Dogged Determination: Sox Sink Teeth Into Dice-K

By Gerry Callahan
Boston Herald General Sports Columnist
Tuesday, December 19, 2006 - Updated: 05:16 AM EST

It would have been so easy to just go through the motions. They could have just submitted a bid of $30 million or $35 million, lost out to the New York Mets, and then said, “Oh, well, we tried.” It would have been hard to blame them.

Then they could have told their friends in the media that the kid is no sure thing. He’s never pitched an inning in the big leagues, and he’s never played anywhere like Boston. Remember Hideo Nomo and Byung-Hyun Kim? They hated it here. Couldn’t wait to get out. And let’s not forget slimy agent Scott Boras. The Mets can go kiss his toes, if they’d like. We don’t need the aggravation.


In the end, the Red Sox could have saved the Chilean Sea Bass, sat out the Daisuke Matsuzaka sweepstakes and never had to worry about where to put the Million Cameraman March that will follow the pitcher to the big leagues. You know what the last Sox owner would have done if he were faced with an opportunity of this magnitude? Passed.

Not these guys. John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino went after the player like a pit bull on the neighbor’s cat, and they didn’t let up until they had a deal. It was the most aggressive and impressive play from this team since Dave Roberts took off for second on Mariano Rivera, and it proved one thing about these Red Sox owners: They are as maniacal and driven as the people who fill the seats at Fenway.
One year ago, the Sox front office was more messed up than Air America. Today it is the envy of baseball and the reason Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is looking for something to throw at GM Brian Cashman. In one big, bold, imaginative move, the Sox signed the best pitcher on the market and generated an unimaginable level of interest in an aging, 86-win team.

You don’t think they’ll recoup their $51.11 million posting fee? These are the same guys who sold dirt. They took bids on the empty champagne bottles after the ’04 World Series. Somehow they’ll find a way to cash in on Dice K Mania.

But the real beauty of this move is on the baseball field. We heard it all last summer, as the Detroit Tigers rolled through the regular season, into the playoffs and onto the World Series: To build a championship team, you start with a pitching staff made up of young power arms. With Josh Beckett [stats], Jonathan Papelbon and Matsuzaka, the Red Sox now have three 26-year-old right-handers who have the potential to win the Cy Young. None of the three is eligible for free agency until after the 2010 season.

The fact is you can find a closer. You can trade for a closer. You can even make a closer. Twenty-six-year-old starters are the most precious commodity in the game.

To his credit, GM Theo Epstein anticipated an exploding market for pitching and trumped the field with his bid for Matsuzaka. Then the Sox refused to blink in their negotiations with Boras, and wound up with a potential ace for about $8.7 million a year. If you’re keeping score at home, the Sox trounced both the Yankees and Boras, and for the second year in a row, they landed the best pitcher available.

The only difference is last year Beckett cost them shortstop prospect Hanley Ramirez, who turned out to be NL Rookie of the Year for Florida, and Anibal Sanchez, who turned out to be a pretty good pitcher who threw a no-hitter as a rookie for the Marlins. Dice K cost them nothing but money and jet fuel, and what do the Sox get for their investment?
“He was the best pitcher in the world this year,” wrote Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci, who nominated Matsuzaka for the 2006 Sportsman of the Year.
It is easy to say that Dice K hasn’t pitched in the big leagues, but Ichiro Suzuki won the AL MVP in his first season in the United States. Nomo was the NL Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in 1995. Dice K was the MVP of the World Baseball Classic last March and has been performing under pressure since he was in high school. He’s used to crowds and cameras, and for what it’s worth, he smiled more in one day in Boston than Nomo or Kim did in their entire careers.


Because of his size and stuff, Matsuzaka has been compared to Pedro Martinez, which is ironic. One of the things that drove Martinez out of Boston will help Dice K immensely in his rookie year. Pedro didn’t like sharing the spotlight with Curt Schilling [stats], the man who helped him win his only World Series ring. Dice K is probably not so egomaniacal. Who is, after all? The new kid is surely smart enough to listen and learn as much as he can from Schilling, who promises to learn a few Japanese words and phrases by the day pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
This is Schilling’s final season, and the truth is, until about a few days ago, he had his doubts. He didn’t think he had much of a chance of going out on top. Then the Sox went after Dice K, and everything changed. The Sox are a championship contender again. The best pitcher in the world will do that for you.