Rangers win Yu Darvish for $51.7M

[mrpackersfan1]

Link:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/12/win-bidding-for-yu-darvish.html (According to Jeff Passan on Twitter)

[Schlitz001]

Link:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/12/win-bidding-for-yu-darvish.html (According to Jeff Passan on Twitter)

That's more money than they offered CJ Wilson for a FA contract. The Rangers must be really sure of Yu's ability or really sure of Wilson's decline.

[dlk9s]

Must be nice to be a rich team.

[monty57]

Wasn't Darvish the player who spoke out against the posting system and contemplated not coming to America to play until he was out of contract because he doesn't think the Japanese team should make money by essentially selling him?

[sheetskout]

Average fans will never realize what signing a Japanese star does to their team's economics. The posting fee may have been more than C.J. Wilson's offer by the Rangers, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's the better pitcher.

[TooLiveBrew]

Wasn't Darvish the player who spoke out against the posting system and contemplated not coming to America to play until he was out of contract because he doesn't think the Japanese team should make money by essentially selling him?

I believe so, yes. EDIT: all I could find via Google search was a comment from his father: "If the bid amount is too high, it's going to influence contract negotiations," he said last week in an interview with Japan's Sports Nippon newspaper. "It will worry me if it's over $40 million." ... but I thought I remembered reading comments specifically from Yu Darvish himself, and like you said, about the posting system exploiting players or something like that. Oh well.

Also, I commented yesterday that I'd be surprised if it wasn't the Yanks who signed Darvish. Well, I'm surprised.

[RobertR]

From what I understand, it's common for players to get kickbacks from the Japanese ballclubs to sign.

 

I'm skeptical of C.J. Wilson longterm, so I can certainly see someone preferring Darvish to Wilson.

 

Robert

[burnzy24]

I wonder if paying $50 million for the right to negotiate with Yu and the ensuing large contract he will get will put the rangers out of the market for Fielder.

[TooLiveBrew]

I'd have to guess you're right on that, burnzy, especially since Nolan Ryan has been quoted at least once this offseason saying the Rangers weren't in on Prince... I just assumed it was a smokescreen, turns out not.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'd have to guess you're right on that, burnzy, especially since Nolan Ryan has been quoted at least once this offseason saying the Rangers weren't in on Prince... I just assumed it was a smokescreen, turns out not.

I think it was true that they weren't in on Prince, unless they didn't win Darvish, then they would have been way in on him.

[TooLiveBrew]

Probably also true http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Schlitz001]

It seems like when Nolan Ryan says something to the media he usually means it.

[Funketown]

Isn't $50 million what Dice-K got? I can't find Dice-K's numbers from NPB but as far as I remember, Darvish's seem to be quite a bit more impressive.

 

It will be interesting to see how he does. It would be great to see the Japanese stud pitcher the Sawx didn't go after become a true ace, so long as he stays in the AL.

[TooLiveBrew]

The posting fee paid by BOS for Matsuzaka was eerily similar at $51.1M (source). And I believe Darvish's stats are notably better than Dice-K's were, but I won't trust my memory fully.

[sveumrules]

Dice-K's best season in Japan isn't even better than the average of Darvish's last 5.

The only thing they half have in common is Japanese heritage.

[reillymcshane]

This sucks. I bid $51.5 million for his rights. I wanted to have him play catch with my son, cut the grass around the house, maybe a few other odds and ends.

[jjkoestler]

Good thing MLB doesn't have any rules regarding international players. Texas clearly needed him more than Houston. /blue

 

The posting fee was also higher than total payrolls of the Indians, Padres, Pirates, Rays, and Royals.

[Eye Black]

The posting fee was also higher than total payrolls of the Indians, Padres, Pirates, Rays, and Royals.

Which makes me wonder how far $51.7 million goes for a team like the Nippon-Ham Fighters? Is anyone familiar with what an average annual payroll is (in U.S. dollars) for a Japanese professional baseball club?

[Oldcity]

I've always wondered what a Ham Fighter was, until I saw it spelled that way with the hyphen.

 

Doh.

[Eye Black]

I've always wondered what a Ham Fighter was, until I saw it spelled that way with the hyphen.

 

Doh.

Haha, actually saw that explained earlier today in Jim Caple's article on espn.com....

Darvish pitched seven seasons for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, who play in the Sapporo Dome and are owned by the Nippon-Ham company. In other words, he pitched for the "Fighters" of "Nippon-Ham," not the "Ham Fighters," a mistake Americans often make. "Everybody probably thinks you're out there beating up pigs," said Dodgers bench coach Trey Hillman, who managed Nippon Ham in 2003-07 and Darvish from '05-'07.

[MJLiverock]

If the posting fee is refundable if a contract isn't reached could it be possible that the Rangers could have no real intention of actually signing him but just wanted to be sure the Yankees didn't get him? They can make some offers, say they count the $50MM in their view of the contract even though Yu doesn't get that money and end up never offering him enough to entice him to leave Japan. Their view may be, if he takes their lowball offer and even coupled with the $50MM they may be all right, if he doesn't and goes back to Japan, oh well at least the Yankees didn't get him.

[kramnoj]

I've read that there are rules requiring making a fair offer to a posted player. I believe that if there was an extreme case of a team posting a high number with the sole intent of blocking that player could have it's bid removed and the right goes to the next highest bidder. I don't believe that it has been enforced, but the leagues did anticipate that maneuver.

[jerichoholicninja]

The Japanese team isn't required to take the high bid. I would guess they have layers look at the bids to determine if they are legitimate or not. Remember the Japanese team is essentially selling the player hoping to make money, if they accept and illegitimate bid they get nothing. So if someone offered a bid of $100 million for Darvish they would be taking a huge risk accepting it unless it was the Yankees or Red Sox.

[Funketown]

The Japanese team isn't required to take the high bid. I would guess they have layers look at the bids to determine if they are legitimate or not. Remember the Japanese team is essentially selling the player hoping to make money, if they accept and illegitimate bid they get nothing. So if someone offered a bid of $100 million for Darvish they would be taking a huge risk accepting it unless it was the Yankees or Red Sox.

That makes a lot of sense if true. Maybe the Yanks bid $55MM, but the Pork-Fighters found the holiday cheer and give it to the poor old Rangers.

[djoctagone]

six years. pretty risky. but the average annual value of approximately $10 million per year isn't horrible. but that's only if you forget about the $51.7 million finder's fee . . .