After a long wait, the Texas Rangers made it official on Wednesday, signing Japan’s best pitcher, Yu Darvish, to a six-year deal for $60 million. Darvish’s former team, the Nippon Ham Fighters received a $51.7 million fee from the Rangers to have the rights to negotiate a contract with their pitcher.
On the baseball field, Darvish has won almost three times more games than he has lost, and he has an ERA of under 2.00. He has a wide range of pitches that he throws successfully, and a fastball in the upper 90s.
Rangers Pitching Staff
The Rangers will now have a starting rotation that could be one of the best in the major leagues for next season. With Colby Lewis, Matt Harrison, Derek Holland, Neftali Feliz, and now, Yu Darvish, the oldest of the five is Lewis at age 31. The others are age 26, 25, 23, and 25, respectively.
With pitching coach Mike Maddux, and now with his brother, Greg Maddux, a long-standing icon in recent pitching history in the major leagues, training the young pitchers on the Rangers staff, this corps of young talent have the Rangers foaming at the mouth, ready for baseball to start.
Darvish will have some adjustments to make in facing the best hitters in the world, but many scouts and former coaches who have seen him play expect him to meet the expectations the Rangers have for him. The Rangers themselves have scouted Darvish for two years, and reportedly, 12 different Rangers coaches and scouts traveled to Japan over the two-year period to watch him pitch and to establish a personal relationship with Darvish and his family.
Rangers Commitment
When asked about the six-year deal, an unusual position for the Rangers management to accept, general manager Jon Daniels said that Darvish’s age made the six years worth the risk. Believing he will pay for himself in the first couple of years, the Rangers think they have committed good money that will return to them a continuation of the postseason success of the past two years.
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