Odd Man Out?

Notice anyone missing from this picture? You guessed it, Dice-K.

Way back in November of 2006, the Red Sox shocked the baseball world by shelling out a record $51.1 million to the Seibu Lions (a figure some two-to-three times the amount of their entire payroll) just for the rights to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka. Less than a month later, negotiations between the Sox and Dice-K's agent, none other than Scott Boras, ended with Matsuzaka agreeing to a six-year, $52 million deal to come to Boston. Between the negotiating fee and Matsuzaka's mega-deal, John Henry, Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner had invested over $100 million to land the Japanese legend.

At the time, Sox fans were ecstatic. Everything we heard about Dice-K had us applauding the move. We were wowed by legendary stories like how a then 18-year-old Matsuzaka went 17 innings in a high school playoff game, throwing 250 pitches just a day after throwing 148 in a complete game shutout. We heard about all the All-Star appearances, ERA titles and strikeout records he set in the Japanese League, and how he could throw four different pitchers for strikes at any point in the game, on any count. We salivated as he singlehandedly won Japan the 2006 World Baseball Classic, while also earning MVP honors. We even heard rumors about a one of a kind pitch named the "gyroball" which supposedly was unhittable.

For all these reasons, Sox fans were thanking their lucky stars that Theo and Co. outbid the Yankees, Mets and Rangers to land us what were led to believe was the greatest pitcher on the planet, maybe even of all time. When he arrived, the media attention was unlike anything we'd ever seen before. Everywhere Dice-K went he had throngs of reporters following his every move like a traveling circus. Each start he made was an event. Fans in Japan stayed up until 3 AM just to watch him pitch for the Sox.

In his rookie season, Dice-K went 15-12 with a 4.40 ERA and helped the Sox win their second World Series title in three years. Then, in 2008 Matsuzaka was magical, going 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA. All the while, his style of pitching was agonizing. He nibbled on the corners, threw tons of pitches and walked countless batters. He never seemed to go over five innings. However, he didn't give up many hits or runs and always seemed to get out of jams so we couldn't argue with the results.

However, despite showing flashes of brilliance here and there, Dice-K has never been the same since 2008. In 2009, Matsuzaka blew his arm out in the WBC before the season even started and only managed to make 12 starts, going 4-6 with a 5.76 ERA in just 59.1 innings. Questions arose about his commitment to the Sox and his work ethic. Soon his penchant for walking batters drove us to the point of insanity.

Then, after finally caving into Boston's demand for him to abandon his familiar Japanese training methods, Dice-K reluctantly agreed to join the Red Sox strength and conditioning program. As a result, Matsuzaka rebounded to have a somewhat respectable 2010, going 9-6 with a 4.69 ERA over 153.2 innings.

Now, Dice-K enters Spring Training as a fifth starter in the second to last year of his deal. Suddenly, he has become an afterthought. No longer do countless Japanese scribes hang on his every word. In fact, they seem to have disappeared all together. While the rest of the Sox' starting rotation (Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Josh Beckett and John Lackey) looks like the Beatles during Spring Training- four best friends joined at the hip- Dice-K can't seem to get any love.

But that's fine with me. Maybe the fact that the spotlight no longer shines brightest on Dice-K will allow him to take a deep breath and a step back so he can finally focus on baseball and not all the other distractions and pressures that came with him making the monumental leap from Japanese League legend to the highest paid American baseball import in history. If everything goes according to plan, Matsuzaka will hit his stride in 2011 and fly under the radar as the best fifth starter in baseball.

That's my guess.

Just don't expect for him to throw fewer pitches or give up fewer free passes.

After all, some things never change.