Sep

Konichiwa, Boston

Remember how the Yankees’ 2005 start in Japan screwed them up for a few weeks? Remember how Mike Mussina whined about it for a while, Kevin Brown came down with a parasite, and the Yanks generally seemed like they were sleepwalking through April? Well, next year, the Red Sox are opening up their season in Japan. This inconvenient trip and a pitcher who is 1-4 with a 9.57 ERA over his last five starts is what the Red Sox get for their $102 million investment.

Categories : Asides

4 Comments»

Marcus says:

September 11, 2007 at 2:27 am

Um, but what about this:

“Baseball officials remain hopeful of playing exhibition games in Beijing next March at the complex constructed for the 2008 Olympics.”

Didn’t I hear something about the Yankees being one of these teams? Even though it would still be spring training, it still might have a similar effect. Hopefully they don’t work out the details in time.

Anyways, the Yankees didn’t seem to do too well this April even without a trip to Japan.

Ben K. says:

September 11, 2007 at 10:33 am

The Yankees in name may make a spring training trip to Beijing. But I doubt you’ll convince too many stars to make that trip.

Reply

Mike A. says:

September 11, 2007 at 10:51 am

The Yanks were mentioned just because they’re the biggest name team out there. If MLB sends teams to play in Beijing, they won’t be sending the Reds or Pirates.

Oh, and they actually spent $103,111,111.11 on Dice-K, not $102M. Every little bit stings.

Michael T says:

September 11, 2007 at 11:54 am

I posted this elsewhere, but have an expanded comparison of th vaunted DiceK vs. the busto Barry Zito. Virtually indistinguishable this year except for their respective K rate. But offsetting that, DiceK is posting these numbers while being 4 years younger and in his prime.

Average Annual Cost, Including Posting Fee: DK $17 mn, BZ $18 mn

IP 2007: DK 184, BZ 174

ERA: DK 4.44, BZ 4.45

ERA+: DK 102, BZ 99 (This is park and league adjusted with 99 being 1% worse than average for the year)

BB: DK 70, BZ 73

HR allowed: DK 23, BZ 21

SLG Against: DK .408, BZ .399

Ks: DK 179, BZ 121 (only real difference)

Line Drive %: DK 19%, BZ 20%

GB%: DK 38%, BZ 40%

DiceK, welcome to the exclusive club of $100 million league average pitchers.