Yu Darvish is the most expensive right-handed pitcher in baseball history.
Not that he's receiving all of that money, of course. The
Texas Rangers are paying a $51.7 million posting fee to the Nippon Ham Fighters, and on top of that, Darvish is getting a contract of
six years and $60 million, which means Texas' total investment in the pitcher is $111.7 million.
This sum is significantly below what the
New York Yankees agreed to pay
CC Sabathia ($161 million) when they signed him three winters ago and less than what the
Philadelphia Phillies will pay
Cliff Lee. There are some contractual bells and whistles and salary deferrals that can distend the appearance of what is actually paid out, but from the perspective of the player's union, here are the biggest deals:
[h4]Notable Japanese League free agents[/h4]
Japanese League players who have recently come to MLB (including the years and dollars of the contract)
[th=""]
Player
[/th][th=""]
Team
[/th][th=""]
Terms
[/th]
1. Sabathia: $162,302,133
2. Johan Santana: $123,106,024
3. Barry Zito: $123,105,480
4. Lee: $118,629,556
5. Mike Hampton: $106,505,617
In the world of MLB accounting -- the assessment of payroll and possible luxury tax implications -- the $51.7 million posting fee won't count. Darvish will account for $10 million of the Rangers' payroll. But the total cost to the Rangers' organization is greater than any other right-hander -- more than Kevin Brown's $105 million deal with the
Los Angeles Dodgers, or the $103 million that
Daisuke Matsuzaka cost the
Boston Red Sox, or the extension that
Roy Halladay received when he signed with the Phillies.
The Rangers have to pay the $51.7 million posting fee to Darvish's old team in the next five days, so in the assessment of what Texas is doling out, you could treat this as a signing bonus -- which would take the present-day value of Darvish's cost into the range of $115-120 million, according to one longtime agent.
From ESPN Stats and Info, some Darvish tidbits:
[h4]Yu Darvish[/h4]
Darvish in his last three Japanese League seasons.
| | |
2011
|
232*
|
10.7*
|
2010
|
202
|
9.9
|
2009
|
182
|
8.3
|
| * Career highs | | |
[th=""]
Season
[/th][th=""]
IP
[/th][th=""]
K/9 IP
[/th]
• Age 25
• 93-38 in five seasons with Nippon of Japanese League
• Finished with ERA below 2.00 in all five seasons in Japanese League
• Participated in 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 World Baseball Classic
• Born to Iranian father and Japanese mother
• Two-time Pacific League MVP (2007 and 2009)
[h3]Notables[/h3]
• Spoke with a number of executives after the Darvish signing was complete, and across the board the soft predictions regarding
Prince Fielder remain the same: Generally, executives believe he will land with either Texas or the
Washington Nationals.
Rangers GM Jon Daniels says any deal with Texas
has to be "creative" -- i.e., on Texas' terms.
Adam Kilgore speculates within this piece that perhaps the public meeting with the Rangers was designed to
send a message to the Nationals.
There's not much leverage for Fielder at this point, partly because the Nationals and Rangers aren't desperate in any way; Fielder makes them better, but executives on either team would be comfortable going to spring training with their teams constituted as they are currently.
Given these circumstances, you wonder if the Rangers or Nationals would respond to a request for an opt-out clause for Fielder with this:
OK, we'll let you walk away from the contract after three years … if we can, too.
Wrote here last week (and it's worth repeating) that with Fielder in a relatively vulnerable negotiating position, wouldn't it make sense for the Dodgers' Frank McCourt to swoop in, make a deal and add to the perceived value of his franchise, as bidders prepare to make offers when he starts to auction his team next week?
For the Nationals, the signing of Fielder would be a decision that would have ripple effects -- so it's not a surprise that the team is finding out what it would take to keep
Ryan Zimmerman with a
contract extension. It's hard to imagine the Nationals signing Fielder and retaining Zimmerman beyond 2013.
• Major League Baseball continues to work toward the expansion of the playoff field from eight to 10 teams for the upcoming season, and the greatest impediment is the fact that the regular-season schedule is already set, starting on April 4 and ending Oct. 3. The one-game playoff between wild-card teams would have to happen immediately after the end of the regular season, given that the World Series will be scheduled to start around Oct. 24.
