The Blue Jays bid over $50MM for Yu Darvish, falling just short of the Rangers' $51.7MM bid, according to Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star. Here's the latest on the Blue Jays’ division, starting with a right-hander who spent three up-and-down seasons in Toronto…
- Several teams are kicking the tires on acquiring A.J. Burnett, but the Yankees will have to absorb significant salary to make a deal and Burnett can veto trades to ten teams per year, according to George A. King III of the New York Post.
- The Yankees bid less than $20MM for Darvish, according to Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com.
- Orioles GM Dan Duquette explains the team's shrinking pro scouting department to MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli. "In an effort to make an impact on the franchise, I can argue that the scouts are most valuable to a team at the amateur level,” Duquette said. “They can have a bigger impact on this organization.”
- Former Rays catcher Toby Hall has decided to retire, according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. The 36-year-old spent seven seasons with the Rays and last played in the Major Leagues in 2008.
- Dan Hayes of the North County Times hears the Rays are one of the teams that has asked the Padres about Anthony Rizzo (Twitter link). However, the Padres, who have been flooded with interest, aren't matching up that well with the Rays at this point, according to Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio and ESPN.com (on Twitter).
- MLB executives expect Gio Gonzalez to be traded relatively soon now that Darvish is no longer available, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). The Red Sox are among Gonzalez’s suitors.
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Several teams are kicking the tires on acquiring A.J. Burnett, but the Yankees will have to absorb significant salary to make a deal and Burnett can veto trades to ten teams per year, according to George A. King III of the New York Post.”
I’ll take a bag of balls for him.
Ok, but you have to give the bag back.
We keep the bag and give you back A-Rod instead.
Or we’ll just keep the bag.
Teixera or the deal’s off.
Deal off.
Next topic, manager exchanging. You give us Wash for our next ALDS and ALCS, we’ll give you Joe for your next WS (Hey they are a combined 5-0 in those)
Francona’s a free agent and he’s 8-0 in the WS.
Francona FTW
I wonder if the Jays bid $51.6 million
I can’t imagine what profanities AA would be yelling if they did. If they were serious about Darvish then that knowing they were just 200k off would suck.
I doubt this report is completely accurate, but if it is, it’s good for the Rangers. It would at least mean that they didn’t outbid everyone else by a large amount…just enough to win. As I said, this news would not get out though.
Either way you think about it though. Spending only 300k more than the Dice-k bid for a far superior pitcher and winning the bid is impressive in its own right.
Yea, it is. I’m cautiously excited about this. They’ve made me happy I renewed my season tickets again this year. I’m sure i’ll see that posting fee when my ticket renewal form comes in the mail next year though.
He’s not superior to anyone until he pitches in MLB…..
Speaking directly about stats from Japan, Darvish is superior to Dice-K. Speaking in terms of stuff and make up, Darvish is younger, taller, has better stuff, sick offspeed pitches, and sky high potential, he is vastly superior over Dice-K.
IF he is effective in the U.S. and IF he stays healthy he may be worth getting excited about. Fully 90% of Japanese “greats” have been below average big league players. Karl Spooner was better than Sandy Koufax at one time too. Get back to us in a couple of years and I may agree, but until he does something, anything in the majors, he’s not even superior to Vin Mazzaro
With the Matsuzaka bidding, teams could at least say “Seriously? Wow, didn’t see that coming” considering the next highest bid was something like $30MM. If this report is accurate, that’s got to hurt.
That said, I don’t doubt its accuracy. Toronto and Texas were considered the two biggest suitors and reports coming out ahead of the bidding were that Darvish and his representation would be insulted by anything less than what Matsuzaka’s posting fee was, meaning anyone seriously interested was apt to top that $51.1MM fee.
I’m pretty sure knowing you were off by under a couple million on a bid exceeding fifty million has got to be plenty demoralizing enough that it only being a difference of 200K probably wouldn’t be any worse.
Either that or the Jays just weren’t all that serious with their $50MM+ bid.
demoralizing is the absolute best word to describe this scenario.
Imagine convincing owner ship that this is the best bet, and then falling so short..
It sucks as it is the Jays were the only other serious competiter for Darvish. What a downer.
So assuming they were willing to dole out the posting fee and then 5/80 or whatever to sign him means that they should have money to spend. Time for AA to place a call to Mr. Boras re: Edwin Jackson and Ryan Madson.
