(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
BY JIM FLINK
ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY
In a day when most things are all about me, me, me -- this one’s -- all about Yu.
Yu -- Darvish.
The Texas Rangers won the rights to talk with the Japanese pitching sensation -- in a wide open and wild auction.
“Yu Darvish. Just 25 years old but he’s already won 93 games in just seven professional seasons in Japan. He threw six shutouts last season. Darvish was also a member of the Japanese baseball team that won the 2009 World Baseball Classic.”
Many are saying Darvish is better than the last major Japanese import -- Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka -- at the height of his career. And Yahoo! Sports reports the Rangers’ winning bid -- 51 million bucks -- was the largest of all time. And that’s just to begin talking with Yu.
Yahoo! says -- Texas had to respond after the Los Angeles Angels stole much of its winter thunder with the signings of Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson.
“Just when the two-time defending American League champions looked vulnerable, they sandbagged their way into the posting auction, let the world believe the Toronto Blue Jays had placed the high figure on Darvish and ended the process having spent more money than on any previous posting by about $600,000.”
And the sting is colder than an Alberta Clipper north of the border.
A blogger at the Toronto Globe and Mail says -- the Blue Jays find themselves in a familiar position.
Out in the cold without much protection....
“Everybody says Darvish is better than Matsuzaka, yet the winning bid was less than a million more than Matsuzaka’s bid. So to be safe, why would the Blue Jays not bid $2-million more? … The question being asked all day is … why the hell didn’t the Blue Jays kick the door down?”
But a blogger for ESPN Dallas notes, after crunching considerable numbers from 50 Japanese baseball imports -- no one’s quite sure what the Rangers have really won here.
“Japan’s professional league is a very high level of play, somewhere between Triple-A and the majors, but there's still a lot we don't know about how Japanese pitchers will fare in MLB. Going back through history, there are only 21 pitchers that had full-time jobs in Japan who went on to pitch 50 innings in the majors.”
Darvish went 18-6 with a 1.44 earned run average and 276 strikeouts for the Nippon Ham Fighters, but he didn’t have to face sluggers like Albert Pujols or Miguel Cabrera. So, while Yu is hardly a lock to be a major league star, MLB analyst T.R. Sullivan says he’s also likely NOT to be a bust.
“So any pitcher you get from Japan is going to have, you know, some risk. But Darvish is young, he’s 6 foot 5, he’s very physical, he’s got great experience, he’s had great success. I mean, this guy has a really great chance to be something special.”
Now that the seed money has been laid, one ESPN blogger is speculating it will take between $120 and $150 million to sign Yu to a long-term deal.
 |  |  |  |
