Would it have been a good move...considering we would have lost Masterson and Lowrie, and would be paying Dye to platoon with one of our best hitters this season?
DiceK has been quite good this year - but the more I think about it the more I realize he doesn't nibble.
He's wild. Absolutely. But when he misses, he misses badly. Nibbling implies he's just off the plate and looking to catch the corner as it were. He's nowhere near that.
I also heard something interesting - don't remember the source, so take it with a grain of salt - is that the Japanese pitcher prefers giving up the walk to a hitter instead of giving up a hit because of some respect issue. Not too sure where I heard that but it is another interesting wrinkle.
If he cut down the walks just a little bit he'd be a crazy effective pitcher. I think he already is - but he could be front-line starter material.
The Sox only have three more road series against good teams - CHI, NYY, and TB.
The rest are against Texas, and some sub-.500 teams (Sea, KC, Bal, Tor).
There is the opportunity for ground to be made up.