Yu Darvish (Jokingly) Thinks the Yankees Gave Masahiro Tanaka Too Much Money

Feb 17, 2014; Surprise, AZ, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish (left) is followed by fans during team practice at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Is there a little bit of a greenish tint to Yu Darvish these days? Could the Texas Rangers ace be experiencing a little bit of contract envy in the wake of Masahiro Tanaka’s huge deal with the Yankees?

It certainly seems that Darvish is a bit envious of the dollars involved in the Tanaka deal. Per MLB.com writer TR Sullivan, Darvish said of the contract, “I don’t know too much about the new posting system but I think the Yankees gave him too much.”

Hmm…

Let’s compare deals shall we?

Yu Darvish: 6 years, $60 million

Masahiro Tanaka: 7 years, $155 million

That is a lot more money for Tanaka. Of course, the posting system when Darvish came across was different. Under that system, only the team with the highest posting bid was allowed to negotiate with the player. The huge posting fees for guys like Darvish under that system severely limited the number of clubs willing to enter bidding.

Under the new system, any team willing to post the $20 million maximum fee is allowed to negotiate with the player in question, and only the team that signs the player is required to pay the fee.

This opened up the bidding for Tanaka in a way that wasn’t going to happen under the old system. And that bigger market pushed Tanaka’s numbers way up.

So basically, Darvish screwed himself by coming across when he did. Then again, the new posting system came about partially as a result of the huge fee the Rangers had to pay just to negotiate with Darvish. So, someone had to be the sacrificial lamb in this deal. Someone had to get robbed so that future players could make the bigger bucks.

Darvish is possibly a little miffed that he ended up being the one who got ripped off so an arguably lesser pitcher like Tanaka could reap the rewards.

The ones who really made out are the Rangers, who are paying their ace pitcher way less than ace money. That sort of deal won’t happen again under the new posting rules.

Even if he is relatively getting screwed, Darvish is still getting $10 million per year, which is nice money in the present economy.

Update: Darvish was only kidding. He’s not jealous of Tanaka.

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