Yu Darvish is widely considered to be the top starting pitcher available in free agency, and while his market — like the market of nearly every other top free agent this winter — has been slow to progress, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Darvish has whittled the decision down to a handful of teams: the Rangers, Cubs, Astros, Twins and Yankees. Darvish himself has hardly been shy about stirring the pot on social media this winter, though, and he created an additional layer of intrigue tonight when he responded to the report by tweeting: “I know one more team is in.” The Dodgers may very well be the sixth team to which Darvish alluded, as Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweeted tonight that Los Angeles “remains in the mix” to bring Darvish back to L.A.
In his column, Wilson once again cautions that the Rangers aren’t a prime suitor for Darvish. The right-hander, according to Wilson, would prefer to return to Arlington were all things equal, but the Rangers aren’t expected to pursue top-tier free agents, as has reportedly been the case for the entire winter. Wilson reported three months ago that Texas was aiming to trim payroll by about $10MM for the coming season, which would leave them around $155MM overall. A backloaded contract for Darvish could technically still make that goal possible, but Wilson strongly suggests that the Rangers won’t be making any moves of the “all-in” variety this winter. The Rangers’ payroll projects to check in around $144MM as things presently stand.
Both the Yankees and Astros have been prominently linked to another high-end rotation candidate recently, as both have been said in recent weeks to be in talks for Pittsburgh righty Gerrit Cole. Astros GM Jeff Luhnow earlier today shot down a report that his team had struck an agreement to acquire Cole, but both New York and Houston appear to have some level of interest more cost-effective trade candidates.
The Yankees, of course, have been hard at work trying to bolster their 2018 roster while simultaneously remaining south of the luxury tax barrier (to great success thus far), while Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported just yesterday (subscription required and recommended) that Houston prefers to trade for a pitcher like Cole rather than shell out a massive contract to Darvish or another free-agent starter. If the Yankees can find a way to shed a significant portion of Jacoby Ellsbury’s contract (which seems unlikely) or if the Astros ultimately deem all of their trade targets too expensive in terms of prospects, then perhaps on of those clubs will take a more serious look at Darvish.
Minnesota, meanwhile, has long been reported to be one of the more aggressive teams on Darvish, who knows Twins GM Thad Levine quite well from the pair’s time with the Rangers. Of all the teams in the mix, the Twins’ payroll outlook is by far the most open (zero dollars on the books beyond the 2019 season). As for the Cubs, they’ve been tied to Darvish, Jake Arrieta and fellow righty Alex Cobb as they seek to round out their rotation and remain atop a competitive NL Central division.
The Dodgers, like the Yankees, are facing some self-imposed financial restrictions. Both clubs are trying to reset their luxury tax penalty level, and the Dodgers look to have done so in the Adrian Gonzalez/Scott Kazmir/Brandon McCarthy/Matt Kemp trade. Bringing Darvish back into the fold would once again push them north of the tax line, L.A. is also looking for ways in which to shed Kemp’s contract. As is the case with the Yankees and Ellsbury, finding a taker for a notable portion of that deal could create additional flexibility.
fmj
cardinals mystery team
the mick
Probably not
CJ81
I wish.
Cardinals17
Nope. Mozeliak too busy setting on his thumb. Waiting out the low hanging fruit in the end. Fowler and Cecil—for long high dollar contracts are the type he looks for. I will give him credit for Ozuna. But…..he needs to be aggressive and bring in Abreau, Colome, Lance Lynn (we know what he can do) and Todd Frazier. That ought to make for an exciting team to watch for 2018.
RedFeather
And what? Bench Carpenter?
ray_derek
Jesus was a carpenter
davbee
So was Karen.
michaelw
Carpenter is old has been.
brewcrew08
Comical you think the cardinals will bring in all those guys to be honest.
gammaraze
comical as in your reading comprehension? he suggested what he thinks the cardinals SHOULD do, not guessed at what the team will do… quite a significant difference.
