If you’re a fan of a team that’s interested in starting pitching, most of the Winter Meetings brouhaha has centered around Mark Buehrle and C.J. Wilson. But a challenger appears! According to a report from Nikkan Sports (via @DaigoFuji), Yu Darvish is interested in coming over from Japan.
Report: Yu Darvish To Be Posted
The 25-year-old Darvish has been one of Japan’s top pitchers since he was 18, and he hasn’t had an ERA over 2.00 since 2006. This is even more impressive when you consider that the average NPB ballpark is about 200 ft. to the power alleys. Darvish’s stats, via his Wikipedia page.
| Nippon Professional Baseball | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Age | Team | W | L | W% | GS | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | K | ERA | WHIP | league ERA |
| 2005 | 18 | Nippon Ham | 5 | 5 | .500 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 94.1 | 97 | 37 | 37 | 7 | 48 | 52 | 3.53 | 1.54 | 4.06 |
| 2006 | 19 | 12 | 5 | .706 | 24 | 3 | 2 | 149.2 | 128 | 55 | 48 | 12 | 64 | 115 | 2.89 | 1.28 | 3.62 | |
| 2007 | 20 | 15 | 5 | .750 | 26 | 12 | 3 | 207.2 | 123 | 48 | 42 | 9 | 49 | 210 | 1.82 | 0.83 | 3.57 | |
| 2008 | 21 | 16 | 4 | .800 | 24 | 10 | 2 | 200.2 | 136 | 44 | 42 | 11 | 44 | 208 | 1.88 | 0.90 | 3.90 | |
| 2009 | 22 | 15 | 5 | .750 | 23 | 8 | 2 | 182 | 118 | 36 | 35 | 9 | 45 | 167 | 1.73 | 0.90 | 4.03 | |
| 2010 | 23 | 12 | 8 | .600 | 25 | 10 | 2 | 202 | 158 | 48 | 40 | 5 | 47 | 222 | 1.78 | 1.01 | 3.94 | |
| 2011 | 24 | 18 | 6 | .750 | 28 | 10 | 6 | 232 | 156 | 42 | 37 | 5 | 36 | 276 | 1.44 | 0.83 | 2.95 | |
| Career | 93 | 38 | .710 | 164 | 55 | 18 | 1268.1 | 916 | 310 | 281 | 58 | 333 | 1259 | 1.99 | 0.98 | | ||
It’s not exactly like those stats would just translate right over, but it’s worth noting that his numbers -- especially the low walks total -- are superior to the stats that Daisuke Matsuzaka turned into six years and $52 million after the Boston Red Sox paid $51 million just for negotiating rights.
Teams interested in Darvish will have to submit a bid to his current team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, and the highest bid will get the right to negotiate a contract with him. There’s a chance that the Matsuzaka experiment will scare teams into a reasonable contract and posting fee, but there’s also a better chance that Darvish will get a huge contract from a team. Dude’s good.
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