Biographical

Daisuke Matsuzaka PRed Sox

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Career Summary

Years	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	WARP
9	158	790.3	56	43	1	4.45	7

Birth Date	9-13-1980
Height	6' 0"
Weight	205 lbs

Age	43 years, 7 months, 11 days
Bats	R
Throws	R

WARP Summary

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MLB Statistics

Historical (past-seasons) WARP is now based on DRA..
cFIP and DRA are not available on a by-team basis and display as zeroes(0). See TOT line for season totals of these stats.
Multiple stints are are currently shown —Click to hide.

YEAR	Team	Lg	G	GS	IP	W	L	SV	H	BB	SO	HR	PPF	H/9	BB/9	HR/9	K/9	GB%	BABIP	WHIP	FIP	ERA	cFIP	DRA	DRA-	WARP
2007	BOS	MLB	32	32	204.7	15	12	0	191	80	201	25	101	8.4	3.5	1.1	8.8	0%	.299	1.32	4.29	4.40	92	3.81	78.9	4.3
2008	BOS	MLB	29	29	167.7	18	3	0	128	94	154	12	107	6.9	5.0	0.6	8.3	0%	.258	1.32	4.05	2.90	103	4.31	91.8	2.3
2009	BOS	MLB	12	12	59.3	4	6	0	81	30	54	10	112	12.3	4.6	1.5	8.2	0%	.380	1.87	5.12	5.76	110	5.92	126.9	-0.2
2010	BOS	MLB	25	25	153.7	9	6	0	137	74	133	13	112	8.0	4.3	0.8	7.8	0%	.284	1.37	4.01	4.69	106	4.61	104.2	1.2
2011	BOS	MLB	8	7	37.3	3	3	0	32	23	26	4	107	7.7	5.5	1.0	6.3	0%	.248	1.47	4.98	5.30	120	5.50	127.9	-0.2
2012	BOS	MLB	11	11	45.7	1	7	0	58	20	41	11	103	11.4	3.9	2.2	8.1	0%	.336	1.71	5.89	8.28	117	6.14	140.6	-0.5
2013	NYN	MLB	7	7	38.7	3	3	0	32	16	33	4	99	7.4	3.7	0.9	7.7	0%	.259	1.24	4.28	4.42	121	5.12	122.6	-0.1
2014	NYN	MLB	34	9	83.3	3	3	1	62	50	78	6	97	6.7	5.4	0.6	8.4	0%	.256	1.34	4.18	3.89	114	4.38	107.4	0.3
Career		MLB	158	132	790.3	56	43	1	721	387	720	85	105	8.2	4.4	1.0	8.2	38%	.288	1.40	4.36	4.45	105	4.57	101.2	7.0

Statistics for All Levels

'opp' stats - Quality of opponents faced - have been moved and are available only as OPP_QUAL in the Statistics reports now.
Minor league stats are currently shown —Click to hide.

