The Rangers and Yu Darvish have until this coming Tuesday to reach an agreement on a contract, and Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reports that the biggest sticking point in negotiations is contract length. The team wants a six-year deal, but the right-hander wants five years so he can become a free agent sooner.
Texas is offering Darvish a contract similar to the one Daisuke Matsuzaka signed with the Red Sox five years ago, meaning six years and $52MM. The 25-year-old right-hander will still be young enough to land one more big contract after a potential deal with the Rangers expires, but a shorter deal will allow him to hit the open market sooner. Passan says the likelihood of a total breakdown in talks is minimal since the relationship between the two sides is "strong and respectful."
I can already see it. Another japaneese pitcher who ends up being a bust
You mean Japaneseseses player. Der her.
He lives on the west coast brah, reading isn’t cool maaaaaaaan.
seriously do people not even attempt to know what they’re talking about when it comes to foreign players anymore
Yeah well if you listen to a Rangers fan their front office is THE BEST EVER and so they would not get this guy unless he was the best pitcher that ever walked the face of the earth.lol
Because your team has been in back to back World Series? Lol
0-2.
Losing in the world series is much better than watching at home, no matter how you twist it around.
Not by one pitch!
the Rangers have been irrelevant for years until now. I wouldnt go that far……
Obviously the Rangers selecting him to pay 100-120 million for doesn’t actually guarantee he will be amazing (he was being sarcastic anyway), but…. the Rangers long history of irrelevance has absolutely nothing to do with the current front office.
Thats absolutely correct. Rangers have a great franchise from top to bottom. But teams are inevitably judged on rings…..im pretty sure they will get one though they are too good.
“But teams are inevitably judged on rings”…… Why? It sounds as if you (like me)think this is Moronic “Ricky Bobby” way of judging a FO…. then why use that argument?
From 99.9% of fans’, on this board and most everywhere else, rings are the only important thing when judging a team, organization, and front office. It’s sad really. Not matter how good a team is, people talk down about them because they haven’t won a ring yet. This board is a perfect example of that.
…because the goal is to come close to winning?
i understand appreciating that a team does well, but the goal is to be the last team standing. you can enjoy a good team and respect a run at a championship but in time the truth is that rings are you you judge a team.
From 99.9% of fans’, on this board and most everywhere else, rings are the only important thing when judging a team, organization, and front office. It’s sad really. Not matter how good a team is, people talk down about them because they haven’t won a ring yet. This board is a perfect example of that.
Yeah well youre Mets hold that title now dont they.
No the Mets are completely irrelevant now whereas they were sort of relevant over the past decade. Come on now, personal shots? Im game but at least try a bit harder.
btw *your :]
As a Mets fan I will leap to your side in defense! Alas, I must also join in on the Mets bashing, as it is the only rightful thing to do when we’re in the gutter as laughing my friend, is the only cure.
I bash the Mets just as much as anyone. Some of the most atrocious baseball ive ever seen in my 18 years has occurred in these past 2 seasons. At least i know there is 0% chance of competitiveness now, where as in the past there has been a slight hope. It eases the pain
I will be fair also, I have seen the Rangers through some lean years, ok horrible years up till now and realize that they have strengths and weaknesses. I am a fan and have been since Charlie Hough was our ACE, Charlie Hough for Gods sake. We are all fans of our teams and I dont care if you support a minor leauge Korean team as long as you stick with them youre good in my book.
Does the name Craig Swan mean anything to you? Tell you what, when Dennis Ribant is your ace, you can talk. Right now, you got NOTHING.
Craig Lefferts or Ryan Drese take your pick. Some of those years we would have better with a tee. When your staff ERA is higher than your runs per game and you lead the leauge in runs scored, youre pretty bad.
Its weird I liked it better in some ways when the Rangers were awful. Everyone knew I wasnt a bandwagon fan, now everyone is wearing the Rangers cap oh yeah I’ve always been a fan, they say with the tag on their spotless cap. I dont care who you root for but be a true fan hate the bandwagon.
How do you know who is just a new fan vs. a bandwagon fan? Or is it just any new fan is a bandwagon fan? Just curious no sarcasm intended.
I bash the Mets just as much as anyone. Some of the most atrocious baseball ive ever seen in my 18 years has occurred in these past 2 seasons. At least i know there is 0% chance of competitiveness now, where as in the past there has been a slight hope. It eases the pain
Yeah well youre Mets hold that title now dont they.
any respected writer who runs down the top front offices always includes the Rangers near the top…
I’m not saying they are not a great front office or that the team for that matter is not great I’m just saying that some fan’s on these boards act like Darvish is not a risk at all because if he was the FO would not be in on him. All I am saying is they are good not psychic.
