Rangers win exclusive negotiating rights to Yu Darvish

[Kenny_Stang]

The Texas Rangers posted the highest bid for Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish and that bid was accepted by Darvish's team in Japan, Major League Baseball announced Monday night.

Sources said the Rangers' posting bid was around $51.7 million. Bidding for the posting fee closed last Wednesday, and the Ham Fighters had until 5 p.m. EST on Tuesday to accept.

The club has 30 days to negotiate with Darvish and his representatives. Should they not reach an agreement in that allotted time, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters will not receive the posting fee and Darvish will pitch in Japan next season.

Darvish has some electric stuff and amazing command. He could be the number one starter we've been missing since Cliff Lee left.

[idrivea4banger]

Come on Kenny, don't get killed. There's a rangers off season thread!

[Kenny_Stang]

I know there is, but this news deserved a thread of its own.

[mstng86]

I think it is worthy of its own thread as well. This a pretty interesting situation. They are going to shell out over 100 mill for a guy that hasn't pitched in the US. Did he pitch against the USA team at any point in international play?

I have faith Daniels and Nolan know what they are doing. It is going to be hard for the guy to be the ace on this team his first year though. I think he is going to need a year to get settled in.

Oh, and lets not put the cart before the horse, they still have to sign the guy. He may not even want to play for us. It could be another Steve Nebraska incident. he may only want to play for NY.

[Nash B.]

He may not even want to play for us. It could be another Steve Nebraska incident. he may only want to play for NY.

He's said he wanted to play for a West Coast team. Texas is the closest to the West Coast of the 4 teams that put in a bid.

[mstng86]

He's said he wanted to play for a West Coast team. Texas is the closest to the West Coast of the 4 teams that put in a bid.

I hadn't heard that. So what happens if they don't sign him in 30 days? Isn't he basically a free agent and can go to wherever he wants for less. I can't imagine Texas being high on his list of teams to choose from.

[Vertnut]

I choose to temper my enthusiasm for several reasons.

[DirtDog]

Hopefully he will be a serviceable #2 next year. Barring injury and if he can keep up with being able pitch every 5 th day instead of every 7 th day. I think he could be an ace in a couple years. Also the heat will be a factor on him too but he is half irianian so he should be able to stand the heat right?

[juiceweezl]

First, they're trying to sign him to be a #1 from day one. You don't pay a $51 million fee to talk to a guy on top of what it'll take to sign him. I expect they'll be out over $100 million to sign the guy when you add it all up. If we sign him, he'll be a #1 from the beginning.

Second, if the Rangers don't sign him,they don't pay the $51 million. Yu will also spend another season in Japan and cannot sign with another team. Let's hope they sign him. I don't think Nolan screws around and wouldn't even dream of this if the kid didn't have #1 stuff.

[SMKR]

Man I hope this isn't anothe dice k

[JordanFiveOh]

Yu is NOT going to be like Matsuzaka. Here's why:

For starters, he has thrown a lot less balls than Dice-K.

On the other hand, Darvish has avoided the notorious overwork that plagued Matsuzaka’s amateur and early pro careers. Like Matsuzaka’s teenage years, young Darvish pitched at Koshien, Japan’s national high school baseball tournament. Unlike Matsuzaka, he doesn’t quite have a 250-pitch, 17-inning complete game on his resume. Darvish’s longest outing was a 166-pitch game that he lost on a walk-off home run in the 10th inning. Also, unlike Matsuzaka, Darvish was eased into his pro career: he threw 94.1 innings and 149.2 innings in his first two pro years. Matsuzaka, by contrast, threw 180 innings as an 18 year-old rookie — 347.2 in his first two seasons — and set a career high with 240.1 innings in his third. In essence, Darvish has fired fewer bullets.

Other Japanese pitchers have simply never had the velocity that Yu does.

But saying that Darvish is taller and bigger still sets him apart from his fellow countrymen. Velocity also ontinues to add some separation. Darvish has hit 97 mph with his fastball this year, and sat at 94 mph for most of the season. Kei Igawa never averaged better than 90 mph; Daisuke’s best season had him at 92 mph — and even Hideo Nomo wasn’t known for his velocity. Hiroki Kuroda averages 92 mph with his fastball. Here’s the list of qualified American starters who sat better than 94 mph this past season: Alexi Ogando, Justin Verlander, David Price, Michael Pineda, Edwin Jackson and Derek Holland.

There's also the direct stat comparison.

Matsuzaka had a 2.95 ERA in eight seasons in Japan. He never once had an ERA under 2.00. He had an 8.7 K/9. Darvish just completed his fifth-straight season in which he had an ERA under 2.00 and a whip under 1.00. This year was his finest to date: 16-5, 1.48 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 240 K, 32 BB, 5 HR in 207 IP (stats as of Sept. 27). Overall, Darvish managed a 1.996 ERA in his seven NPB years, with an 8.9 K/9. Demonstrably better.

And FWIW, Yu is only half Japanese

Whole article here:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/darvish-is-not-daisuke/

[BP]

Did he pitch against the USA team at any point in international play?

No, the Japanese team saved their best pitcher for the final game. Dice-K beat Oswalt the only time the Japanese team faced the Americans in the last WBC and we never met in the olympics.

The Nippon league is full of players that generally would be between the AAA level and the MLB level. There are some very good hitters that for whatever reason will never make it here. There aren't any Albert Pujols or even Adrian Beltre caliber players but there are lots of guys as talented as Mitch Moreland or David Murphy.

The best example I can compare him to though would be Colby Lewis, in 2008 for Hiroshima he had a 2.68 ERA, went 15-8 in 178 innings with 183 strikeouts. He was probably the second best pitcher in his league, behind Daisuke Miura. The same season Darvish had a 1.88 ERA, went 16-4, pitched 200 innings and had 208 strikeouts. By far the best pitcher in his league.

Colby however was pitching in the Central league, which doesn't use a DH. Darvish was in the Pacific league that does use one. He's also 7 years younger than Colby. Meaning when he should have been about at the level of a college senior he was already better than a very good MLB caliber pitcher. Give him some MLB level coaching and trainers and he will get a lot better, especially once he hits his prime.

[Relinquished]

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2011/11/yu-darvish-divorce-mlb-free-agency-posting/1

[BP]

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...ency-posting/1

Even if she gets half of his money he'll still be getting a substantial pay raise and the money will go a whole lot further here.

[staticx]

Man I wish there was some recent news about this, seems all has been quite since the announcement that the Rangers won the bidding rights.