YEAR	Team	Lg	LG	G	GS	IP	W	L	SV	H	BB	SO	HR	PPF	H/9	BB/9	HR/9	K/9	GB%	BABIP	WHIP	FIP	ERA	cFIP	DRA	DRA-
2007	BOS	MLB	AL	32	32	204.7	15	12	0	191	80	201	25	101	8.4	3.5	1.1	8.8	0%	.299	1.32	4.29	4.40	92	3.81	78.9
2008	BOS	MLB	AL	29	29	167.7	18	3	0	128	94	154	12	107	6.9	5.0	0.6	8.3	0%	.258	1.32	4.05	2.90	103	4.31	91.8
2009	BOS	MLB	AL	12	12	59.3	4	6	0	81	30	54	10	112	12.3	4.6	1.5	8.2	0%	.380	1.87	5.12	5.76	110	5.92	126.9
2010	BOS	MLB	AL	25	25	153.7	9	6	0	137	74	133	13	112	8.0	4.3	0.8	7.8	0%	.284	1.37	4.01	4.69	106	4.61	104.2
2011	BOS	MLB	AL	8	7	37.3	3	3	0	32	23	26	4	107	7.7	5.5	1.0	6.3	0%	.248	1.47	4.98	5.30	120	5.50	127.9
2012	BOS	MLB	AL	11	11	45.7	1	7	0	58	20	41	11	103	11.4	3.9	2.2	8.1	0%	.336	1.71	5.89	8.28	117	6.14	140.6
2012	SLM	A+	CAR	1	1	4.0	0	1	0	6	0	3	2	99	13.5	0.0	4.5	6.8	0%	.308	1.50	8.38	6.75	123	5.93	123.4
2012	PME	AA	EAS	1	1	4.7	0	0	0	3	2	7	0	105	5.8	3.9	0.0	13.5	0%	.375	1.07	1.48	1.93	51	2.74	57.1
2012	PAW	AAA	INT	11	11	51.0	1	3	0	42	17	41	6	96	7.4	3.0	1.1	7.2	0%	.245	1.16	4.37	3.18	104	3.81	79.4
2013	NYN	MLB	NL	7	7	38.7	3	3	0	32	16	33	4	99	7.4	3.7	0.9	7.7	0%	.259	1.24	4.28	4.42	121	5.12	122.6
2013	COH	AAA	INT	19	19	103.3	5	8	0	93	39	95	11	100	8.1	3.4	1.0	8.3	0%	.290	1.28	3.96	3.92	104	4.08	88.6
2014	NYN	MLB	NL	34	9	83.3	3	3	1	62	50	78	6	97	6.7	5.4	0.6	8.4	0%	.256	1.34	4.18	3.89	114	4.38	107.4
2014	BRO	A-	NYP	1	1	5.0	1	0	0	2	2	7	0	91	3.6	3.6	0.0	12.6	0%	.200	0.80	1.84	0.00	80	2.72	57.6
2014	SLU	A+	FSL	1	1	3.0	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	108	3.0	0.0	0.0	9.0	0%	.125	0.33	1.38	0.00	84	2.56	54.1
2014	BIN	AA	EAS	1	1	6.0	1	0	0	3	0	3	0	110	4.5	0.0	0.0	4.5	0%	.167	0.50	2.35	1.50	96	3.33	70.4
2014	LVG	AAA	PCL	2	2	12.0	0	0	0	7	6	12	0	98	5.3	4.5	0.0	9.0	0%	.233	1.08	3.19	2.25	86	2.44	51.6
2016	CAR	Wnt	PWL	4	4	20.0	0	3	0	13	11	11	1		5.9	5.0	0.5	5.0	0%	.207	1.20	3.59	2.70	0	0.00	0.0

Plate Discipline

YEAR	Pits	Zone%	Swing%	Contact%	Z-Swing%	O-Swing%	Z-Contact%	O-Contact%	SwStr%
2008	2759	0.5089	0.4324	0.7544	0.6140	0.2443	0.8097	0.6103	0.2456
2009	1096	0.4909	0.4471	0.7959	0.6320	0.2688	0.8441	0.6867	0.2041
2010	2610	0.5172	0.4556	0.7998	0.6163	0.2833	0.8462	0.6919	0.2002
2011	657	0.4810	0.4384	0.8056	0.6108	0.2786	0.8808	0.6526	0.1944
2012	846	0.5000	0.4657	0.8173	0.6454	0.2861	0.8718	0.6942	0.1827
2013	663	0.4796	0.4570	0.8317	0.6384	0.2899	0.8867	0.7200	0.1683
2014	1418	0.4866	0.4126	0.7778	0.6000	0.2349	0.8285	0.6550	0.2222
Career	10049	0.5014	0.4421	0.7878	0.6186	0.2645	0.8405	0.6632	0.2122

