Daisuke Matsuzaka, new contract in hand and ready to pitch

Former Boston Red Sox and New York Mets pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka has himself a new contract with a familiar team.

Neither father time nor undergoing cervical spine surgery can keep Daisuke Matsuzaka off the pitching rubber. The 40 year-old right hander has signed a one year contract with the Seibu Lions of the Nippon Professional Baseball League in Japan, proving once again, you can go home.

Seibu is where an 18 year-old Matsuzaka debuted in professional baseball back in 1999. He was 16-5 with a 2.60 earned run average that year in what was his first of eight seasons pitching in Japan before leaving for the United States.

Of course in America, he landed with the Boston Red Sox and was on their World Series winning team his first year in town. His encore performance was pitching to the tune of an 18-3 record with a 2.90 ERA the following season.

After that though, the results were mixed. Injuries limited his time on the field, and over the next four years in Boston he made more than 12 starts in a year, just once.

Entering free agency following a year he posted an 8.28 ERA, Matsuzaka was only able to secure a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians. He was not, however, able to secure a spot in the starting rotation. After spending time with the Indians’ Triple-A affiliate, they released him, allowing him to pursue opportunities elsewhere.

The Mets swooped in and ran him out to the mound 41 times over the course of a year and a half. Appearing mostly as a reliever, he was no longer the dominant pitcher he was early in his career.

After playing for a couple of different Japanese League teams over the past four seasons (he was signed by Seibu prior to last season, though didn’t pitch in 2020) Matsuzaka hopes to take the field where his professional career began over two decades ago.

As forty-something pitchers Bartolo Colon and Fernando Rodney still look for work in the United States, it appears 40 year-old Daisuke Matsuzaka can’t relate to the difficulty of finding a job. Here’s wishing Dice-K a very healthy and successful 2021 campaign.