I’m not a Rangers fan, but they really are an amazingly run organization. They have an awesome team on the field right now, and their farm system is stacked. It’s hard not to respect what they’re doing.
The Rangers are a good organization, but they are missing an ace. Darvish may be the answer, but I still like the Angels over the Rangers this year. Their pitching is better. Once you get to the playoffs, it becomes the team thats hot. With all the rounds in the playoffs it becomes more random, rather than the best team winning.
I kind of figured it would be the opposite with the player wanting more years than the team was willing to commit?
Obviously he doesn’t want to be stuck in Texas, and I don’t blame him.
Yeah, because Texas will never go to the World Series…heard this BS for years, but now idiots claim that nobody wants to play in the heat or in Texas…as opposed to…where? LA? Where fans beat each other almost to death?
You can start to talk when the Texas Chockers I mean Rangers win a world series. The Rangers have been bottomdwellers in the AL West most of their existance
What does that have to do with them now? They have a young, talented core, and a great farm system that will have them set up for success for the length of Darvish’s deal.
What does that have to do with them now? They have a young, talented core, and a great farm system that will have them set up for success for the length of Darvish’s deal.
They also have a massive TV deal that basically allows them to spend like any other big market team in baseball. They are a franchise to be reckoned with.
Spelling is a real tough deal for you isn’t it? But I understand. Japanese and Chokers are two of the more difficult words for 2 year olds to spell.
Spelling is a real tough deal for you isn’t it? But I understand. Japanese and Chokers are two of the more difficult words for 2 year olds to spell.
thats just your west cost bias talking….
obligatory post
Hay smart guy Texas plays in the AL West duh duh duh
And that would be hey, not hay (hay is what cows eat).
Last I checked, losing in the World Series still means doing better than 28 of the 30 teams in baseball.
Actually, it means doing better than 29 teams.
no…. the actual winner and the team themselves
haha
no way do I see the Rangers doing better than themselves next year. Too strong of a team! lol
Nice math.
*Chokers?
Obviously you are completely misinterpreting the story. Darvish wants to have the chance to test free agency sooner, it has nothing to do with Texas. It’s already been stated numerous time that he loves Dallas and the team. But why don’t you keep being bitter towards Texas l, cause that seems like a rational thing to do.
generally yeah, but this is a different case altogether. he wants to be as young of an FA as possible in order to land a bigger deal, assuming he puts up the type of numbers he’s generally expected to.
if he wants to be as young a free agent as he can be he can play in Japan and come out when his contract there is up. he’d be younger and could sign anywhere he wanted.
Got to love the posting fee. He is young and the more years the Rangers can lock him up, the ‘cheaper’ he becomes as the posting fee can be spread out as it were.
I might be misunderstanding your comment, but in case I’m not, that isn’t how the posting fee works. His actual contract with the Rangers would be a totally separate thing.
you misunderstood his comment. you’re right the posting fee is a separate thing. but lets say he signs for 5 years/$50m, add the $52 posting fee, it works out to be a little over $20 mil a year. at 6 years/$60 mil plus the $52 mil posting fee, it works out to be around $18.5. add more years you get better value.
Gotcha, thanks for clearing that up
The posting fee is amortized the same way a contract is, as far as the Rangers are concerned. Sure, it gets paid to the NHF instead of Darvish, but they still want as many years out of him as they can get. In fact, it’s even more cost effective the more years you go, because the posting fee is a one time thing, and does not increase based on years.
Be careful what you wish for- Dice K.
Nobody can become a free agent until he plays six years anyways, so no matter if he signs for five or six years, he’ll still be Rangers’ property until after 2017.
Unless there is a clause in his contract stating otherwise. I read somewhere (i believe it was either here or twitter) that a few Japanese players have had similar provisions, including Uehara and I believe Nomo.
Uehara won’t be a free agent until 2015, after his sixth year, and Nomo was a free agent multiple times before his six years only because he was released by the Mets, Cubs, Brewers, and Tigers
You’re getting minor leaguers mixed up with free agents.
No matter if a player is drafted or is signed as a free agent, he still is under team control for six years.
Dice-k is going to be in his 5th season this year, without a clause in his contract, and will be a F/A after the season…
Dice-K is going into his 6th year
Geez…haters just show up to rag on Texas now because their own teams/states give them zilch to talk about? Sad.
It’s entertaining talking about the state of the chokers and hideously homely people.
you’ve obviously never been to Texas if you think that the people here are “hideously homely.”
Haha okay “w00ters mcgee”. Whatever you say.
