Yu Darvish Rumors
By Editorial Staff
Since it was announced at the end of last week’s Winter Meetings that Yu Darvish would be posted this offseason, the buzz surrounding the Japanese native has been fairly nonexistent. No team has been very vocal about their desire to obtain the right to negotiate with Darvish, but things could change quickly as the bidding for the right-hander ends this Wednesday. Here are the latest Darvish-related rumors.
Yesterday Buster Olney of ESPN reported that, within the baseball industry, the Texas Rangers are considered to be the front runners in the Darvish sweepstakes. Olney notes that this is believed because of the amount of scouting Texas has done on Darvish.
However, the Rangers said last week that, while they are interested in Darvish, they weren’t willing to gamble $100 million on the 25-year-old. Early reports have Darvish commanding a total of $80-100 million in posting fees and contract this winter.
Another club that has been tied to Darvish, mostly because of need, is the New York Yankees. The Yankees were tied to Darvish over the past few months when it was unknown if the Japanese pitcher would make the jump to Major League Baseball. Now that it is known that Darvish will be posted, New York has been fairly quiet regarding him.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that the Yankees have yet to decide if they will make a “significant posting bid” for Darvish or if they will even “submit one at all”. While Sherman says the Yankees are hoping to curtail their future spending, the larger issue with Darvish is his jump to the majors.
New York took a risk on another Japanese pitcher, Kei Igawa, and saw that decision blow up in their face. While the Yankees say that Darvish is far superior to Igawa, they still are concerned about Yu not only having to “change level of competition, but also cultures, size of the baseball, slope of the mound and training regimen”.
When news of Darvish’s posting broke, the Toronto Blue Jays figured to be one of the clubs that would get in on the bidding. However, there has been little talk out of the Blue Jay’s front office regarding Darvish.
Last week we learned that the Dodgers and Tigers will not be bidding on Darvish, while the Nationals, A’s and Red Sox all have some varying degrees of interest in the righty.
You can check out all of the available free agents by position below.