The Texas Rangers are looking to the Land of the Rising Sun to fill in the void that was left when C.J. Wilson decided he’d rather pitch Los Angeles Angels from now on. The Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays were recently involved in a bidding war for the right to negotiate a Major League Baseball contract with Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish.
The bidding came to an end on Dec. 19 when it was revealed that the Rangers offer of $51.7 million was accepted with pleasure by Darvish’s club, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. The Rangers now have 30 days to work out a deal with the pitcher or he will return to play with the Ham Fighters. This means they have until Jan. 18 to wrap up contract talks and get Darvish’s signature. If the Rangers don’t sign the right hander they’ll get their money back though.
The 25-year-old Darvish is widely regarded to be one of the best ever pitchers to come out of Japan and is considered ready to give it a shot in MLB. Rangers’ GM Jon Daniels said his organization and its fans are excited about the possibility of signing Darvish, but warned there’s still a lot of work to be done. He said winning the bid was an important process of course, but it was just the first step. The club must now convince Darvish that Texas is the right place for him and sweeten the deal with a multi-million dollar contract.
The last major signing of a Japanese pitcher took place back in 2006 when the Boston Red Sox shelled out $52.6 million for six years to Daisuke Matsuzaka. When C.J. Wilson recently signed with the Angels he received a five-year deal worth $77.5 million. When you add up a contract and the winning bid, it’s likely going to cost the Rangers at least $100 million to get Darvish in a Texas uniform next season.
However, some fans feel if they’re going to spend that much they should have offered it on a proven MLB pitcher and kept the 31-year-old left hander Wilson, who was the team’s Pitcher of the Year award winner for the last two seasons. Daniels said it’s too early to compare Darvish to anybody else and he could be a long-term solution for the Rangers because he’s six years younger than Wilson.
Going by statistics only, Darvish looks to be ready for the Major Leagues. He pitched in 28 games last season and finished with an ERA of 1.44 and a record of 18-6. He also struck out 276 batters in 232 innings. It was his fifth consecutive year with an ERA below 2.00. So far, he’s won two ERA and thee strikeout titles in his native Japan. He was also named the Pacific League’s Most Valuable Player of the Year twice.
Texas has had their eye on the pitcher for the last few years and Daniels has been to Japan to see him pitch in person after receiving rave reviews from his scouts. With a deadline to sign Darvish, it’s unlikely Texas will make any other major moves until then. They signed reliever Joe Nathan already, but have stated their interest in free agent Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers. In addition, the club is trying to re-sign players such as Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, and Derek Holland.
The Rangers already have a starting rotation of Matt Harrison, Colby Lewis, Neftali Feliz, Alexi Ogando, and Holland and have Scott Feldman, Martin Perez, and Neil Ramirez in the organization. If Darvish is signed it’s likely the team would trade one of its starters before next season gets underway. Lewis is the oldest and he’s a free agent after next season, so he’s the most likely candidate to be moved.
