Yu Darvish will be Posted Today
By Editorial Staff
After years of waiting, major league clubs will finally get their opportunity to bid on top Japanese starting pitcher Yu Darvish. It was rumored yesterday that Darvish would be posted on Thursday, and the right-hander formally announced the news on his personal blog soon after. The Rangers and Yankees have already indicated that they will be in on the Darvish bidding.
In recent weeks, conflicting reports have been released regarding Darvish’s future. Most analysts in the US believed that the money was too great for Darvish not to make the jump to Major League Baseball. Many also agreed that, if they were Darvish, they’d want to be posted sooner rather than later so as to be available to as many clubs as possible.
Last week it was reported that Darvish could be posted after the Winter Meetings. Farsad Darvish, Yu’s father, has been outspoken regarding his disdain for the current posting system and has repeatedly said that his son may not make his decision until January.
Another factor holding up Darvish’s decision was his ongoing divorce. His soon-to-be ex-wife’s lawyer had been delaying the proceedings as much as he could, hoping to stall the divorce until after Darvish made the jump to MLB.
But, even with all of the other factors surrounding him, Darvish has decided to come over to the majors. On his blog yesterday it was announced that “Yu Darvish has decided to use the posting system”. Darvish wanted to relay the official news to his fans first and said that he greatly appreciates the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, the Japanese team he’s played for since 2007.
From 2007-2010, Darvish maintained ridiculous numbers pitching for Hokkaido. The 25-year-old has a career record of 58-22 over his 98 starts, holding an ERA and WHIP of 1.81 and 0.909 during that span. Darvish has struck out more than a batter per inning over his career while maintaining a BB/9 of 2.1.
Darvish will enter the posting system as one of the top pitchers available this winter.
You can check out all of the available free agents by position below.