JFree47
How many times do you remember the cardinals being in a complete rebuild? That’s because they don’t get stuck with terrible contracts and a depleted farm system from stupid trades. That’s why you’re not a GM
michaelw
Not likely. MO won’t spend the money and still thinks old Waino will bring them to the promise land. Lol
twocentgm
Hope not
card collector18
Yu would not believe your eyes
If he wore pristine pinstripes!!!
beard
Why do Yankees = pinstripes? A bunch of teams wear them and the Yankees weren’t even the first.
dimitriinla
And the Yanks pinstripes look like pajamas.
adamontheshore
Because they do, enough said! Have you never seen A Bronx Tale? With that said, pinstripes have been associated with the Yanks for a long time, and I see no real problem with that. Plenty of other teams have symbols/nicknames, no reason to worry about it.
dimitriinla
Mildly embarrassed to admit that I have not seen A Bronx Tale. But, yes, your point is taken Re: tradition.
lord vincent
Who says he is worried? The gentleman just asked a question?
EndinStealth
Exactly
BSPORT
Yankees made the pinstripes magical with all of the championships and legends of the sport that have wore their pinstripes.
Padres Armchair GM
Cant afford him cause of ellsbury contract. They need to clear min 16 mill a season. Not going to happen unless they trade a legit prospect or two.
argenys h.
Where did you come up with this 16 mil number?
ralph 3
I can’t answer the poster that came up with $16 mill but a look at Roster Resource projects Yankees payroll to be $166,507,857.
That leaves $30,492,143 left before luxury tax kicks in.
So that seems to leave little wiggle room for a Darvish signing and any other $$$ they add, assuming I am reading the RR projected payroll correctly.
Padres Armchair GM
Looking long term at the yankees financial situation.
Ellsbury is owed roughly 21 mill each year through 2021.
Stanton will in all likelihood opt in. 7 years 208 mill at age 31 and a NTC. He may beat the AAV but wont get a full NTC. Yankees are on the hook for 25 mill-ish each
2020 and 2021 yankees will be paying stanton and ellsbury 46 ish mill alone each year. Factor in arbitration for 2nd and 3rd year players thatll make up the bulk of their roster those years.
Assuming the yankees dont want to have more then 50 mill tied up between two players if they trade ellsbury and 16 mill theyre on the hook for 5 mill. Darvish my guess is 20 mill AVV.
So staton, darvish and 5 mill ellsbury is 50 mill for two players in 2020 and 2021.
50 mill for 2 players really hurts improving the team bringing in big FA additions.
cmancoley
not when you’re the yankees
delete
That’s not how luxury tax works. It’s not about payroll, it’s about the average annual value for each player added up. So let’s say a player is getting $10MM in 2018 and $20MM in 2019 on a 2 year $30MM deal. The luxury tax contribution for that player in 2017 is $15MM not $10MM, because the average of 10 and 20 is 15.
ralph 3
ah, that makes sense. thank you.
baseball365
For the record, Ellsbury is signed through 2020, not 2021. 3 years at $21mm per season. He has a team option of $5mm for 2021 which will 100% not be exercised. He is owed $68mm in total.
astick
With Bruce getting 13/per, no way any team is taking on 16 of his 21.
jimmyz
His team option is 21 million, the buyout which is pretty much guaranteed to occur is 5 million
michaelw
You also forget arbitration goes against the Lux tax too
slider32
Yanks might have 6 starters making minimum, and 4 starters making 10 million or less. The Yankees are always trying to win, so they will max out their spending to do so. More teams should do the same.
slider32
Cashman would like to get Cole for prospects, or any other starter like Corbin or Fulmer. If Cashman goes after Darvish or another free agent he might move some salary in Robertson or Ellsbury.
aff10
The player drops a mystery team, haven’t seen that one before
brandons-3
Haven’t seen an off-season like this before
brewcrew08
Darvish to the Crew
bravesandcrewfan
Please I’d take him in a heartbeat. We got money. If we could sign him, Walker, and another reliable reliever we’d become a solid playoff contender beating out the diamondbacks and rockies to a cards-Brewers wild card game
H.E. Pennypacker
“We got money”.
Oh, you do, do you? Can I borrow about $200K to pay off my house? And then maybe loan me another $1M to build a rollercoaster? Thanks fam!
GoRockies
Rockies will win 10+ more games than the brewers this year
Marytown1
Don’t waste the money. We don’t need another Wolf, Garza etc. in a few years.
theatombaum
It would be some kind of wizardry if Friedman is able to re-sign Darvish and get rid of Kemp’s contract. While remaining under the Lux tax.