I don’t believe a word of that reported Jays bid. There’s no way Griffin knows, as the Jays would never let it leak (which they made very clear today in an AA conference call).
Not even Paul Beaston? I wonder if James Paxton has an opinion on the matter?
What does Kevin Gray say?
Maybe the leak was in Japan?
the nippon ham fighters only get information on the top bid, so they wouldn’t know what the Jays bid.
According to Griffin’s sources/drinking buddies.
not to be confused with bob elliott’s drinking buddies
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The Blue Jays bid over $50MM for Yu Darvish, falling just short”
Ouch.
“Burnett can veto trades to ten teams per year”
I totally misunderstood that for a second. I was just imaging a scenario of the Yankees basically asking and asking and then upon getting to the eleventh potential suitor saying “Ha! You’re maxed out on your NTC!”
“The Red Sox are among Gonzalez’s suitors.”
Is this remark just in here to tie in all 5 ALE teams? It seems rather out of place.
I think it’s more because it’s Heyman’s column. It’s not like he’d go a whole column without scratching the Red Sox behind the ear*
*This was originally a much more obscene metaphor, but I didn’t want to tick off the mods.
I think it’s so that this post shows up in the twitter feeds of redsox fans for more page views. 😀
AJ will win 14 games for the Yanks this year. Burnett is 121-111 in 12 seasons with a 4.10 ERA not too shabby. This is better than Don Larson for his career.
John Lackey won twelve for the Sox this year, doesn’t change the fact he stunk out loud. Yeah, it’s entirely feasible Burnett will have fourteen decisions that come up as wins for him, but the Yankees offense will have a lot more to do with that than him not being a bad pitcher.
John Lackey isn’t pitching this year, he will get no wins. Dice K insn’t pitching this year he will get not wins, Johan Santana didn’t pitch last year, and go no wins. Who would you rather have.
Are my only two choices AJ Burnett or Don Larsen?
LOL, I remember him being up something like 11-0 after the second and he couldnt even make it to the fifth inning to get the decision. He left in the 4th with the score at 11-7 or something close to that.
if the issue is simply not having enough amateur scouts, why not just hire more? how do they expect to do their homework on young talent in other organizations??
This whole blog story is about players except for the Orioles section.
Duquette is talking about scouts!
What is wrong with this picture?
Come on Dan Da Man step up to the plate with Angelos and convince him to sign Oswalt and Kuroda and leave Prince Fielder for another team!
thank god you arent running the orioles.
You type this because you live a life of fear!
Live a little Caca… Live a little!
no, i type this because i just lived through a string of mediocre to brutal gm’s and i finally see a guy trying to clean up our scouting and player development and im encouraged by it. besides it would probably take 15 mil to get oswalt here and i can watch the pitchers we already have get hit all over the yard for much cheaper than that.
Another Gonzalez for the Red Sox?
God, I hope not. Someone’s going to overpay for him and I don’t want it to be us.
Yeah a combination of high walk rates and facing the AL East offenses day in and day out doesn’t scream success to me. Sox would be wise to look elsewhere. Honestly, wouldn’t it make perfect sense to pick up a Oswalt or Kuroda on a short term deal?
Someone’s going to pay Oswalt 10 million to rehab his back at their facility.
A less talented Gonzalez.
Missed it by THAT much
LOL AA = Get Smart
* Edit * AA must also have a “cone of silence”
wouldnt exceeding Dice K’s bid have made some sense? It just seems strange to bid 100,000k less than the dice-k bid
nothing about the bidding system makes sense
if the rangers had bid 49 million you would applaud AA.
The winner wins, thats it
There is no definitive proof of 50MM bid from Jays. All speculation. Nowhere in the article it’s confirmed.
No one from Jays front office including GM has either confirmed bidding or not bidding. So yes, WE WILL NEVER KNOW.
It’s just bunch of speculations, there couldve been NO bid. Or a bid less than 30MM.
For Jays fans that had their hopes built up sake, I really hope they bid over $50MM. If not all of this was just hype and they were never really serious about landing Darvish. With how good he has been in Japan, you knew it was going to be right at Dice K’s record.
Dear Griffin: Please stop trolling my already torn heart.
How?
Padres have too many 1B, Rays need a 1B. Rays have too many SP’s (if possible) and Padres need one.
This is one of the GM’s trying to rip the other one off. Either Friedman is offering some mid level prospect SP instead of a Wade Davis type or Byrnes is asking for Shields.
for real just give them Wade Davis.
