Should the Blue Jays go BIG on Darvish?

Toronto Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos is an executive known for making savvy moves, but the big splash usually sits outside of his realm.

He took somewhat of a gamble inking Jose Bautista to a nice extension after his breakout year, and it’s starting to look like one of the most team-friendly deals ever.  Double A flipped Edwin Jackson and a couple relievers for Colby Rasmus last season – a move that helped St. Louis win it all, should pay nice dividends for Toronto in 2012.  He picked up Sergio Santos for virtually nothing, and we of course will never forget how he suckered the Angels into taking over the brutal contract of Vernon Wells.

Anthopoulos is indeed good at what he does, but this doesn’t alter the fact that the Blue Jays are stuck in the AL East.  One of these days, he might need to do something a little bigger if he wants to surpass New York, Boston and Tampa.

The deadline to bid on 25-year-old right hander Yu Darvish will arrive later this evening, and all the teams linked to the Japanese import are making their best attempts at a poker face.

Red Sox nation maintains they’re going to make an effort not to blow past the luxury tax cut-off on their payroll.  I’m calling BS.  They’ve surpassed the $178 million threshold six times since 2004 and their starting pitching is flaky.  They could surely use Darvish regardless of how nervous they are about a repeat of Daisuke Matsuzaka.

The Yankees have come out and said they have yet to decide if they will make a significant bid on Darvish and they might not even make one at all.  I’m calling double BS.  You’re the Yankees and you have lots of money.  Not only that, but the starting pitching in New York might be even more suspect then it is in Boston.  Plus the window might be closing soon on Jeter and the rest of the aging gazillionaires to get one more World Championship in the Bronx.

Joe Maddon and the Rays are also saying they won’t be going after Darvish.  And well, I believe them.  Tampa has about as much money as I do.

The Rangers are linked in on the Darvish sweepstakes as well, but with the pitching they have in place, to take that kind of gamble makes less than perfect sense.  They may indeed have the funds to land him(Texas remember is also linked to Prince Fielder), but I can’t see it happening.

The wildcard in this game show of a courtship could be the Washington Nationals who are loaded with cash and have no issue taking on lofty gambles(see Jayson Werth and his current deal).

Toronto has been slowly accumulating a nice core of players for the last couple years, but as 2011 ended, they were still nothing more than a middle of the road team.  If Toronto wants to begin to sniff contention, they need to “go for it” and some point soon, and I think starting pitching is their biggest need.  The Blue Jays are very interested in Gio Gonzalez, but at the moment A’s GM Billy Beane is looking for a king’s ransom in return for the curve-ball specialist.

Yu Darvish will have a tough transition no matter where he ends up, but it could be a little easier in Toronto compared to the other possible destinations.  For one, Darvish is used to pitching in a domed stadium liked the Rogers Centre.  He also won’t be subjected to an insane media presence in Toronto – New York could make the kid freak out.

The Blue Jays could see this as their moment to shove all in.  I can’t picture it, but if the payoff is landing a talented no. 2 starter, and in return keeping one out of New York and Boston, it might not be a bad idea.

Hey, just for fun what do you guys think the winning bid will be?  I’m going light.  $38 million.  Leave your guess in the comment section and the winner gets a big internet hi-5 from all of us at call to the pen.

Mickey Brignall Twitter =@mickey_baseball