Extremely unlikely,
But if anyone could do it, it would be him.
lowtalker1
No one wants kemp. It’s a laugh the doyuers took him. Pay down 8-10 a tear u might get a taker
mcdusty31
It’s a laugh that by taking him they accomplished their salary goal?
frankiegxiii
I know right, stupid Dodgers dropped payroll by 21 million by taking on Kemp, who would do such a thing?
cubbies95
Well whoever this mystery team is probably the one to sign him, maybe the Nationals???
beard
Not unless he really likes DC for some reason. It would be very strange if they outbid the Cubs or Twins.
justinept
It would? Team has a 93 year old owner and a star player most believe will leave after this year. It’d actually be more surprising if Nats didn’t land either Darvish or Arrieta.
nymetsking
if he wants 90% deferred beyond 2035
beard
Why not both?
outinleftfield
That would be an incredible starting rotation.
ray_derek
That would again have a 1st round exit in the 2018 playoffs.
Thronson5
I really don’t see the Dodgers getting involved unless it’s a bargain deal and they backload the contract since they are trying not to spend as much this offseason
SuperSinker
Every significant contract is back loaded. Money tmrw isn’t worth as much as money today.
dudeness88
Yeah that’s not true.
BlueSkyLA
For purposes of the luxury tax, backloading would not work in any case. Someone can correct me if they have better information but I believe annual average salary is used for that calculation, to prevent just that sort of gaming of the system.
Yankeepatriot
Did the Yankees make him an offer ? I’d be shocked if they did unless it was for a short amount of years. Man this off season has been odd to say the least
Thronson5
Very odd. Seems like the teams are trying to take back control from the players and their agents since prices have been getting so out of control lately.
the kutch
Spot on there, and way overdue on the Owners part.
Regi Green
Or agents and players are trying to push the market up a year before a big offseason, plus teams keeping their 1st Rd picks now.
outinleftfield
The salaries being paid to players are not even keeping pace with the increase in revenue by the teams. Teams are making record revenues right now. Shouldn’t the players get a share of that increase? After all, there is no game without the players.
stymeedone
No, the fans deserve a cut in ticket prices.
Jimcarlo Slaton
It’s asinine to suggest in any way that players should be getting paid more than they are now. I rarely attend games anymore, partly because tickets, parking and concessions are so expensive, and partly because I feel like a fool paying the prices so owners can give guaranteed $100 Million+ contracts to players.
dudeness88
payroll is nothing compared to what the owners are getting.
Momus
Payroll has basically nothing to do with ticket prices; it’s entirely supply and demand.
BlueSkyLA
Looks like somebody took and even passed their Econ 101 course.
cman
Most of the franchises have between 200-300 million in revenue.
Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, Cubs, Giants, Angels, Mets and Phillies are the exceptions who are above that threshold.
cheb
angels mystery team.yu would like to stay in west coast.
justinept
He told you that?
nymetsking
no, Yu told him
Hiro
Omg not this again haha
wrigleywannabe
None of the teams listed are West coast.
CompanyAssassin
He’s saying he’d like to stay west coast, referencing his trade to the dodgers last season. We don’t know if that’s actually true, but that’s what he meant.
Yankeepatriot
This mystery team stuff is giving me a cliff lee vibe. The brewers need a top of the rotation starter so imo they are the mystery team
beard
Orioles. Def Orioles.
outinleftfield
As an Os fan I wish it was, but when have the Orioles ever gone after a top FA pitcher?
Hiro
No, but they go after “good players at the time that are unsigned till late in the offseason”.
Like Cruz, Jimenez (?) and Trimble (I think)
weather
Pat Hentgen
bravesiowafan
The mystery teams is most definitely 100% the braves the have at least 35 million to spend for this years roster and have been linked to front line starred AA has been quite since taking over seems to be very little getting leaked on the braves side we all got blindsided by the kemp trade. Just my thoughts
outinleftfield
That is a possibility. Would Darvish be enough to get them into contention? Probably not.
Varangian
I hope your thoughts are more clear than that.
Kenleyfornia74
No its not. Your just biased lol
Yankeepatriot
Is it me or do people get downvoted in here a lot for saying the most innocent of things ? Lol
Blake Camden
It’s true. Baseball fans are the most cretinous people I’ve ever seen.
Varangian
Aren’t you a baseball fan?
Padres Armchair GM
People get downvoted cause they dont agree with what you say since it doesnt match what they believe.
