I always enjoy ESPN’s in-depth E-ticket articles. Jim Caple’s piece on Yu Darvish is no exception. In case you hadn’t heard, Darvish is the Next Big Thing in Japan. He’s a 21 year-old ace pitcher. A few highlights from the article:
- The commonly kicked-around posting fee for Darvish is $75MM. Remember, everyone thought Dice-K would require $25-30MM and the fee ended up being $51.1MM. If Darvish received Dice-K’s six-year, $52MM deal and required an $80MM posting fee, he’d cost $22MM a year.
- Darvish’s team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, didn’t allow Caple to ask about the MLB possibility. But the team’s GM has said that he’d probably post a player who requested it.
- Does Darvish want to come to MLB? Opinions run the gamut on that question. A posting this winter is possible but far from certain.
- Darvish’s father seems to want him to play in New York or Boston, if he comes to MLB.
