Big in Japan. Bigger in Texas.
Darvish Finally Signs With Rangers
Darvish will finally bring his game-face to the AL West.
Kimochi ii. After a dramatic month of talks that went down to the wire, the Texas Rangers have finally secured the services of Japanese/Iranian phenom Yu Darvish. The Rangers, of course, outbid the rest of baseball back in December for the rights to even negotiate with Darvish in the first place.
The final agreement is a six year, $60 million package that, as expected, breaks the old record for an international player set by Darvish's countryman Daisuke Matsuzaka. When counting the posting fee the Rangers must relinquish to his old Japanese team, the total cost to the Rangers for the next six seasons of Darvish will exceed $110M if he remains with Texas throughout.
The pitcher who will replace CJ Wilson at the front of the Ranger rotation is a younger and stronger player with nastier stuff than the finesse heavy Daisuke, who dazzled Red Sox fans in his debut season. Darvish has also had a more dominant career in Japanese baseball to date.
The man with the matinee idol looks throws at least three different fastballs, or perhaps as many as five, depending on how you're counting. He is known for pinpoint control of his 95mph heat and his very Japanese way of keeping hitters off balance, especially with two strikes. While a traditional pitcher might turn to that reliable fastball to put staggering hitters away, Darvish is almost as likely to break out something different, such as a 62mph curve, without warning and in any count. His strikeout rate in Japan (almost 4.5 whiffs per walk) and his five consecutive seasons of sub-2.00 ERA show how successful that formula has been for him to date.
And, just two short months from now, now we will finally get to see how that formula will work for him in Texas.
See Also: The Scouting Book on Yu Darvish.
