Rangers and Yu Darvish haven’t engaged in serious extension talks

In 2017, the Rangers figure to be competing in a tough American League West race, along with the Astros and Mariners. One of Texas’ big advantages is the one-two punch they possess atop their rotation between Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish. It’s one of the best duos in the entire league, and will give them the advantage on the mound for a good chunk of their season. Unfortunately, one of those pitchers may be gone after this season. As it turns out, the Rangers and Darvish haven’t held any significant extension talks over the winter.

As crazy as it sounds, it is a somewhat defensible decision by the Rangers. For one thing, there is obviously some injury risk when it comes to Darvish. As a slider-heavy pitcher who has already undergone Tommy John surgery once, injury could always be right around the corner. That’s not even mentioning that he’ll be in his age-30 season in 2017. On top of that, some of their young players like Rougned Odor and Nomar Mazara will start to get expensive soon, and Texas will want to save some payroll space.

Despite all that, this is a decision that could still come back to bite them. There’s no doubt that, when he’s on the mound, Darvish is one of the best pitchers in the game. As Evan Grant explains in the linked post above, this would be a complex deal and one that would likely need plenty of prep time. It’s still possible that they’ll work out a deal before he hits the open market, but it’ll become less likely every day. Texas has enough young talent to keep their window open for a while, but losing Darvish could hurt that quest significantly.