Ok so the Texas Rangers finally got their man, as Japanese pitching phenom Yu Darvish signed a 6-year, $60 million deal to play in 
Arlington.
Add in the $52 million posting fee the Rangers paid to talk to Darvish for a month, (= $1.7 million per day) and that makes a grand total of roughly $111.7 million.
That’s a lot of dough to pay for a pitcher with zero MLB experience, but the Rangers really had no choice in the matter after letting CJ Wilson walk into the arms of the division rival Angels.
The Rangers are gambling on Darvish, just like the Yankees and Red Sox did with Kei Igawa and Dice-K.
Can Darvish rewrite recent history by being the same dominate pitcher he was in Japan?
That is what the Rangers are counting on, but they are not alone.
David Schoenfield of ESPN’s Sweet Spot wasted no time Ranking The Five Best Starting Rotations this past Thursday morning, and he ranked the Rangers third behind only the Angels and Phillies.
Darvish was obviously the difference maker for Schoenfield when he wrote that… Darvish is expected to be the ace of this team.
The fact is no one can accurately judge an unproven, foreign pitcher’s worth before he ever steps on a MLB mound.
Maybe Schoenfield also forgot the huge risk that comes with Japanese pitchers. Or maybe he didn’t know that 25-year old Darvish has thrown 200+ innings in his last four seasons in Japan and just signed with a team that completely shuns the use of “innings limit.”
Since Darvish is the first expensive toy for the new Rangers ownership, easing him without implementing an innings limit is something Texas needs to reconsider about.
How Phil Hughes Could Help? Continue reading ‘New York Yankees Trade Rumors: Rangers Got Yu But Could Use Hughes Too’ »
There were no celebrations in 
With each fleeting game, my attempts not to notice the absence of the 2011 
The battle for the title of 