Injury History — No longer being updated

Last Update: 12/31/2014 23:59 ET

Date On	Date Off	Transaction	Days	Games	Side	Body Part	Injury	Severity	Surgery Date	Reaggravation
2014-07-25	2014-08-28	15-DL	34	31	Right	Elbow	Inflammation		-
2014-06-16	2014-06-17	DTD	1	1	-	General Medical	Illness		-
2013-04-15	2013-06-11	Minors	57	0	Right	Forearm	Strain		-	-
2013-03-12	2013-03-24	Camp	12	0	Right	Lower Leg	Strain	Calf	-	-
2012-07-03	2012-08-27	15-DL	55	48	Right	Upper Back	Strain	Trapezius	-	-
2012-05-20	2012-05-20	On-Alr	0	0	-	Upper Back	Soreness	Injections Trapezius	-	-
2012-03-26	2012-06-09	60-DL	75	58	Right	Elbow	Recovery From Surgery	Tommy John Surgery	2011-06-10	-
2011-05-17	2011-09-29	60-DL	135	121	Right	Elbow	Surgery	Tommy John Surgery	2011-06-10
2010-08-22	2010-09-02	DTD	11	9		Low Back	Stiffness		-
2010-06-08	2010-06-24	15-DL	16	14	Right	Forearm	Strain		-
2010-06-07	2010-06-07	DTD	0	0		General Medical	Illness	GI	-
2010-05-27	2010-05-27	DTD	0	0	Bilateral		Soreness		-
2010-04-03	2010-05-01	15-DL	28	23		Neck	Strain		-
2010-02-15	2010-03-25	Camp	38	0		Mid Back	Strain		-
2009-06-20	2009-09-15	60-DL	87	75	Right	Shoulder	Weakness		-
2009-04-15	2009-05-22	15-DL	37	33	Right	Shoulder	Strain	Mild	-
2009-01-10	2009-01-10	Off	0	0	Right	Groin	Strain	Happenned Training for WBC Hid From Team All Year	-
2008-05-28	2008-06-21	15-DL	24	21	Right	Shoulder	Strain	Rotator Cuff	-
2008-04-23	2008-04-30	DTD	7	6		General Medical	Respiratory	Flu	-
2007-05-25	2007-05-25	DTD	0	0		General Medical	Gastrointestinal	GI	-

Compensation

Year	Team	Salary
2014	NYN	$
2013	CLE	$
2012	BOS	$10,333,333
2011	BOS	$10,333,333
2010	BOS	$8,333,333
2009	BOS	$8,333,333
2008	BOS	$8,333,333
2007	BOS	$6,333,333

Years	Description	Salary
6 yr	Previous	$51,999,998
6 yr	Total	$51,999,998

Service Time	Agent	Contract Status
6 y 39 d	Mark Pieper	1 year (2014)

Details

1 year (2014). Re-signed by NY Mets as a free agent 1/24/14 (minor-league contract). Salary of $1.5M in majors. Contract selected by NY Mets 4/16/14.
1 year (2013). Signed by Cleveland as a free agent 2/10/13 (minor-league contract). Salary of $1.5M in majors. May earn additional $2.5M in performance bonuses. May request release 3/26/13 if he will not make Major League roster. $0.1M retention bonus if he agrees to start season in minors. May opt out of contract 6/1/13 if not on Major League roster. Released by Cleveland 3/25/13. Re-signed by Cleveland as a free agent 3/26/13 (minor-league contract). Released by Cleveland (at player's request) 8/20/13. Signed by NY Mets as a free agent 8/22/13.
6 years/$52M (2007-12). Signed by Boston 12/06. $2M signing bonus, 07:$6M, 08:$8M, 09:$8M, 10:$8M, 11:$10M, 12:$10M. Total value may increase to $60M based on performance. 2009-10 salaries increase to $10M with Cy Young in 2007 or 2008 or top 3 in Cy Young vote in 2007 and 08 or MVP in 2007 or 2008 or top 5 in MVP vote in 2007 and 2008. 2011-12 salaries increase to $12M with Cy Young in 2009 or 2010 or top 3 in Cy Young vote in 2009 and 2010 or MVP in 2009 or 2010 or top 5 in MVP vote in 2009 and 2010. May not be sent to minors. Award bonuses: $0.5M for MVP ($0.125M for 2nd in vote, $0.1M for 3rd, $75,000 for 4th, $50,000 for 5th). $0.5M for Cy Young ($0.4M for 2nd in vote, $0.3M for 3rd). $0.1M for All-Star ($50,000 for All-Star selection). $0.15M each for WS or LCS MVP. $50,000 for Gold Glove. $25,000 for Rookie of Year. Deal negotiated by Matsuzaka's previous agent, Scott Boras.
Perks: physical and massage therapists, interpreter, personal assistant, 8 1st-class round-trip air tickets/year between Boston and Japan, 1-time moving expenses to $35,000, spring training housing allowance to $25,000, Bos housing allowance to $75,000, use of Lincoln Town Car/similar car, Red Sox player ticket package including 2 field box seats/game, club employee for Japanese media, uniform # 18.
Boston bid $51,111,111 to win negotiating rights after Matsuzaka was posted by Japan's Seibu Lions 11/06.