Also, since you cant see who downvotes people are more likely to use that feature and possibly use multiple accounts.
mlbtraderumors should get rid of the downvoting feature much like facebook did. If you like it agree up vote. Dont or dislike it nada.
baseball365
It’s interesting, because your comment proves our points quite well. You make an entirely logical statement and at the time of writing this, you have 8 down votes.
fox471 Dave
What are these “down votes?”
Kayrall
Your feelings are hurt and you need a safer space? Boooohooooo
Cashford64
You get a downvote for that ridiculous comment
baseball365
It’s the dumbest thing that I’ve noticed too and MLBTR is somewhat doing itself a disservice by featuring this option. I just haven’t made any comments on it. Because it’s dumb overall. In fact, I dislike the whole like/dislike feature since it undermines the spirit of having a real debate. I wrote a very well thought out comment last week, which was down voted like 3 or 4 times and I just got a chuckle over it since no one actually engaged me on the topic. Down voting (or down voters) I consider of low intelligence. One not wiling to challenge a statement. .
ray_derek
I actually like it, I usually notice that the up voted ones are very logical and deserve to have a thumbs up, same for the down votes. I’m guessing your very well thought out comment wasn’t as well thought out or on point as you thought.
xabial
I think it makes you try harder^
But sometimes I feel like you have that one guy who holds something against you, and down-votes almost everything you say, unless you hit it out of the park.
Whoever you are, if you exist, I want peace /new start^
Jimcarlo Slaton
Opinions that don’t mesh with the ideals of other people will get a lot of down-votes.
baseball365
Which undermines the spirit of good debate. If you disagree with something or someone, challenge the point. Just don’t hit a little down arrow because everyone loses in that case. Like I said, the whole up vote/down vote, takes any website down a notch. And this is not just my opinion. And as someone pointed out, their are most definitely people on these forums, here and beyond that have a profound lack of life experience or just very young (one of the same), who just down vote everything so what value is there by having any system in place at that point? People should comment and say what they have to say and you engage or not. That’s all that’s needed. I spoken with others about this and the whole internet “voting” process is going the way of the scrap yard.
Kslaw
Why does it matter if you get down or up voted?
walls17
They don’t even show up or down votes on the app so idk why they have it on the website still
chitown311
I downvote anything that doesn’t fit my agenda
dudeness88
u could just use the app? I don’t see votes one way or the other. or u could just not give a dam whether u get downvotes or upvotes or sidevotes or whatever the F.
socalbaseballdude
I think LAD is the mystery team. They could use the $50 m that’s coming to them & all other MLB teams in the next 8-10 weeks and also find an AL team to take on Kemp’s contract by the end of spring training.
osfandan
Oh yeah, just what AL team wants that contract? Keep in mind guys like Pedro Alvarez couldn’t even get a MLB deal last year…
Kenleyfornia74
If an AL team wants to take on Kemps contract i will personally drive him to the airport and buy him a first class seat
Padres Armchair GM
White sox would be more then happy to take kemps contract……if you include yusniel diaz and dustin may.
The dodgers clear themselves of kemps contract to make room for Darvish
White Sox can DH kemp and trade him at a reduced salary at the deadline and pick up more prospects for their rebuild.
outinleftfield
Why would the White Sox take on Kemp’s $43.5 million contract that cannot be traded unless they also send prospects along with him?
Especially for those two. Only one of them, Diaz, is even in the Dodgers top 10 prospects.
The White Sox would be paying a huge premium for two guys that do not project to be all that great. Diaz might eventually be major league average, but unless he develops much more power than he has demonstrated so far he will be a 4th OF. May is a long way away and despite his size only throws 91-92 mph. Those are not exciting prospects that would make it worth it to take on all that money and send the Dodger’s players. MLB is not letting this be just a one-way trade.
Now if the Dodgers were sending Kemp, $30+ million, and those 2 you might have a trade, but that would not clear enough money to allow the Dodgers to spend $25 million AAV to get Darvish and stay under the luxury tax threshhold.
steelehere83
“Especially for those two. Only one of them, Diaz, is even in the Dodgers top 10 prospects.
The White Sox would be paying a huge premium for two guys that do not project to be all that great.”