You want Davis? If I was going after a Rays starter, Davis would be near the bottom of my list.
Dude, that’s kinda the point. I’m a Rays fan.
i would hope byrnes is asking for hak ju lee
I would hope he likes the sound of laughter. Beckham would be closer.
a borderline non-prospect who showed some signs of life this season and can’t stay at shortstop which significantly hurts his value, for a top 20 offensive prospect in the game..riiight
lee had an outstanding season at a difficult position to fill, but he’s still a bit away from the majors. rizzo tore up AAA at the same age of lee, there’s value on both sides of this proposal.
“Padres have too many 1B, Rays need a 1B. Rays have too many SP’s (if possible) and Padres need one.”
There is the misconception. The Padres don’t need a SP, they would not mind netting one provided he has higher upside then their current options. The Padres currently have ready for the majors Stuaffer/Luebke/Richards/Volquez/Moseley/Bass. None of them are top flight, but neither is Davis. In addition the Padres have Kelly/Castro/Erlin/Wieland/Oramas/Hernandez all in AA or higher and near ready. Pitching isn’t what the Padres are targeting, unless it clearly institutes an upgrade.
The Padres are still after hitting and position players specifically at SS. The Padres want a prospect that matches Rizzo’s value that plays SS, that’s the problem with the match up. The Rays don’t want to give up Lee (which would be an overpay), and that has to be who the Padres want for Rizzo. According to minorleagueball’s John Sickles the both rate as B+ type prospect the difference being the positions and SS is far harder to find then a 1B. But that is irrevelant to the Padres, SS is the only true weakness in their system. Thats the hole that the Padres hope to fill in any Rizzo deal.
Remember the Padres have at least 2 option years remaining with Rizzo, this isn’t something that have to do right now. Depth is never a bad thing.
You are correct. The last thing the Padres need to do is trade Rizzo for a mid rotation starter, they have plenty of those on the way. If they can’t pry a SS from somebody, an athletic outfielder who can hit for average and field wouldn’t hurt either. If Byrnes can’t work an extension out with Maybin they will have to replace him down the road. I’ve said it before on here, Rizzo to the A’s for Choice. That deal would benefit both teams.
The A’s don’t want a 1st basemen. They already have Barton, Brandon Allen, Chris Carter and Kila Ka’huehue(whatever his name is). Choice is about the only decent prospect they have. They aren’t giving him up.
If you cant remember his name, he probably isnt worth much,
Bartons’ bat really doesn’t fit the 1st basemans role, Rizzo would be an upgrade. Carter can play the outfield and the A’s also could use Rizzo or any of these guys at DH. As for their farm system, I think Parker, Green, Gray, Cabrera, and Taylor would have something to say about the A’s only having one decent prospect.
50 MILLION!?! NOOOOOO!!! I would rather have them not bid at all than lose by that much such a heartbreaker!!!!!!
Do they lose that money or get it back?
They get it back. Even the Rangers get their money back if they can’t sign him.
Oh, that’s not bad but should have bid 55 mil just to lock him up.
They had no idea what the other teams bid but they had to figure 50 mil+ would be enough.
Yeah but you had to know it was gonna be a little more than Dice K.
nope, no one “had to know”
I’m surprised it got this high
I was thinking 40-45 million easily takes it
I don’t understand baseball any more. They think it’s an outrage that will not stand for teams to pay 5 million to a second-round draft pick, but are totally cool with the idea of sending out $50MM just for the rights to talk to someone and maybe get him to play.
Great point.
I agree partially, but at the same time Darvish is ready to come over and contribute now, where as draft picks usually take 3-4 years or so to develop.
But we don’t know what TX is getting with Darvish
It’s not for the rights to talk to him, it’s to buy him out of his obligation to play for the Nippon Ham Fighters. If there was no posting fee the Fighters would be losing their best pitcher for nothing.
Okay. So why isn’t it OK for the Royals to buy Bubba Starling out of his obligation to be a quarterback for Nebraska, or for the Pirates to buy Josh Bell out of his decision to go to Texas?
Um, what? That’s exactly what they did.
double post woohoooooooo
ROGERS IS CHEAP BLAH BLAH BLAH
can’t believe they didn’t bid an extra 1.8 million! gosh!!
trade burnett to the mariners for 1 wii for CC…
Please someone take this heap of s*** off the Yankees’ shoulders. I bet he would do fairly well in the right situation just not in the “bright lights”.