2019 Preseason Forecast

Last Update: 1/27/2017 12:35 ET

PCT	W	L	SV	G	GS	IP	H	BB	SO	HR	BABIP	WHIP	ERA	DRA	VORP	WARP
Weighted Mean	?	?	?	?	?	0.0	?	0	0	?	.000	0.00	0.00	?	0.0	0.0

BP Annual Player Comments

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BP Articles

Click here to see articles tagged with Daisuke Matsuzaka

BP Chats

Date	Question	Answer
2013-10-28 18:00:00 (link to chat)	Do you know of any intriguing Asian players headed over next year? And how do you rank some of the Japaense pitchers who surprised this year, guys like Uehara and Iwakuma? (japanaese ice from northern california)	Masahiro Tanaka is the guy everyone is talking about. The 24-year-old pitcher (he'll be 25 in 2014) throws mid 90s heat, has solid secondary offerings and has dominated in Japan. He's closer to Yu Darvish than Daisuke Matsuzaka, and could be a top pitcher next year. Koji Uehara is one of the best closers in the game. His stuff is legit and he has always been hard to hit, even as a non-closer prior to 2013. Iwakuma is another pitcher who really shouldn't have been as much of a surprise as he was. Most of his struggles came in 2012 as a relief arm; he has dominated as a starter ever since 2012. Iwakuma should be a Top 25-30 pitcher even if he slips a little in 2014. He's really good, and his ability to pitch 200+ innings is the only thing I'm wondering about. (Mike Gianella)
2011-12-14 13:00:00 (link to chat)	Everybody has been hearing all of this hype about Yu Darvish. Daisuke Matsuzaka got all this hype too, and look what happened to him. Do you think Yu will be the real deal? (yankeesbg13 from Indianapolis)	I think Matsuzaka was the real deal as well. He just couldn't maintain it. I think people forget that he had a couple good seasons. Was he everything that was advertised? No. Will Darvish be the real deal? I think he has a more realistic chance of sustainable success. A see a very good #2 starter. (Jason Parks)
2011-04-12 13:00:00 (link to chat)	Daisuke Matsuzaka hasn't been an effective starter since 2008. Should the Red Sox cut bait? (Jeff from Boston)	Saying he was effective even in 2008 is a stretch: he had the lowest BABIP of any starter with at least his innings pitched total, and his 4.35 SIERA looked a lot worse than his sub-3.00 ERA. Marc Normandin wrote about Dice-K extensively today, so I'll refer you to his enlightened takes: http://redsoxbeacon.com/2011/04/even-nibbling-beats-this/ http://redsoxbeacon.com/2011/04/can-boston-replace-dice-k-in-house/ You can probably tell what Marc's opinion is from that second URL. I don't disagree. (Ben Lindbergh)
2010-02-16 16:00:00 (link to chat)	Thank you for the chat, Russell. Who do you think will be the more effective pitcher over the next few years: Ben Sheets or Daisuke Matsuzaka? (Dennis from LA)	You can never go wrong betting against the guy who had the big ouchie. This wouldn't be a question if Sheets hadn't been injured. (Study idea: what happens to pitchers after they miss a year?) But Sheets was really really good before the injury, and Dice-K was above average. I'm going to cross my fingers that Sheets comes back. (Russell A. Carleton)
2010-02-11 13:00:00 (link to chat)	Thank you for the chat, Shawn. Do you play fantasy baseball? Who do you like better over the next few years: Ben Sheets or Daisuke Matsuzaka? Brandon Webb or Javier Vazquez? (Dennis from LA)	Assuming all are healthy, Sheets and Webb, based purely on per-start quality. Especially with Vazquez moving into a stadium that really doesn't play into his strengths, and DiceK coming off an injury himself. But the reality is that Sheets is never going to be healthy over a "next few years" type period, and I don't know if anybody has ever been healthier than Vazquez. If I'm betting on quantity, gotta take those two. (Shawn Hoffman)