For what it’s worth, Baseball America did a podcast two days ago on the Dodgers’ Rookies and they were talking about Yusniel Diaz as a 2019 Rookie of the Year candidate. That probably counters your statement about not being all that great don’t you think?
baseballamerica.com/today/media/podcasts/
Padres Armchair GM
Kemps contract can be traded if the white sox ate salary. They are in a position to do so. The dodgers are not. Teams can move bad contracts by eating salary, which rebuilding teams should do more of, if financially able. How short sighted of you. And how uneducated of you to think kemp, 30 mill, and those two prospects would be something the dodgers would entertain. If theyre chipping in 60% it wont be any prospect in their top 20 since it defeats the purpose.
You can debate over which prospects would need to be included for it to be worthwhile for the white sox to do such.
But end of the day the white soxs can ask for prospects for taking kemps salary and then flip kemp at a reduced price later on (Kemp at 5 to 7 mill a year to DH is possible to move). He is only under control for 2 years and has 0 impact on the long term outlook of any current rebuilding club.
The padres (who did such with melvin upton jr), Tigers, Marlins, White Sox, could all take on his salary and acquire the necessary prospects and either a. Eat the two years or b. Trade him at a reduced price to play DH.
Kemp is a FA end of 2019 and impacts neither of those teams long term financials.
Kslaw
This goes back to the down vote argument. You have your opinion and he has hit, yet he is wrong because it doesn’t match yours.
Kslaw
And yes I was (1) of your down votes on this comment 🙂
Blake Camden
So, it’s basically none of those 5 teams. Since the one more in is the team he knows hes going to.
Fg-3
Happy Yu year baby… cash makes this deal. Let gerrit the ferret go to the stros. He’s A.J. Burnett all over again
Padres Armchair GM
Yankees cant afford him unless they trade ellsbury and get a team to take on a significant amount (16+ mill a year).
Arizona might be willing to listen if you package Clint Frazier and Domingo Acevado to go along with ellsbury. Or some combination of prospects to offset having to take on that much money..
Otherwise nobody is lining up to take on his contract.
He has a NTC which means he can strong arm the yankees into sending him where he wants and the acquiring team can set the price to their liking. Yankees have 0 power considering keeping ellsbury does them no good financially.
Yankeepatriot
Trading top prospects just to dump ellsbury isn’t worth it
Padres Armchair GM
It is if you use the cap room to sign darvish this year or machado next year.
Dumping ellsbury isnt just for the sake of dumping ellsbury. Its to make room to sign a significant addition.
stymeedone
Ellsbury for Kemp!
kbarr888
It’s a Joke, right?
What would that accomplish? Besides……
LA is already loaded with OF, and Vedugo about to be added to that mix as well. Doubt they want to add MORE dead payroll……they just dumped a bunch of that in the deal with the Braves.
Yankeepatriot
It seems like darvish is milking this for all it’s worth like ohtani did. He knows where he wants to go already
padam
Darvish narrows it down to six teams…
Translation: only six teams are interested.
outinleftfield
The Dodgers are out unless they can clear a significant contract. The Yankees are out unless they can clear a significant contract. The Cubs very well could be in on Darvish, but why not sign a guy they don’t know when they could resign Arrieta. Arrieta might even take a shorter deal to come home. The Twins can sign him, but it will cost more to get him. Will they pay the premium? Wilson says in the article that the Rangers are not the primary suitors and I believe he is right. They are not going to compete for the West against the Astros and the Angels. The Astros have not shown they are willing to spend on big free agents. They could change their MO, but somehow I doubt Luhnow will change his stripes that much.
As for the mystery team, the Nationals could be in, but why sign Darvish to a long-term deal when they are going to lose Harper next season? The Mariners have made alot of moves and were in on Ohtani, but do they have the money to do it? The Padres have been mentioned in just about every other major FA or trade and they have the payroll flexibillity, but I don’t think that Darvish would want to go there because they are not close enough to contending.
My guess the mystery team is the Phillies. They have the money and a team that is close to contending.
jbigz12
I hear the Phillies are close to contending but I don’t see it on the field. I’m not sold on altherr or nick Williams and it doesn’t look like the Phillies are either. Think that rotation still needs a lot of help and Idk if JPC will ever hit at the big league level. Hoskins and Nola are exciting though. KIngery could be exciting as well. Think there’s still a lot of work left to do on that team though.
