At least until September 18th, Daisuke Matzusaka and Barry Zito will have the same ERA of 4.41. This may be surprising to most people who have heard about the monstrousity of a mistake the Giants committed by giving Zito $126 MM - quite possibly the worst contract since Colorado gave Mike Hampton 8 years and $121 million dollars in the 2000-01 off-season so his children can attend better schools in the Denver area.
Fortunately for the Red Sox, the $103+ MM they have committed to Dice-K goes unexamined. (And if Dice-K can win the CY Young in any of the next few seasons, unlikely, the value will increase by $4MM.) The question is why not.
The Red Sox have made a whole slew of contract mistakes over the past few years. J.D. Drew's five-years and $70MM comes immediately to mind. With no market whatsoever, Drew opted out and signed with the Red Sox for that amount despite no other team being in the running for his services. The Red Sox also signed Edgar Renteria only to see him fail miserably. After dumping him on the Braves and picking-up some of the tab, the Sawx signed Julio Lugo only watch him struggle at the plate. Yet, Red Sox management goes uncriticized.
Why?