Other issues would have to be resolved, as well, such as the question of how to handle ties at the end of the regular season. If two teams tied for the No. 6 spot, a playoff game would be required, of course.
But it's possible that with the value of winning a division ramped up so dramatically under the new format -- a division winner gets a bye, while the wild-card teams will have to play one elimination game -- teams will want a playoff to break first-place division ties. Under the 2011 format, if teams tied for first place had one of the top four records in their respective league, a division championship was determined by best head-to-head record.
What if, under the new format, the
Los Angeles Angels and Rangers tied for first place in the AL West with 96 wins, the
Detroit Tigers won 94 games to win the Central, the
Tampa Bay Rays won the East with 93 victories, and the Yankees clinched a wild-card spot with 91 victories? The winner of the AL West would be the No. 1 seed, and the second-place team would play the Yankees in an elimination game. So would it be better to have a one-game playoff between the Rangers and Angels, or just determine the winner by head-to-head play?
It's under discussion. There remains a high level of confidence that MLB will use the new 10-team format for the upcoming season.
• With spring training just a month away and jobs growing scarce, agents and at least a couple of rival general managers jumped at the chance to pitch ideas at Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski right after news broke that
Victor Martinez is expected to miss the season.
Dombrowski said over the phone on Wednesday that he hasn't determined exactly what course of action he will take to replace Martinez, and it may be that he'll wait longer to decide. "You're not going to find a player comparable to Victor," said Dombrowski, but then he went on to explain that in the big picture, there could be worse crises. It's not as if you're losing your everyday catcher, he said, in which you literally cannot find a suitable replacement at this stage in the winter. With the DH position, there is greater flexibility. "We have until Opening Day, and we have some maneuverability," he said.
For example (and these ideas are my own, not Dombrowski's): The Tigers could choose to sign a veteran outfielder, such as
Cody Ross, and use him in an outfield rotation that would generate a DH candidate on any given day. Or the Tigers could sign one of the veteran DHs on the market, such as
Johnny Damon or
Hideki Matsui (if Dombrowski wanted a left-handed hitter) or
Vladimir Guerrero (if he wanted a right-handed hitter). Or he could wait for a trade candidate to emerge, such as
Martin Prado. (Again, all names are my own speculation.)
"I'm just going to digest it," said Dombrowski. "This gives me a chance to put names together. If there's a name that jumps out, we'll react quickly."
Jim Leyland says he's eager to
solve the new lineup issue, writes Drew Sharp. The Tigers will wait for the
right deal to come up, writes Lynn Henning.
• As part of Ubaldo Jimenez's effort to get back to where he was in 2010, he is doing extensive strengthening in his legs and core this offseason.
• The
Toronto Blue Jays are hopeful that
Colby Rasmus will be more comfortable in his first full season with the team and healthier. He
hurt his wrist in August of last season and when he came back -- without the benefit of a minor league rehab assignment -- Rasmus finished the season with four hits in his last 45 at-bats, three doubles and a single.
• It's possible that Peter O'Malley will join forces with the Disney family in
bidding for the Dodgers, writes Bill Shaikin.
• There is intrigue but
no answers yet in the question of the Padres' ownership transition, writes Tim Sullivan.
• The mayor of St. Petersburg
postures in this piece.
[h3]Moves, deals and decisions[/h3]
1. Yoenis Cespedes mashed his
first home run in winter ball.
2. Nick Piecoro breaks down the
Arizona Diamondbacks'
payroll.
3. This has been a
good offseason for the
San Francisco Giants, writes Bruce Jenkins, who likes the Lincecum situation for the team.
4. The Nationals'
negotiations with MASN will have an impact on the team on the field, writes Adam Kilgore.
5. The
Seattle Mariners have
signed Oliver Perez.
6.
Jorge Posada is
content with his decision, writes Dan Martin.
7. The
Baltimore Orioles have signed a
New Zealander.
8. The
Minnesota Twins finalized the
signing of
Joel Zumaya.
is lower than the best ERA ever posted in Japan by Nomo, Matsuzaka, 
