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Yu Darvish

Olney On Gonzalez, Darvish, White Sox

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Mark Teixeira told ESPN.com’s Buster Olney that new Rangers reliever Mike Gonzalez has improved over the course of the season and now looks like a different pitcher than he did early on. Here’s Olney’s latest, including a note on Gonzalez…

  • The Rangers may have obtained Gonzalez at the right time, Olney writes. Great left-handed hitters such as Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano and Adrian Gonzalez will figure prominently into the playoffs and the Rangers’ newest reliever can help limit their impact late in games.
  • One MLB official told Olney that Yu Darvish will sign with an MLB team this winter. Earlier this morning, I listed the teams that have been publicly linked to the Japanese right-hander.
  • MLB executives are coming to believe that White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf won’t retain both GM Kenny Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen in 2012, according to Olney. Alternatively, Reinsdorf could replace both and hire former White Sox skipper Tony La Russa to manage and promote assistant GM Rick Hahn to run baseball operations.

List Of Teams Interested In Yu Darvish

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Yu Darvish apparently intends to pitch in the Major Leagues next year and it would be surprising if he doesn't draw interest from ten-plus teams. The 25-year-old right-hander has a 1.54 ERA with 10.6 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 175 innings this season. Those numbers are typical for Davish, who entered the season with a 1.81 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in four years with the Nippon Ham Fighters. 

Here's a list of which teams have been linked to Darvish in the last calendar year:

  • Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos is in Japan and saw Darvish pitch, according to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun.
  • The Nationals maintain interest.
  • The Yankees have scouted him heavily.
  • Rangers GM Jon Daniels watched Darvish in June.
  • The Orioles had interest last offseason.
  • The Red Sox have been linked to Darvish.
  • The Rays watched Darvish about a year ago.

At this point, we don't know whether the clubs above were simply being diligent or whether they intend to make serious bids for Darvish. This list can't be considered comprehensive because other teams have likely been covert about their interest. What we can say at this point is that Darvish would be a welcome commodity in a starting pitching market that's light on top-of-the-rotation pitchers.

AL East Notes: Blue Jays, Red Sox, Darvish

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The Blue Jays completed a trade with the Diamondbacks today, sending Aaron Hill and John McDonald to Arizona for Kelly Johnson. Here's the latest news from the AL East, starting with a note on today's trade…

  • Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos told Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio that Hill and McDonald cleared waivers earlier in the month (Twitter link). The deal started when Arizona GM Kevin Towers called about McDonald.
  • Anthopoulos says he acquired Johnson from the D'Backs to get an up-close look at him before deciding how aggressively to pursue him this offseason when he hits free agency, according to Sportsnet.ca's Shi Davidi.
  • Alex Speier of WEEI.com takes us inside Boston's front office in a must-read look at how the Red Sox approached the signing deadline. “Between 11:50 and 12 it was straight chaos,” one person told Speier. “Five people were on the phone at the same time with five different agents negotiating five different deals.”
  • Joel Sherman of the New York Post explains that MLB teams, even rich ones like the Yankees, have to develop their own starting pitching, since the few elite starters who do reach free agency are prohibitively expensive.
  • The Yankees have scouted Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish heavily, according to Sherman. Darvish, 25, "is coming" to the Major Leagues this offseason, according to one of Sherman's sources.

Quick Hits: Marlins, Yankees, Darvish

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Dan Uggla hit his 23rd home run of the season and extended his hit streak to 25 games against the Nationals this afternoon. Here's the latest news from around MLB, starting with an item on Uggla’s former team…

  • Greg Cote of the Miami Herald argues that the Marlins should stop focusing on finding a new manager for 2012 and let Jack McKeon lead the club into its new stadium next year.
  • GM Brian Cashman's emphasis on the "bigger picture" has enabled the Yankees to keep the likes of Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova and Eduardo Nunez, as Newsday's Ken Davidoff explains.
  • Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (link at ESPN.com) and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com rank the top prospects traded at the deadline and Drew Pomeranz, who hasn't even been officially traded yet, tops both lists. The Rockies will acquire Pomeranz as the player to be named in the Ubaldo Jimenez trade. 
  • Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports suggests Yu Darvish could end up with the Rangers next year. The Rangers have two Japanese pitchers, Koji Uehara and Yoshinori Tateyama, and could bid for the rights to Darvish after the season. GM Jon Daniels saw Darvish pitch this year, but he was interested in more than one player. "I was there to get a feel for the lay of the land and the baseball culture, the same way I did in the Dominican a few years ago,” Daniels told Morosi. “If we’re going to invest in that universe of players, we need to understand where they’re coming from.”

Yu Darvish Represented By Arn Tellem, Don Nomura

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Nippon-Ham Fighters ace Yu Darvish is represented by Arn Tellem of Wasserman Media Group as well as Don Nomura, MLBTR has confirmed.  There had been rumors of a Darvish-Tellem connection dating back to May of last year.