Jimcarlo Slaton
I agree they’re still a ways from contention. The team is full of question marks and clear holes…Crawford’s eye may still allow him to contribute offensively even with a low batting average. I think he’ll be a slight upgrade over Galvis even early on.
jbigz12
Perhaps. Defensively he’ll be good there’s no concern there. His eye raises his floor for sure. Think he has a long way to go as a hitter though. But yeah like I said you really can only pencil in eickhoff and Nola in that rotation for the next couple of years. VV is now a big question mark and might be best used out of the pen. Don’t know if putting Hoskins in LF is the right call either. But who knows Maybe they’ll surprise me.
22222pete
My guess is mystery team is Red Sox
Padres Armchair GM
After how the david price contract has gone? I dont see it happening unless he has dropped his asking price significantly.
raef715
they would need to outbid everyone, but they wouldnt have to backload the deal like most of these other teams.
TMorgan
Agree about the Dodgers, Yankees, and Rangers, as well as the Twins (assuming they’ve finally met with him). Also think you’re right about the Nats, M’s, and Pads, while Philly’s as good of a guess as any for the mystery team. The Cubs, though, prefer Darvish to Arrieta in part because they DO know Arrieta (and his red flags) well. Arrieta’s also previously made it clear he’s not giving a hometown discount, although he and Boras may spin it as that if 4 yrs/$110M from the Cubs is the best they can find. Darvish is less familiar to the Cubs, but analytics and scouting show he’s the superior target. (The Cubs FO and coaches value intangibles like strong character and competitiveness highly as well.)
As for Luhnow, Houston has more money to spend now (team revenues up from $175M to $270M to $299M from 2014-16), plus the motivation (in prime of winning window) and willingness (reported last offseason) to do so. The Astros 2018 projected payroll is currently ~$148M. Only ~$60M (+arbs) is committed to 2019, ~$26M (+arbs) to 2020, and no money is technically on the books beyond that. With Keuchel looking increasingly likely to explore FA after 2018 (and Verlander signed thru 2019), Luhnow has further incentive to pursue Darvish now (depending on whether Cole’s acquired).
I’d rank the likelihood of Darvish’s landing spots:
1. Cubs
2. Astros (a close second, unless Cole’s acquired)
3. Rangers (finding a way to make the money work)
4./5. Twins and mystery team
6. Yankees
Codybellingersgrandma
Marlins are the mystery team
CobiEven
The guy from the LA Times said the mystery team is LA. Why is everyone still guessing. I trust a “definitely”.
jbigz12
Not a great time to be looking to shed an underperforming over paid position player contract. Tons of options in FA’s that look like theyre going to sign a lot cheaper than expected. I’d be shocked if anyone took on anymore than 20 million total for Ells.
Fuck Me Bitch
I hope he signs with the Twins and makes all you big market fans mad.
22222pete
Whales never get angry over shrimp. Life is too good at the top to worry about the bottom feeders
Fuck Me Bitch
What?
ChiSoxCity
Rather see him go to the Twins than the @#%£? *** yankees. lol
The Cubs make the most sense of the 6 teams listed though.
tsc32
Good grief. Just sign him JD.
22222pete
Yankees have no need of Machado or Harper and no reason to be under the LT threshold. Darvish is theirs as is Todd Frazier
Phillies2017
While LA, Houston, the Yanks, Rangers and Cubs come as no surprise, it’s interesting that the Twins are still in. While Darvish may not put the Twins over Cleveland, it would definitely make them the favorite for a wildcard.
bernbabybern
Ellsbury probably not going anywhere, or at least they arent getting a lot for him. More likely the Yankees would have to trade off Gardner or Robertson to make Yu fit under the tax threshold. If they were going to sign Yu they should not have signed CC. I think Cashman is probably just feigning interest.
Psychguy
Darvish may be the best option available, but that’s way too much of a commitment for someone who is so inconsistent.
hatstotheleft
Yu signs with twins for 5 years, nobody else offers more than 4. Cubs then sign Cobb after Arrieta sticks to wanting 5-6 years. February 17th the cardinals agree to sign Arrieta for 4 year deal with an option for 5th year if he meets 200 IP in year 4. Contract also has an opt out after 2 years with a full NTC.
cubsbearsbulls2018
Dream on. The Cubs actually would offer Arrieta a contract EXACTLY like that. And he’d go back to the north side before going to that joke of a team in St. Louis.
fourth_dimension
Amazing that one championship in over a century can make Cubs’ fans so arrogant and insufferable.
kbarr888
Rivalry taken to a new extreme……..unfounded, but unbridled Loyalty…..
