Dice-K Placed on DL; Future Clear for Red Sox Rotation, Murky for Matsuzaka

Turns out it's a good thing the Red Sox cultivated and collected pitchers like a squirrel hording acorns this past winter. Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-5, 8.23 ERA), who has never really seemed right all season, was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with what the team is calling "weakness in his shoulder."

The move takes a potentially awkward decision out of Boston's hands, clearing the way for John Smoltz to enter the rotation next week in Washington without the club having to either demote a healthy pitcher to the bullpen or convert to a potentially unwieldy six-man rotation.

It doesn't fully answer the question of what the club will do with Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden -- both of whom are dominating in the minors right now and have little left to prove there -- but it does clear up the immediate future and officially pull Brad Penny off the trading block.

Starkly in contrast to that is Matsuzaka whose future is suddenly very murky two-plus years after Boston shelled out more than $51 million to the Seibu Lions for the right to negotiate with him and another $52 million to ink him to a major league contract.

"It's not going to be a two-week DL thing," said [Red Sox manager Terry] Francona. "We have a lot of work ahead of us to get him back to being Daisuke." ...

"We don't know all the specifics yet, but it's not an injury (that has led to his struggles)," said Francona.

Matsuzaka will be sent to the Red Sox spring training complex in Florida when he begins his rehab. There is no timetable for his return.

"We're going to start figuring this out," said Francona. "If he has shoulder weakness, it's not like he's going to come back and pitch and his shoulder is going to be miraculously strong. I don't have all the answers yet."

In his other comments to the press, Francona speculated that the root of Matsuzaka's struggles might lie in the World Baseball Classic, which he participated in for Japan in March and, as Francona was eager to point out, disrupted his normal offseason routine. Could be.

But the warning signs on Matsuzaka have been a part of the equation for quite some time. He walked 80 and 94 hitters in his first two seasons in the majors, a control problem that could hint at an underlying injury, but, at minimum, suggests his success thus far in the states has been helped along by a good dose of luck. He spent a significant chunk of the 2008 season on the shelf with a similar condition and already missed more than a month this season on the DL.

His workload in Japan -- particularly as an amateur when he threw a 148-pitch shutout and a 250-pitch 17-inning complete game on consecutive days in the national high school tournament -- is the stuff of legend. Now? It's just another reason for the Red Sox to be very concerned about their $103 million investment.