The bigger question, of course, is whether the Fighters will post the superstar righty this offseason.  That is currently an unknown.  Darvish, 25 this month, has a 1.56 ERA, 10.2 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, and 0.20 HR/9 in 133 innings for the Fighters this year.

Quick Hits: Hanley, Phillies, Zduriencik, Darvish

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The Mariners' losing streak extended to 14 games after dropping a 3-1 result to Boston today.  Seattle's 14-game skid ties a franchise record for consecutive losses.

Some news from around the majors….

  • In a radio appearance with Dan LeBatard (partially transcribed by Matt Forman of the Miami Herald), Jeff Conine said that if it was up to him, the Marlins would trade Hanley Ramirez.  Conine might have just been using the interview to vent, but given Conine's status as a special assistant to Marlins president David Samson, it's worth wondering if others in the Florida front office feel the same way about the club's star shortstop.
  • Also from Forman's post, Marlins manager Jack McKeon doesn't think his team will do much, if anything at the trade deadline.
  • Ruben Amaro's reputation for major trade deadline deals has raised expectations that the Phillies GM will make another big move this summer, writes Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
  • The Mariners' losing streak has erased the fact that the club was in the AL West hunt just two weeks ago.  GM Jack Zduriencik tells Larry Stone of the Seattle Times that he tried to find help for the Mariners' terrible offense but to no avail.  "That big bat doesn't seem to be out there at a reasonable cost. It's not as easy as saying, 'We need a bat. Let's go get a bat.' Great. Who's giving one up? Lots of clubs who are doing well are looking for a bat," Zduriencik said.
  • The Nationals still have an interest in Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish, reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
  • It's been almost 20 years since the Dodgers were last sellers at the trade deadline, writes Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times.
  • The Angels aren't expected to make any huge deals at the deadline, though Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times notes the Halos have been "eagerly courting" the Padres with the hopes of adding Heath Bell or Mike Adams.
  • Dennis Manoloff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer looks back at the Indians' history at the trade deadline since 1994.

Jon Daniels Scouting Yu Darvish

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Rangers GM Jon Daniels is scouting Japanese star Yu Darvish, according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan. However, the 24-year-old right-hander won't be eligible for free agency until after the 2014 season.  If he does in fact come over, it will be via the posting system.

While it has been reported that Darvish wants to play in MLB in 2012, the hurler is not on the record as saying so.  Heading into this season, the 6'5" starter had a 2.06 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 1128 1/3 career innings.

Thanks to Patrick Newman of NPBTracker for contributing information.

Quick Hits: Darvish, Simon, Kenny Williams, Rays

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Happy birthday to Brian Duensing (28), Kelly Johnson (29), Casey Kotchman (28), Daniel Nava (28), J.J. Putz (34), Don Wakamatsu (48) and Hall-of-Fame manager Sparky Anderson, who would've turned 77 years old today.

Onto some news from around the majors…

  • ESPN's Keith Law expects the Blue Jays to be "serious bidders" for Yu Darvish. (Twitter link)  The Japanese star says he wants to pitch in the Major Leagues in 2012, and at least nine teams besides Toronto are known to have interest.
  • Prosecutor Victor Mueses tells ESPNDeportes' Enrique Rojas that there are no plans to drop pending manslaughter charges against Orioles reliever Alfredo Simon.  It was reported over the weekend that Simon was expected to be released soon, but "nothing has happened to make us change our position," Mueses says.  Rojas also reports that Simon has agreed to pay $70K to the families of the victims of the New Year's Eve shooting in order to have the charges dropped, but Mueses says that such an agreement wouldn't impact his office's case.
  • White Sox GM Kenny Williams criticized baseball's financial structure yesterday and told Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune today that he was even uncomfortable with his own team's $125MM payroll.  "We're out on a limb.  But that's our choice.  We made the choice in an effort to give our fans hope and give ourselves a chance to compete for a championship," Williams said.  "If things don't go our way, if we don't get the support, we'll lose money.  We're going to lose money but we've gone into this knowing how long can you do that, how much can you absorb?"
  • "The Rays’ bullpen figures to be a season-long work in progress," writes FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal.  Tampa Bay lost almost its entire bullpen to free agency, and Andrew Friedman admitted the club was "kind of freaking out about it" in January.  Rosenthal says the Rays will look at relievers cut by teams at the end of Spring Training, and they will also continue to consider possible trades.  
  • When might some of the Indians' young stars reach the majors?  Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer weighs in on when Tribe fans can see the likes of Lonnie Chisenhall at Progressive Field.

Quick Hits: Darvish, Balfour, Torre, Sale

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Links for Sunday….

Yu Darvish Plans To Play In MLB In 2012

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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.

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