Friday Night Links..
- Despite a published report to the contrary, Phillies scouting director Marti Wolever is not headed to the Mets, according to Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.
- MLB.com's Mark Sheldon spoke to a few members of the Reds who would like to see Dusty Baker sign an extension with the club.
- Brandon Inge and Johnny Damon are both okay with having been put on waivers, writes Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press.
- Reds manager Dusty Baker dismissed questions about him possibly becoming the Dodgers manager if Joe Torre retires, writes John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
- Mark Kizla of The Denver Post urges Todd Helton to call it quits.
- The Padres don't have much interest in outfielder Cody Ross, tweets Corey Brock of MLB.com.
- The Pirates will send Luis Heredia to their affiliate in Bradenton not to pitch, but to familiarize himself with the program, writes Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker (via Twitter) passes along a report from Japanese outlet Sponichi that the Yankees sent Damon Oppenheimer and scout Billy Eppler to watch Yu Darvish.
- Adam McCalvy of MLB.com (via Twitter) wonders aloud if the Brewers might make a deal in order to free a roster spot for the returning Carlos Gomez.
- Nats GM Mike Rizzo says that Bryce Harper won't be playing in any games for their Gulf Coast League affiliate this season, according to Ben Goessling of MASNSports.com.
I wouldlove to see Yu Darvish on a team like the Jays and the Marlins although I will say this…
You see Ichiro draw a lot of Japanese Baseball fans at any ballpark in which he is playing in. I think this would be a great thing for diversity if Darvish played for the Yankees. I just remember Darvish was nervous about people not liking him because of his ethnicity.
I love Darvish. He is an awesome pitcher, and I’m confident that his talent would translate with a move to the US, but I don’t think the Yankees are a good fit. I’d like to see him with more of a smaller market team. I think the pressure of playing for the Yanks could get to him, also his concerns for people disliking him based on ethnicity are understandable, since he is half Iranian. I’m not saying he would be the victim of any racial attacks, but I can see where he’s coming from.
Toronto is one of the most multicultural places in the world with more than 50% of it’s citizens being immigrants. Darvish would be a great fit here and in a few years when Darvish might be posted the jays will be ready to compete. A rotation of Darvish, Drabek, Morrow, Romero, and Marcum is definately capable of taking a team to the playoffs.
Yeah, I think Toronto would be a good fit. Seattle also wouldn’t be a bad option either considering all of the Japanese players that have gone through there.
Thats what I first said. He would be awesome on the Jays and he would adjust to life incredibly well there. Go Jays!
That’s why I suggested Jays or Fish.
The Yanks do have to replace Javy V and maybe Pettite(retire?). They will probably sign Cliff Lee and this might be their 2nd move.
I think I recall a report late last year/earlier this year that was saying Darvish didn’t want to come to the states to play for at least a couple more years. So if he’s sticking to his word, this may just be more of a longterm scouting project than something that’ll translate to a solution for next season.
If Darvish wants to be the next Irabu or Igawa he should join the Yankees. I’m sure the fans there are just aching to have another Japanese pitcher join their rotation.
SierraM363: Unless you think there’s somehting in the NYC tap water that effected Igawa and Irabu then your comment is sort of sucky. Irabu was a decent pitcher while Igawa was simply a bad move based on poor scouting. Darvish is better than both and I would think his only obstacle in succeeding in NY might be his temperment to handle NY which is something neither of us can really speculate on. Next you’ll be saying that pudgie White players shouldn’t sign with the Yanks because Nick Johnson couldn’t hit over the mendoza line.
Of course people think the Yankees aren’t a good fit, no surprise to me, besides, Darvish needs to realize nobody will care about your race in NY, a place where there are Chinese, Japanese, some Thai, Spanish, Black, and White people, and many other races live ala Ellis Island and being the so-called “Gateway” to America. If he pitched that well in the NPB, there’s not a doubt in my mind he couldn’t pitch well for the Yankees, and neither should there be on his mind, even though that’s not on his mind. I don’t know or care why people think the Yankees aren’t a good fit, because he is.
Yes only NYC has a city composed of more than 3 ethic groups.
More than 3? More like more than 10…Incredibly diverse, when I walk through any street in NYC, I am bound to see at least 5 different diversities.
Obviously he’s not saying NY is the only diverse city in America. I think he was direclty addressing the poster who said NY wouldn’t be a good place for him.
was it really a good idea for the yankees to send an oppenheimer to japan?
LOL. heyyyyyyyy oh!! that was cruel bro
Is Darvish approaching free agency?
If not, it’s sort of silly to speculate which team he should or shouldn’t join. He’ll have a window to negotiate with the team that presents the highest bid in the posting process.
Dusty Baker as the Dodgers manager would be a hoot. Do you think he would sign a deferred payment contract? :0)
Billingsley and Kershaw damn better watch their arms
Torre is still the highest paid manager?
If were talking about diversity , how about him with the reds? You got Chapman, Cueto,Darvish,The spanish players, then white thats a great mix and Darvish would be in a small market enviorment and could excel for the reds fan base would grow from ohio to japan to cuba, to the DR thats a good business move and team move think about the reds having the to biggest international signing 2 years striaght
If were talking about diversity , how about him with the reds? You got Chapman, Cueto,Darvish,The spanish players, then votto,bruce,stubbs and,rolen gomes and african americans as of phillips rhodes, eyc thats a great mix and Darvish would be in a small market enviorment and could excel for the reds fan base would grow from ohio to japan to cuba, to the DR thats a good business move and team move think about the reds having the to biggest international signing 2 years striaght sorry i couldnt savve the edit on other post
Darvish will shatter the IFA record set by Dice-K if he ever decides to come play in the States.Seattle would definately be in on him considering they are owned by freaking Nintendo. After that it would be the usual suspects Yanks, BoSox, Angels, Cubs, and possibly the Dodgers (if they ever get their ownership situation resolved.) I would expect Darvish, considering his age, to get a 5 years $60-70 million deal at the very least.
I can already picture Yu Darvish baseball for the Nintendo Wii….
I can also see the game being banned in Iran….
Imagine what Youliesky Gourriel would command on the open market if he ever left Cuba. I could see him getting 5 years $75 mil.
He is regarded as the best player in the world not playing MLB. However he is very loyal and his father, like him, is a Cuban National Team legend.
He wouldn’t leave his family behind, but man it would be great to see him in MLB.
And who the efff is Mike Kizla to ask Todd Helton to retire. He is THE icon of the Rockies organization.
As long as the organization wants him around, guys like Kizla should keep their traps shut.
Since Woody Paige and Dino Costa (both idiotic loud mouths) bursted on to the national scene, and now Mike Kizla apparently, I have lost respect for these Denver based “journalists.”