Yu Darvish To Be Posted Thursday By Steve Adams [December 8 at 12:46am CST] Nippon-Ham Fighters ace Yu Darvish will be posted tomorrow, tweets agent Don Nomura. Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times tweets confirmation from Darvish himself, while NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman provides a translation of Darvish's message to fans.
We've heard in recent weeks that Darvish may be posted following the Winter Meetings, and that appears to be his case. His father had told reporters that there was a "50-50" chance he'd be posted at all, and in Jon Paul Morosi's Winter Meetings preview, we heard that Darvish may have become "disillusioned" with the posting system, at least in part due to Hisashi Iwakuma's 2010 situation with the Athletics.
All of that seems to be moot now, as the 25-year-old Darvish is set to get the opportunity to take his oustanding credentials to Major League Baseball. Darvish hasn't posted an ERA above 2.00 since 2007. HIs 2011 resume included 232 innings of 1.44 ERA ball with a whopping 10.7 K/9 and a 1.4 BB/9 that contributed to his microscopic 0.83 WHIP. He allowed only five home runs in those 232 innings.
To this point, Darvish has been linked to a number of Major League teams. Danny Knobler of CBS Sports speculates (on Twitter) that the Rangers, Yankees, and Blue Jays could be Darvish's most likely suitors.
He will be viewed as an alternative to C.J. Wilson and Mark Buehrle, the market's two most sought after pitchers prior to his posting. When Tim Dierkes conducted a poll of five agents and one MLB executive in October, the consensus was that Darvish's posting fee could rival that of Daisuke Matsuzaka and that a $100MM commitmement was likely. In addition to Nomura, Darvish is represented by Arn Tellem.
I'm always intrigued but the reality is almost none of these guys work out. I think Nomo is the only Japanese pitcher who really had an impact in MLB. Interested to see how this plays out.
BronXBombers51 wrote:I'm always intrigued but the reality is almost none of these guys work out. I think Nomo is the only Japanese pitcher who really had an impact in MLB. Interested to see how this plays out.
Not really a fair comp. None of those pitchers were as talented as Darvish and he's still younger than them. <2.00 ERA for 4 straight seasons. 4.5:1 K:BB ratio during those seasons. I also think part of the problem for Japanese players (and also cubans) is that they have basically stagnated against AAA (AA for Cuba) competition until their late 20's. Imo you develop bad habits if you play against inferior comp too long.
I don't know if you guys all got into the WBC or not, but I really enjoyed it and watched almost every game.
I remember watching Darvish before I had any idea who he was and thinking, "who the eff is this?" I mean, he throws hard, he stays low in the zone, and there is sharp break on all of his pitches. on skill set alone, he definitely has elite major league stuff. but, as all of us and todd van poppel know, it takes more than stuff to succeed in the majors. so.. we'll see, i guess.
I know that MLB teams have until 5pm ET today to submit their bid... does anyone know when the results are released?
There are a few things with the New York Yankees that never change. That's pride, tradition, and most of all, we have the greatest fans in the world. -Derek Jeter, 9/21/08 -- last words from old Yankee Stadium
I know that MLB teams have until 5pm ET today to submit their bid... does anyone know when the results are released?
I think when the Japanese team feels like it. At least that is what it seems like.
"I do not think baseball of today is any better than it was 30 years ago... I still think Radbourne is the greatest of the pitchers." John Sullivan 1914-Old athletes never change.
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by Element » Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:15 am 
