Add Daisuke Matsuzaka to the list of players the Red Sox have added to waivers as they try to burn salary with their disastrous season wrapping up. Buster Olney has reported that the pitcher is now on the trading block.
With the non-waiver trade deadline in the rear-view mirror, Boston has put a huge chunk of players on waivers, including Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and all the other players included in the blockbuster Boston-Los Angeles trade. Matsuzaka, who still has $2 million left in the last few months on his enormous $52 million contract signed six years ago, is another player who could be more useful somewhere else than on the stumbling Sox.
It seems like just yesterday that the Red Sox put up a $51 million posting fee just to talk to Matsuzaka, but it seems like long ago that the Japanese pitcher was the ace that had a 2.90 ERA and 18-3 record in 2008. While Matsuzaka was great in his return from the disabled list Monday, tossing a 7-run, 0-ER performance in a win, he had been shaky at best in the five starts before getting injured and still has a 5.10 ERA on the year. The Red Sox are hoping that someone out there was convinced by his most recent outing and might potentially give up something in order to take on Matsuzaka's last few months in return for a few key late-season starts.
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