Sunday Insider: Dice-K like a bad Toyota

Daisuke Matsuzaka, the highly touted and ridiculously expensive import, has opted for season-ending Tommy John surgery. The Red Sox camp indicated that he could return to pitch by the middle of next season.

But most starting pitchers coming back from that surgery need much more time than that to get everything back. Since he's a free agent following the 2012 season, there's a good chance Matsuzaka's Red Sox career is over.

There's a good chance his next pitch will be thrown in Japan, where he became a player of mythical proportions.

We read all the stories about him throwing 200-plus pitches in playoff games while in high school. We heard the story of this alleged unhittable pitch called the "gyroball." We heard about how he would come across the big pond and take MLB by storm.

He fell a little short of that.

Boston pounced when he was made available, paying a whopping $51 million posting fee to win the rights to negotiate with him. Then it signed him to a $52 million contract. Agent Scott Boras had Dice-K chilling courtside at Lakers games during the process, showing off his prized client for Jack Nicholson and all the paparazzi.

What did Boston get for that?

Over the same period, the Twins' Scott Baker was 49-35 with a 4.12 ERA.

Boy, it was hard to watch Matsuzaka pitch. His hands raised over his head. The little hip wiggle. The slow leg kick.

I think Cirque du Soleil stole that move.

He had one brilliant season, in 2008 (18-3, 2.90 ERA). He did win two games for the Red Sox during the 2007 playoffs -- probably enough to have a deli sandwich named after him somewhere in Boston.

He loved company on the bases, walking more than 70 batters in three seasons. His final years were noted for trips to the disabled list. He landed on the DL twice in 2009 with shoulder strains. Last year he made separate trips to the DL with neck and forearm strains.

The next hot Japanese pitcher due to try out MLB is expected to be righthander Yu Darvish, who was 7-1 with a 1.61 ERA through eight starts this season. He wants to pitch here next year, when he'll be 25. Matsuzaka was 26 when he arrived. Darvish is considered to be everything Matsuzaka is -- and more. Some stories are floating a nine-figure contract for him.

After Matsuzaka arrived, thrived some, and broke down some, you wonder if all the pitches caught up with him. His story should be a cautionary tale for teams eying the next big thing.