Red Sox fans cringe at the nickname "Dice K." I personally remember having standing room only for a very cold September game and seeing Matsuzaka get lit up by the Tampa Bay Rays years ago. It was by far the worst experience out of many trips I've had to Fenway Park. He's had his moments, like almost all pitchers, but for the most part he has been an unsuccessful hurler. So why start him this week?
Matsuzaka has been impressive as a reliever this season. On the year, he's compiled a very respectable 2.45 ERA and 1.16 WHIP. That's over the course of 29.1 innings pitched in which he's struck out 32 batters. Whether you like the player or not, those numbers are undeniable. Are they truly representative of what you should expect from Dice-K going forward? Most likely not. However, he has certainly been on his game to this point in the season.
A possible reason for this success is that he is throwing more cutters this season than he ever has before. His cutter typically is thrown around 90mph and because he throws it so often now, it's become his best pitch. Matsuzaka's cutter has a 3.0 wCT (cutter runs above average) this season. At 33, its understandable that he would start throwing less fastballs. What is surprising is that he has been able to instead throw cutters more effectively because of the cut down (no pun intended) on fastballs.
Of course, most likely, his stats look better because 1.) it's a small sample size; 2.) it's his first full season in the National League (he didn't join the Mets until August last season); and 3.) he's been a reliever for the most part, where he is often put in the best position to succeed as opposed to starting games against an entire lineup.
Whatever the reason for his success is, and I'm sure it's a combination of all of the above, Dice-K enters his second start of the season against the Cubs, in Chicago, on Wednesday. Dice-K certainly isn't the pitcher Kyle Lohse is. At the same time, Lohse, a RHP (right-handed pitcher) like Dice-K, just pitched a complete game shutout against the Cubs on Sunday. He only surrendered three hits in the entire contest. As stated in the "Robbie Erlin Stream of the Week" article (and not much has changed since), the Cubs are not a very good hitting (or pitching) team.
Why you shouldn't listen to me: Daisuke has certainly put up the numbers this season to warrant a start here. At the same time, those numbers have come from relief appearances. He has only started once so far this year. Granted, he was successful in his outing. At the same time, this is the same player who couldn't find a major league job until August last year and has a career ERA of 4.44 and WHIP of 1.40. His ERA on the road this year, by the way, is 4.22 compared to a 1.45 at home.
In addition, as I said earlier, there's seven guys owned in less than 25% of ESPN standard leagues that I think also have a solid chance at giving owners a quality outing this week. It should be a good week for streamers. For people like me who can think back to Dice-K's awful days in a Red Sox uniform and still give him a shot, good luck to us. To the rest of you, I wish you luck in your searches for a stream this week.
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