As a jay fan, this may be shocking to hear.. but I don’t want him here
AA got outsmarted, too cute with the bid and lost
outsmarted? how can you outsmart someone on a blind bid?
The same way you get outsmarted in The Price Is Right when you bet 1 dollar more.
The thing is, for some reason they figured nobody was gonna bid what people bid for Dice K….Rangers took the rumours that Yu wanted his posting to be higher than Dice K’s because he feels he’s better than him. Rangers took the chance and bid a little higher…..and won.
IMO. outsmarted.
but I’m glad AA and Rogers were willing to spend 50MM +.
But on the Price is Right, everyone knows each other’s bid, so that analogy fails. Jays put out what they were comfortable with. That’s all you can do in this system. Has nothing to do with being outsmarted.
The only way the Rays get Rizzo is by starting with Lee and adding another prospect. Rizzo is rated the number 1 first base prospect in all of baseball. Furthermore, outside of the offensive stiffling Petco Park, Rizzo will become a masher. Lee would fit into the Padres collection of excellent elite prospects, as they really do not have an upper level shortstop prospect at the moment.
Stop. Please. Its a dream if you think that Rizzo is worth more then Lee. Yes, Rizzo has a chance to be an elite level masher at 1B. But you are really undervaluing Lee here. Lee has a chance to be above average both offensively and defensively at SS. The both could bust or both become all-stars. But at this point they are both unproven prospects, with basically equal overall value. The difference is that one is that shortstops are harder to produce. Thus Lee has greater value even if he is slightly further away.
Besides you have to look at how it impacts the Rays to make that deal. The Rays have had problems filling their long term SS as well. Lee might be the answer, which is why they will value him more then if they had a SS truly entrenched at the position.
But that is just my position. I for one don’t understand the Rays fans who believe that Davis is worth Rizzo, but I also can not understand Padres fans who think he is worth something of a package of prospects.
What’s the point in bidding only $20 million for Darvish? The Yankees must have known the bidding would be in Dice-K range. If you’re going to give such a low ball bid, why bid at all?
I think it’s just like what happened when Yankee bid Nakajima… They throw something in just for the sake of it… If everybody feels Darvish is the next Dice-K and will not bid high, then they can pick him up.
Yankee usually spend tons of money on a proven players in the MLB. Igawa is something unusual…
According to Jeff Blair of The Globe and Mail, the 50MM figure is incorrect for the Blue Jays bid. Blair claims that it was quite a bit lower- closer to 40MM; he seems confident that this lower figure is more accurate.
why is getting another japanese player a MUST?
Getting Prince Fielder is more of a must for your Mariners than getting Darvish or another Japanese star
I also went hard and tried last Friday night.
Hey at least he could still be in NY then, except this time in Flushing.
Your under estimating AJ, he’s alot better than a bundle of pitchers in the majors. He averages 190 innings for 13 years and has won playoff games. He wins 11 games a year and doesn’t get injured like Santana, Lackey, Dice K, and other starters like Johnson in Miami. How many games did they win last year and how much did they make.
I already ordered a custom Darvish tee 😛 there’s $35 right there. I feel i’ve contributed to the posting fee.
i root for a team that sucks too- and the racial make up of the team is pretty much my last concern.
Are these big Asians following the M’s sumo wrestlers?
I know how you feel. Given, I decided not to date Jessica Alba because I’m still holding out for Allison Brie, but that’s neither here nor there.
Three minutes and no picture? Guy’s getting sloppy.
Heck if we sign him, I’ll pay $40.
I could fully picture Dan Duquette not being the least bit fazed by the all caps.
Then again, I also imagine Dan Duquette routinely responds to those Prince of Insert Obscure African Nation E-Mails. In his defense, he thinks it’s regarding that Prince Fielder gent he’s heard so much about.
Plus my season tickets and the other hundreds of countless dollars I spend on them throughout the years.
EDIT: Thousands probably
You lost me…
If he’s getting sloppy and wants to stay sloppy, then doesn’t that fit well with Fielder?
He was referring to Spliffey always posting pics lol
Ahh.
The Mets will never, ever take a chance on a Japanese player again. They have screwed up one too many times. Shinjo, Matsui, Igarashi…etc. I do love Shinjo though, regardless how bad he was…Steve Phillips, you were so naive…
AJ Burnett is Japanese?
