Cashman is the only GM who criticized for making bad pitching moves.

Update: According to FanGraphs, Dice-K produced $43 million worth of value so far. That’s pretty close to what the Red Sox are paying him, but not for what they paid for the entire package. From Matsuzaka’s view, he delivered, since he earned the money in his pocket. If the Red Sox wasted about $50 million on the posting fee, that’s not his fault. Maybe the real problem here is that posting fees are a waste of money, and US teams should just let Japanese players become free agents.

Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched his second great outing in a row:

Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched eight innings against the Los Angeles Angels and gave up only one hit – in self-defense.

The right-hander struck out nine in a nearly flawless performance and got home run support from Kevin Youkilis in a 5-0 victory on Saturday night, extending the Boston Red Sox’s winning streak to four games. Even Jason Varitek helped out his batterymate with an RBI double that snapped an 0 for 19 drought.
The only hit off Matsuzaka (2-2) came with one out in the second – a vicious line drive back to the box by Alberto Callaspo that deflected off Matsuzaka’s glove as he tried to protect his face and caromed off his glove to shortstop Jed Lowrie. Callaspo just beat Lowrie’s throw to first.

He’s allowed two hits and four walks in his last 15 innings after giving up 14 hits and five walks in his first seven innings. What changed? According to the stats available at Baseball Analytics, Dice-K threw 42% fast balls, 28% curve balls, and 20% cutters in his first two starts. Opponents were creaming the curve and the cutter, as Daisuke was leaving them over the heart of the plate.

Daisuke Matsuzakaz cutters and curve balls, first two starts 2011. Graphic: Baseball Analytics.

In his last two starts, he increased his fastball percentage to 54%, cut down on curve balls to 11%, cutters to 15%, and is throwing more change ups, 11%. He’s also getting most of his pitches up and away in the strike zone, including the cutter and curve.

Daisuke Matsuzakaz cutters and curve balls, second two starts 2011. Graphic: Baseball Analytics

He went with what worked and de-emphasized what didn’t. So far, the results have been great.