I’m sure everyone in your household is beautiful…
I agree about the chokers part but homely I don’t know most guys from Texas are hot!
I dont see why the Rangers would completely oppose this. Less risk for them and possibly a bit less $.
They must really like him and be absolutely certain he’s going to be special. If Nolan is not only willing, but actually wants to go 6 years on a pitcher that should speak volumes about how they feel about Darvish.
great point…. lets just do one year cut the risk out all together…… one 65 million dollar year…. i am glad JD learned economies of scale at Cornell
Just put in a 6th year mutual option with a hefty buyout. Everyone wins.
They’ll get it figured out.
I cant believe this Texas makes it too the Playoffs 2 times then all of sudden Ranger fans think they are the greatest franchise ever well Ranger fans let me tell you something you need to win 28 world series before you get that title as much as it hurts me say this The Yankees still have that title…..by the way Ranger fans The Angels won their 1st World Series on their 1st try
lol
Angels fans keep getting more bitter. Nice tattoo by the way, was “I love mom” unavailable?
You do understand that there’s a difference between being the historically best team in baseball, and the current best team? If you’re going to talk about how the Yankees are the best, then talk about the Angels winning a world series on their first appearance, should we mention how the Yankees lost two world series in a row, before winning it for the first time in their third appearance?
The past isn’t relevant when discussing who the team to beat right now is. The present is. And in the present, the Rangers are the two timing reigning AL champion. The road to the World Series runs through Arlington if you’re a part of the AL.
Years ago, the teams with the best record during the season played in the world series, that would be the Phillies and Yanks last year. Now with all the playoff rounds it becomes random, and the Cards and Giants win.
You also had fewer teams so that made sense. The Rangers were one game behind the Yanks and being a fan you should know that plus or minus a few games over the course of a season doesn’t really say it all.
“You do understand that there’s a difference between being the historically best team in baseball, and the current best team?”
The Rangers are neither… what’s your point?
Yea, many of those championships were won with about 15 teams in the league anyway, but I don’t feel like getting into that. Congrats on winning the title on your 1st try…i’m sure you were alive to see it.
I’d like to also commend you on knowing the difference between history and current baseball.
Asinine comment. Texas only needs 1 more ring than the Yankees have acquired since the Texas franchise has come into existence.
Hate to break it to you, but we’re going to get them both.
Incredible how smug rangers fans are when they didn’t even watch the team 2 years ago. At least you bandwagon texans get to enjoy your buffalo bills dynasty before you slide back to irrelevance without a championship.
You’re so cute when you get defensive.
I’m pretty sure most of the fans on here aren’t bandwagon fans. I’ve been a Rangers fan since before I could talk, thank you very much.
I am not a bandwagon fan and can pretty much attest that Rangersfan32 and KyleB are not as they know way too much. But I would much rather be a bandwagon fan than to have so little of a life that I come on a blog and make fun of a bunch people. Trust me, you wouldn’t say any of it to my face.
Please. I’ve been sitting in those stands since back in the Arlington Stadium days. I remember the sound of bat night at that old POS, the sound of metal clanking throughout the stadium. I remember Raffy, Pudge, Juando, Rusty Greer, Will Clark, John Wetteland, Jeff Zimmerman, Mark McLemore, Mickey Tettleton, etc… I remember watching Kenny Rogers throw a perfect game against the Angels. I remember watching Nolan Ryan pitch when I was little. I also remember watching some pretty terrible baseball over the years, yet here I am. Real Rangers fans like myself aren’t bandwagoners. I’d argue that we’re some of the most loyal in all of sports.
Owned, son.
still wont win a championship..
I’m certainly not used to a player wanting a SHORTER contract than the signing team. Interesting!
I’m certainly not used to a player wanting a SHORTER contract than the signing team. Interesting!
mutual option, the end
why? mutual options are basically to give a lump sum to the player…. the role are switched in this situation.
Maybe things don’t work entirely the same with an international player like this, but, technically, if Texas signed him for 5 years, he should still be considered arb eligible and under team control for one more season. Yes? Of course Yu would turn it down, but there’s the outside show Texas would get some compensation if Yu does end up being a terrific player and grabs some hardware.
This could be one of those rare instances that if Yu really wants to go 5 years, Texas could sign him for shorter than they originally planned AND have him at a slightly lower AAV.
I think he’ll just go back to Japan and then the Rangers will try to make a play for Fielder but because of their late off season last minute desperation will only be used as a auction chip to up the price Boras so desperately needs right now. They will end up losing him to the Nats and their bottomless no concern payroll ability’s. The home grown pitching and year by year grabbing of hi ranked performers will make this team a surprise contender. Watch out. Go Halos!!!