He was a beauty to watch in Toronto…
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doesn’t get injured”
You must be talking about a different Burnett than the rest of us. Prior to coming to the Yankees and stinking up the joint, A.J. Burnett spent his career doing his best impersonation of Samuel L. Jackson in Unbreakable.
He’s been durable since then, but of course I think I’d take 100 IP of decent over what he’s managed to contribute on the field since then.
No, but in a few years he will pitch in Japan under the name Som-Yung-Gy.
Whats the average ERA in the majors every year? I bet its over 4.10. What the average wins every year, I bet its less than 11.
Average amount of wins for 2011 was eleven, but anyone citing wins as a viable indicator of quality is asking to be made fun of. Average ERA was 3.94. Burnett’s was 5.15. Average was 4.08 in 2010, Burnett’s was 5.26.
ERA+ is adjusted for league average with the weighted average sitting at 100. Burnett’s has been 86 and 82 going back the last two seasons.
The dude is a bad pitcher, you need to face facts.
Nobodoy uses W-L anymore. The average ERA adjusts every year. Last year the average AL ERA was 4.08 and the average NL ERA was 3.81
2010
AL – 4.14
NL- 4.02
2009
AL- 4.45
NL-4.19
I see a trend.
I started to come to your defense with the old “well take him away from NYS and he has been much better” argument and then I looked it up and his numbers are shockingly higher away from NYS in all 3 years. Wow.
Matsuzaka is expected back after all-star break.
You shut your mouth! The best thing about next season is there is no chance of Lackey and only a small chance for Dice-K in the 2nd half! This alone should make the Sox division contenders :)(I’m a red Sox fan just incase you think I’m trolling)
your logic is interesting. using that logic then Cashman shouldn’t feel so bad since the Braves offered AJ about $5 mil less than what the Yanks signed him for.
No idea who Allison Brie is, but despite being in my early-40s and married, I’m going to come out and say that I’ve decided NOT to pursue a relationship with Jennie Garth.
Step 1: Go to google.
Step 2: Image search for Alison Brie.
Step 3: Commence drooling.
Or just watch Community, you can drool AND laugh.
The Rangers didn’t.
Som-Ald-Gy, is more like it.
AJ Burnett has been little short of abominable for the Yankees, with two notable exceptions: We were down 0-1 in the ’09 WS and staring square in the face the prospect of going to Philly down 0-2, when AJ pitched an absolute *gem*. He saved that entire WS for us, because no way do the Yanks win heading to Philly down 0-2. Then, last season, after the Yankees had failed to take a series from the Red Sox all year, he pitched on 9/2 in the rubber match of a three-game set at Fenway, and put us in a position to ride Russell Martin’s ringing double to right-center to a victory from which the Sox never really recovered. That’s the thing that’s so maddening about the guy: the stuff is there; it’s the stuff between his ears that’s suspect.
Personally I think Darvish will look like a *major* upgrade over Wilson, this time next year. Never went anywhere near the kool-aid on CJ, and his performance against the Rays in the ALDS sealed it for me: From where I sit, he’s the John Lackey of the 2011 free agency.
Step 4, get out of 1990 and slap yourself. Jennie Garth? Really?
i think what you’re seeing now is that hes starting to lose his fastball (lost nearly 2.5mph since ’07) and all thats left is poor command and a psyche that appears to get rattled easily. he still has a knockout curve, but it isnt much good if you cant get ahead in the count.
i think a lot of jays fans who watched him for 3 years knew his latest signing was a mistake when it happened. he was never going to be an $16mill per season pitcher over 5 years starting at age 32.
not a knock on the yankees cause they got a WS with him on the team, but its not terribly surprising how that deal has turned sour.
Games against Boston in September are inadmissible as evidence against a pitcher stinking out loud. Jeremy Guthrie managed to beat the Sox that month and we probably could’ve found away to give Jo-Jo Reyes a win given the opportunity.
well if you’re expecting a 6-7 WAR season out of darvish, then sure. cj wilson (like john lackey prior to moving to the red sox) is a pretty awesome pitcher. his performance in 5 or 6 starts at the end of one season should not seal anything.
darvish would have to be nothing short of elite to exceed the kind of value wilson gave the rangers for 2 years, and its also possible that wilson gets even better results now pitching in angel stadium as opposed to arlington.