Extending Dice-K

With an expensive commodity such as Matsuzaka, how much should a team be willing to accept out of him?

So far this season, Dice-K has made ten starts for the Red Sox, averaging right at six innings pitched over each. With the average starter in a five-man rotation usually getting around 32-34 starts, this puts him getting the Red Sox around 190 to 204 IP this season. But shouldn't a team be able to expect a guarantee of at least 215+ IP out of someone they have paid a combined $14M over the past two seasons?

Last season, there were seventeen pitchers who threw over 215 innings, nine of which logged at least 220. In order for Matsuzaka to log 220 innings at his current pace, he would need to start 36 games this season, something which has only been done three times this decade (Roy Halladay and Greg Maddux in '03 and Tom Glavine in '02).

The surprising thing has been how successful Dice-K has been, despite his inability to stretch many games past the sixth inning. Currently, his 179 ERA+ ranks seventh in the Majors, behind such workhorses as Carlos Zambrano and Tim Lincecum.

So, who are the pitchers over the past two seasons who have been absolutely dominant for their team (ERA+ over 115) but haven't been able to go longer than Matsuzaka (6.3 IP/GS)? Let's take a look...

Player	GS	IP	IP/GS	ERA+
Brad Penny	43	267.0	6.209	128
Chris Young	40	227.0	5.675	116

Two surprising names, in my opinion. I never would have pegged two marquee pitchers like Penny and Young as two who would average less innings per start than someone like Matsuzaka.

So, should managers at least be able to expect their front of the line starters to at least get them seven innings consistently, or is it acceptable for high priced pitchers to go six or less, as long as they are being very successful?