According to a report on ESPN.com from New York Post writer George King, the Yankees appear to be displaying some unusual patience in regards to their pursuit of Japanese pitching superstar Yu Darvish. King has heard voices throughout the Yankees organization that the teams pursuit of Darvish is “lukewarm at best”. The estimated winning bid for the pitcher is expected to be in the $30 million dollar range, along with an expected 5-year deal in the $75 million dollar range. Beside the Yankees, there are a handful of teams reportedly in the mix to offer bids: Boston Red Sox; Texas Rangers; Seattle Mariners.
With the Yankees previous experiences with Japanese pitchers (Hideki Irabu and Kei Igawa), I am not surprised at all that they are practicing patience with a pitcher who has zero MLB experience. It will be very interesting to see how the bidding and negotiating pans out for the team that wins.
Yahoo! Sports writer Jeff Passan writes that Darvish does not like the posting system. He fears that if the bidding is high, his contract will be lower.
Buster Olney has noted that within the industry, the Texas Rangers are the favorites to obtain Darvish.
Notes on Darvish from Keith Law:
- Darvish will show an assortment of pitches
- Fastball is in the 91-95 MPH range, with reports that it’s reached 97 MPH
- Able to mix in a hard shuuto (looks like a two-seamer in the high 80’s, low 90’s)
- Features a hard cutter/slider, a soft slider, a splitter, a straight change-up, and a slow curveball
- He generates good arm speed through his hip rotation
- He is built like an ace, with ace stuff
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