Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish intends to play in North America in 2012, tweets Newsday's David Lennon. Amidst speculation that Darvish might pursue a transfer to the majors next season, he chose to stay in Japan, a move Lennon says was prompted by a divorce.
Lennon mentions the Mets as a possible suitor, but New York is just one of the teams who would be interested in Darvish, who would be just 25 years old on Opening Day 2012. The Mets, Braves, Rangers, Rays and Yankees have all been connected to Darvish, in addition to the Nationals, Orioles and Red Sox.
Darvish has a career 2.12 ERA, a 3.28 K/BB ratio, and 974 strikeouts in 1036.1 innings for the Nippon Ham Fighters. He's best known to North American fans from his terrific performance at the 2009 World Baseball Classic that helped lead Japan to the title.
Wow, and the Mets have a ton of money coming off the books next offseason. The Mets might actually have some good timing going for them regarding free agency for once. If they made the second best bid for Dice-K, I see no reason they don’t bid big for Darvish, even it’s Alderson at the helm.
Dice K might be a reason why they don’t bid? I’m not being a sarcastic, that’s an actual question/thought. The Mets may consider themselves lucky they came second with Matsuzaka and just stay away. I’m not sure how Darvish compares to pre-MLB Matsuzaka, but if they’re comparable in terms of stuff and performance, you would have to think teams will (fairly or not) be reluctant to pony up a ton of cash on him. These are just thoughts to stir up discussion. I don’t know enough about him to form a definite opinion.
I said that there’s no reason they DON’T bid on Darvish, sorry if it was a bit unclear And to be fair, after Dice-K had a year to transition to MLB hitters, he put up a pretty nasty year in 2008. Though he’s been a bit wild, there’s no denying he has a nasty arsenal and his struggles have been more of a health issue and his stubbornness towards his coaches than anything else. He’s shown that if healthy, like during the WBC, that he can mow hitters down.
Dice-K is being hurt just as much by his conditioning and health as he is from pitching in the AL East. Move him to the NL and id be willing to bet that if he could pitch a full season he would be right around his 2008 numbers.
Darvish should have success but it will depend largely on where he ends up. If its another AL east team like NY or Toronto you will probably see numbers similar to what Dice-K has done since his rookie year. If he ends up in the NL or even the AL west he could be very good.
If the Mets get Darvish, I’d be ECSTATIC.
It’s on.
Man this is going to be fun. All the Chapman stuff last offseason was a blast. Then it got even sweeter when my team got him. I don’t expect the Red to be in on Darvish, but they did surprise everyone last year.
There is always hope.
Regardless of where this guy ends up signing he is going to be a blast to watch every fifth day.
I doubt the Braves would really be in on this guy. We’ve got young pitching talent galore and I’m not sure if we want to experiment with another Japanese pitcher
This kid is amazing. Kawakami’s semi-failure with the Braves (he actually wasn’t that bad, we just have lots of good pitching) won’t affect our opinion on Yu Darvish.
I bet Toronto at least sends their army of scouts over to check him out. Not saying they’ll get him, but maybe they’ll see someone else they like.
Yea, I hope they at least attempt to do something or take a look at him. I don’t think Toronto has ever had any scouting presence in Japan but if we got Darvish for 2012… we would have one nasty rotation. Maybe Darvish is one the free agent signings to help take the Jays to the next level when the times right ^^
maybe they’ll scout randy ruiz back
You forgot to say the dodgers r interested too. They have seen him pitch in japan more then most teams and are considered to pursue him because of the dodgers international relations.
By the way I made this comment Dom the MLB trade rumors. It’s a great app.
From the…*
So much for setting an example for Japanese players. But I can’t say I blame him; he’s got to be getting bored with dominating NPB when there’s a better league on the other side of the world.
I think people overrate Darvish like they did Dice-K. Darvish doesn’t really have ace stuff in the majors and scouts say he looks like a 3-4 starter in the bigs. Whatever team goes for him will probably end up overpaying. It’s just a matter of who’s more desperate for a pitcher.
Idk that Dice-K was overrated. Has he been a disappointment so far. yeah. But most of that is due to putting him into an impossible situation where if he didnt win 20+ games every year he was going to disappoint people.
I think that Darvish could be a nice 2-3 type pitcher provided he doesnt go to a team in the AL East. If he ends up in the NL or even an AL West team like Seattle he could put up numbers similar to Dice-K’s 2008 season
Darvish has had inconsistent stuff over the past two seasons, which makes you wonder if the abuse has really started to take its toll. For everyone who mentions that he is just 25, I give you Dontrelle Willis as exhibit 1 as the possibility of overuse leading to destruction of ability.
Where he goes will be largely predicated on his performance this year rather than his performance throughout his career. Also look for it to be a big market needing an infusion of an Asian presence. Darvish is arguably the biggest rock star/athlete to come from Japan and Asia. Don’t be shocked if the Mariners or Dodgers really overspend for the ancillary income that will come along with his presence.
Darvish holds off coming to the Majors for a year so the chick on the way out has no claim to his new upcoming fortune LOL “You stay classy, San Diego”
so you’d give your ex money?
Oh hell no, I think it’s a smart move. Just funny t me is all 😀
Saeko Darvish. Yum
How can you divorce someone like that?!
Yu, I’ll gladly take her off your hands for you.
Mets have a lot of money coming off the books too. Though the whole posting fee is a nice way to waste a ton of money, which may deter Alderson.
the differences between Darvish and Dice-K are quite obvious. Dice-K relies more on breaking pitches whereas Darvish relies more on heat. Darvish’s success in Japan certainly translates better to the MLB where the pitchers have a better eye and wont be fooled as easily by the breaking ball…
Sorry to go off topic but since when does baseball reference have foreign player stats? Which is weird because his BR stats aren’t updated for this year..
Great opportunity for the braves to sign this guy.
Can’t wait until this guy comes over here and dominates.
I think if Hughes takes the appropriate steps forward the Yankees will sign Yu when the time comes.