As if Dice-K hasn’t already had a tumultuous few years with the Red Sox, new information came today regarding a leg injury sustained prior to the World Baseball Classic in January 2009. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reported this troubling news story this evening, which creates an even bigger question surrounding the pitcher’s relationship with the Sox ownership. The fact that Dice-K kept the injury hidden until now is extremely troubling. As a fan, I am pissed-off at his complete lack of consideration for the Sox organization and have lost what was left of the little respect I had for him.
"“Early on in January 2009, I hurt my right inner thigh. I consider movement around my hip joint a crucial part of my pitching motion. It happened during my exercise to strengthen my hip joint that I incorporated into training since 2008. I may have pushed myself just a little too hard. It wasn’t the pain that killed me, but it was the regrets and guilt that filled my mind. It was the time to start building up for the season, but I hurt myself because of my own doing.I had to make a decision whether this injury was serious enough to withdraw from the World Baseball Classic. But my body was functioning well, and by taking anti-inflammatory medicine I can tolerate the pain. So I continued training, but actually it was even hard just to jog.” -Dice-K"
When Dice-K was asked whether the trainers and coaches on the Sox knew, he said he purposely kept it from them, because he did not want to be the center of attention. Does he realize that when the Sox spent in excess of $100 million dollars to bring him to the United States he immediately became the center of attention? Does he realize how completely idiotic it is to hide the injury and in turn make it worse? Does he realize how much he hurt the Sox by not pitching an entire season? Does Dice-K realize what a jerk he is to keep his injury hidden and then bad mouth the Sox training regimine to the Japanese media?
If I were Dice-K and I want to continue to pitch in the United States, I better get my ass down to Spring Training early and be ready to give a quality start every five days when the season starts, because so far he has done nothing but walk batters, run his mouth, and piss off fans and management at every turn. Unfortunately for the Sox management, they have him locked up for another few years with no way to unload is enormous salary. Unless Dice-K begins to magically pitch like an ace, it appears the Sox wasted a ton of money on an underperforming, bad-mouthing liar. That’s a tough pill to swallow.
As you can probably tell, this was the last straw for me. If Dice-K does not have a top notch year in 2010, he owes the Sox a lot of money for all the crap he has put them through.