Yu Darvish To Texas

Last night the MLB announced that the Texas Rangers had won the right to negotiate with Hokkaido pitcher Yu Darvish with a posting bid of $51.7 million. The team now has 30 days to sign a deal with Darvish or he will return to Hakkaido, it is expected that the initial offer will be 5 or 6 years and around $12-15 million a year.

It seemed like Toronto had the edge in the bidding war but the Rangers were talked about a bit when it came to Darvish and I think that collectability-wise he will probably draw more attention in Texas especially considering they have a solid core of players and their two recent World Series trips. It is possibly he may just end up being the final piece to put the Rangers in to the “Win” column if they are able to return to the World Series.

The Bidding Is Done And Yu Darvish May Be On His Way To America...Well Canada

The final posting bid for Japanese star pitcher Yu Darvish has been made and it is rumored to have topped the $51.1 million that the Red Sox paid to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka back in 2006, which now in hind-sight appears to have mostly been a bust for the Red Sox.

The team believed to have come out on top? The Toronto Blue Jays!

Once the posting bid has been accepted the winning team will have 30 days to come to terms with Yu Darvish or he will return to Hokkaido.

Currently Darvish has a handful of World Baseball Classic Topps cards including Bowman Chrome, Bowman Sterling and Topps Triple Threads with his refractors and relic cards commanding a premium, with some sellers setting prices teetering on the edge of insanity.

In 7 seasons playing for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters Darvish is 93-38 with a 1.99 ERA and 1,259 Strike Outs. He is a two-time MVP, an Eiki Sawamura Award winner (Japan’s Cy Young Award), he has been selected to 5 All-Star Games and a Japan Series Champion (Japan’s World Series) in 2006 plus a World Baseball Classic Gold Medal in 2009.

I am sure there will be some serious clamoring for his first true rookie cards and if he turns out to be a lights-out pitcher similar to his past 7 seasons he will probably keep the attention of fans but you have to wonder if people will really pay top dollar for a Blue Jays player?