2010-02-09 13:00:00 (link to chat)	Buster Olney said that he thought that it was close, but that the Red Sox had the best 1-5 rotation on paper to start the year. Do you agree, or would you put another 5 ahead of them? What about top 3 in a playoff series, would you rather have Sabathia+Burnett+Vazquez/Pettitte, or Lester+Beckett+Lackey, or Hernandez+Lee+Bedard? (mhnickerson from Cambridge, MA)	Well, Bedard's got to be healthy for the last to matter, and right now he isn't so, we can toss that one to the side. Beyond that, the Yankees just won a World Championship with Sabathia-Burnett-Pettitte, and that counts for something. Add Vazquez and know that you've got both Hughes and Chamberlain as fifth options and it's a pretty impressive bunch. I'd probably go with that group, because I don't think much of Daisuke Matsuzaka anymore, and I'm starting to have my concerns about Beckett. (Jay Jaffe)
2010-02-02 13:00:00 (link to chat)	Hi Will, last year you predicted a break-out year for Edwin Jackson and my fantasy team thanks you for that. Is there anyone you want to tell us about this year? (Swingingbunts from NY)	I did? I rule. (Dumb luck.) I like Daisuke Matsuzaka, but that won't surprise anyone. I like Jake Westbrook's chances. If I have to go total sleeper, I'll say Manny Parra. (Will Carroll)
2010-01-13 13:00:00 (link to chat)	The 3 and a half hours was from the last time. Real question this time: Daisuke Matsuzaka, is 2010 going to be more 2007 or 2008? Please tell me it's not going to be another 2009. (goldenyeti from SF CA)	The Red Sox are convinced he's healthy and the best shape since he came to the U.S. If that's the case then he's the 2007-08 version. (John Perrotto)
2008-02-05 13:00:00 (link to chat)	what are the chances Norichika Aoki posts and plays for a mlb team next year? (tycobb from ga)	This is more of a question for Mike Plugh, who does a great job with our Japanese League coverage. From what I understand, Aoki's like Yu Darvish, in the sense of being a top talent who's still a long way from free agency in Japan. Much like in majors, there's low incentive for a team to ship off a player in Japan when they still control his rights for a number of years. So the chances don't look good for the immediate future. I'm fascinated by the posting system, however. It's reminiscent of the system before teams had farm systems, and prospects would be purchased by major league clubs from the minor league clubs that had them under contract; with a blind-bid aspect that makes things particularly dangerous. I'm not sure what lessons the MLB teams learned from the last round of posting, where the Rays stole Iwamura, the Yankees got rooked on Kei Igawa, and the Red Sox got exactly what they paid for in Daisuke Matsuzaka. (Derek Jacques)
2008-02-19 13:00:00 (link to chat)	Is Pagliarulo legitimately the authority on Japanese MLB prospects? (Tony from Brooklyn, NY)	I'd suggest Mike Plugh or one of the scouts that MLB teams sends over. It was Craig Shipley, I believe, that did a lot of the work on Daisuke Matsuzaka and one of the Lee brothers who scouted Kosuke Fukudome. (Will Carroll)

BP Roundtables

Date	Roundtable Name	Comment
2008-10-10 13:30:00	Friday LCS	By the way, just to get this out of the way and on the record, I'm conflicted as hell tonight. Daisuke Matsuzaka is a guy I've rooted for since well before most in Red Sox Nation had heard of him, but I'm also an unabashed fan of this Rays team. I'm very interested in what the Trop is like. Anyone seen if MLB took the tarps off the upper sections? (Will Carroll)

PITCHf/x Pitcher Profile

A Collaboration between BrooksBaseball.net and Baseball Prospectus - Pitch classifications provided by Pitch Info LLC

Although he has not thrown an MLB pitch in 2024, Daisuke Matsuzaka threw 12,196 pitches that were tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2007 and 2014, all of them occuring in Spring Training. In 2014, he relied primarily on his Cutter (90mph) and Fourseam Fastball (92mph), also mixing in a Sinker (91mph), Slider (81mph) and Curve (75mph). He also rarely threw a Splitter (81mph).