May 16th, 2012
Bobby V: ‘I don’t think Dice-K’s all that close’ to rejoining Red Sox
Posted by Scott Lauber at 6:05 pm
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The 30-day window on Daisuke Matsuzaka’s minor league rehab assignment is due to expire one week from today.
But that doesn’t mean the Red Sox will promote him right away.
“Right now, I don’t think he’s all that close to pitching in the major leagues,” Bobby Valentine said today. “He might take a big step. Not until he’s ready. It’s not the calendar that’s going to dictate whether a guy pitches in the major leagues, I don’t think.”
Matsuzaka (Matt Stone photo, left), recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery last June, is scheduled to start tomorrow for Triple-A Pawtucket in Durham, N.C., then will make another start next Tuesday night for the PawSox. Beyond that, and barring an actual injury setback, the Red Sox could cite something as simple as a lack of arm strength to place him back on the disabled list and restart the 30-day rehab clock.
Unlike predecessor Terry Francona, Valentine is able to speak to Matsuzaka in his native language thanks to his years of managing in Japan. He has had several conversations with Matsuzaka over the past few weeks, and from those, he can determine that the right-hander agrees he isn’t quite ready to rejoin the Red Sox’ rotation. In particular, Valentine said Matsuzaka is trying to regain the proper throwing mechanics from before his surgery.
“I understand everything he says, and he understands everything I say. That’s why I don’t think he’s close,” Valentine said. “There’s a lot of things that you do before you’re totally ready, and I’m not sure he’s put his elbow situation behind him yet. I don’t think he totally understands where he is with his elbow. He hasn’t confused me yet. If he tomorrow after the game says, ‘Bring on the Yankees,’ I’ve not understood a lot of the conversations. I don’t think he’s going to say that.
“It’s not necessarily tentative. It’s just the understanding of why it happened and what he did to pitch while it was hurt, that mechanic, whether or not that mechanic is something he should be using now or if he should go back to the mechanic he was using when he hurt it. It’s a very confusing state. Until he figures that out totally in his mind, competition is going to be confused. He won’t be into the competition. We want him to be here, not only to be healthy, but we want him to be in the competition.”