Current draft system is no good for baseball

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

The kid has never thrown a pitch in professional baseball, and yet he's guaranteed to make enough money that he could never throw one at all and be financially stable for the rest of his life.

It's not Stephen Strasburg's fault, even though he put his pen on the dotted line of a record-breaking $15.1 million contract. It's not Scott Boras' fault for negotiating the best contract he could for his client. All he's doing is using what the current system is giving him.

And it's certainly not the Washington Nationals' fault. The Nationals were put in a terrible position. Sure, it's a position they put themselves in by being the worst team in baseball. But they shouldn't be held captive by that fact. Some say that if Washington had doubts about their ability to sign Strasburg, they shouldn't have drafted him. But if they did not draft him, they would be criticized for not choosing the best player and not being committed to winning. And in drafting him, they were pretty much forced to sign him or suffer the exact same reaction as if they never drafted him at all.

They had to sign a ridiculous contract for a pitcher- granted, with loads of potential - who may or may not ever see their major league facility. They did what they had to do with the pick because they couldn't do anything else with it. Major League Baseball does not allow draft picks to be traded. If you're the first pick, you have to be ready to give a boatload of money to a player who statistically speaking doesn't have much of a shot of ever living up to its potential and hype.

This isn't like football or basketball where draft picks make immediate impact in the league. It takes years sometimes for these guys to develop into the players we see on Major League diamonds, if they do at all. How valuable Strasburg really is to the Nationals will not be decided this year and maybe not even next year. Even if he does reach the majors, the return on his club's investment could be obscenely limited, as his best years could come after his four-year contract has expired and he's left Washington for bigger dollars he'd be able to get elsewhere.

Baseball needs to allow teams to do with picks what they wish. If the Nationals can sacrifice a gamble on a very good prospect to get someone closer to major league ready or a couple of lower picks to save money that they can use on the free agent market, then why should they not be able to if that's what they think the team needs?

Until this happens, small market teams will continue to be forced into this perilous situation. And how much better are they getting by it?

Pedroia's plunking could be just the spark

By Jorge Bannister
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Unknot those panties about at least one thing, Red Sox Nation. Dustin Pedroia getting hit on the shoulder in the eighth inning by Mark Melancon was not intentional. Trust me.

The New York Yankees were already up, 13-4. It doesn’t matter that Pedroia had hit a home run earlier in the game. The Yankees were up, 13-4. It doesn’t matter that Melancon threw a pitch over Pedroia’s head. The Yankees were up, 13-4. Note that Melancon struggled after Pedroia, too, throwing a 57 foot fastball to Victor Martinez. And, please, don’t forget, the Yankees were up, 13-4.

I can understand Pedroia’s reaction to the whole situation. He hit a homer earlier in the game and a pitch earlier in the at-bat flew high over his head. He then got plunked high on his left bicep.

I give major credit to Jorge Posada for walking Pedroia down the first-base line to keep him in check. The view inside the Red Sox dugout didn’t look too friendly when NESN scanned — especially the sour look on Kevin Youkilis’ face. (Or, maybe he was just upset he was pulled for a defensive replacement late in the game. He was, after all, playing left field.)

Let’s remember one thing, though. Say it with me, now, “The Yankees were up, 13-4.”

I was surrounded by Red Sox fans when the incident happened, and someone said, “It’ll be interesting to see who the Sox hit.”

Really? Because, home-plate umpire Derryl Cousins had warned both dugouts immediately after the hit by pitch.

No way was anyone going to get tossed in a 13-4 game and risk Terry Francona getting tossed and, subsequently, fined by Major League Baseball.

Obviously, Josh Beckett is going to handle things tonight. The only question is, who is he going to hit?

Derek Jeter seems logical. He’s the same spark-plug for that team that Pedroia is for the Red Sox. However, even with warnings handed out, A.J. Burnett would certainly hit someone in return. No way would he let someone hit the captain without retaliating, right?

This is when things will get interesting.

The Red Sox need a spark — badly.

Question is, can Chad Fairchild — tonight's home-plate umpire — justify throwing out Beckett after the inevitable hit by pitch? If so, Tito would certainly get tossed, too.

That would certainly be just the spark the Red Sox need.

Dice-K is far from OK

By Jorge Bannister
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Is Daisuke Matsuzaka breaking down?

Don’t look at your monitor like that, it’s a legitimate question.

The phenom, who once threw an 18-inning complete game in his high school title game, can barely make it out of the fifth inning in his starts now.

In 2006 — after pitching Japan to the World Baseball Classic title over Cuba — Matsuzaka went 17-5 with an 2.13 ERA for the Seibu Lions. He threw 186-1/3 innings, striking out 200 and walking 34. Dice-K started 25 games and threw 13 complete games.

Matsuzaka threw 215 innings in 2005 for the Lions, and was 14-13 in 28 starts with an ERA of 2.30.

This year, Dice-K has been, well, less than stellar. He’s 1-4 with a 7.33 ERA in six starts. He’s only averaging four-plus innings a start, but finally got past the five-inning barrier Sunday against the Rangers.

Last year Matsuzaka was a sparkling 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA last year. Remember, though, he only threw 167-2/3 innings compared to 204-2/3 in his rookie campaign. Somehow, that gets lost in translation with some. In fact, if he had similar winning numbers and a solid ERA with more innings, he probably would’ve won the Cy Young Award.

Through 66 career MLB starts, Dice-K has only one complete game. It’s not his fault, he’s a nibbler. Oh. Wait.

In Sunday’s game against the Rangers, he showed something else, though. There was life on his fastball and he seemed to pound the strike zone early in the game. Matsuzaka finally threw more than five innings this season (5-2/3 to be exact), but was pounded for 10 hits and five earned runs. He struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter.

Maybe that’s why he nibbles?

In his MLB rookie season (2007), Dice-K threw fewer than six innings only 7 times in 32 starts. In fact, in his final five starts he only went six or more innings twice. His worst start of the year was 2-2/3 innings on Sept. 8 at Baltimore — he was shelled for eight runs on six hits and three walks.

Though he had a successful season last year, Matsuzaka failed to throw six innings in 14 of his 29 starts.

And there’s the problem. His pitch counts are near- to over-100 pitches by the fifth inning and Red Sox manager Terry Francona is forced to call his bullpen earlier when Dice-K is on the mound.

If you think I am crazy by asking that question in my lead, then ponder this little Jeopardy portion of the column. 

Answer: He was a Japanese pitcher who had successful outings for the Red Sox but ultimately turned out to be worthless and unable to pitch in the majors anymore. 

Question: Who is Hideo Nomo?

That’s right. I am comparing Matsuzaka to Nomo.