LOL
michaelw
No it’s stupid Card fans dreaming all the time with stupid comments. Then all they have to come back with is the past. Which is 6 years ago. Then talking about WS titles that 99% of the people on here were only alive for 5 maybe 6 at most. If so and they talk like that at age 70 that’s pretty much how old they have to be to see 6 WS titles then they are one sorry person.
CubsTroll
Not at all Cards fans are dumb. Not all of us want Arieta. We have our own aging, over paid starter. We don’t need another.
ray_derek
I agree and I’m a Cubs fan, I get embarrassed everyday reading their crap (Cubs fans to clarify). I like to make stupid no brain posts from time to time, but it’s usually not about how great the Cubs are, usually just to rip on Brewers o fans or Nationals fans, really anyone that makes a stupid post. including really dumb Cubs fans.
themed
Nail on the head there sir. The cubs one time run in the sun is over. The spiral decline has already begun for the cubs and it’s going to be a fun thing to watch happen.
socalsoxfan78
They were arrogant and insufferable before they won it. They kept presuming they were going to win it before they even won the NLCS.
Android Dawesome
Both side of this spectrum are completely childish. I find the “no your fans are more arrogant” comments to be extremely ironic.
chgobangbang
Something about Yu saying he wants to stay on west coast smells like Angels?
Fuck Me Bitch
I think it will take 6 years.
sandman12
Darvish projected numbers for 2018: 9W 10L and 4.00 ERA (Baseball Reference) Only gets worse after that.
takeyourbase
How can there even be a numbers prediction for a guy that doesn’t have a team?
sandman12
a 4 ERA is a 4 ERA, regardless of who you play for
socalbum
I disagree. ERA’s are to a large degree dependent on whether your home park is “pitcher friendly” like Dodgers Stadium, or “hitter friendly” like Colorado, AZ, and Texas. Also, team defense is a factor — not errors, but range of fielders and ability to make plays that average fielders turn into hits.
AngelsAdvocate
Incorrect. The Dodgers chose not let Yasmani catch.
AngelsAdvocate
This may be the single most-ignorant thing ever posted on this site.
Momus
Lol – a 4 ERA isn’t even necessarily the same for pitchers on the same team, never mind if you’re talking about a guy in the AL East vs a guy in the NL West.
Kylesamac
Since when does baseball reference do projections?
sandman12
Over $100M for Dan Straily? Based on Baseball Reference projection for 2018 (these things are amazingly accurate) he and Darvish will be roughly the same. 4 ERA.
socalbum
Love to know how Baseball Reference determines projected stats as the projections for Darvish make zero sense. IF MLB believed that projection there is no way Darvish gets the amount of dollars and years being mentioned.
sandman12
On the other hand, why should anyone think Darvish would be better next year than last? Pitchers don’t normally improve with age.
socalbum
because pitchers have off years that are aberrations not a trend. Not saying Darvish can’t have a poor season, I just don’t understand how Baseball Reference can come up with that projection looking at his overall stats and according to fangraphs there is no fall off in velocity of any pitches. Look how well he pitched against AZ and Chicago in post season before Astros picked up on him tipping pitches. Astros are reportedly interested after pummeling him; why? Because they know how to fix the pitch tipping.
bryzzo44017
What even is this crap?! This offseason is a joke. Its January 11th. If I was a free agent id be embarrassed. Business Shmizness. It cant be that hard to make a deal by now.
cman
It’s a game of chicken. Everyone important is holding out until the last second to try and see what they can get. Mid February is when the fireworks will happen. Nothing has really changed on the Darvish front. We knew weeks ago that these were his likely destinations.
Troutmagnet
Toronto needs a starter. And there’s a huge supporting multinational community in that city. My guess is he’ll want something closer to the west coast though.
Momus
He would actually be a pretty good fit for Toronto. At $100M over 5 years he would help the team try to make the postseason this year, and still be a viable starter when the next wave of young players arrives in a couple of years.
AngelsAdvocate
You’d need a catcher, though.
Momus
We need a catcher now. Martin is a tremendous player but he’s getting old and we should have a good backup ready to play at least 60 games this season.
AngelsAdvocate
Midwest, but not Toronto.
pablodiablow
He’s a regular season ace, just leave him off the playoff roster…
slider32
Yanks might have 6 starters making minimum, and 4 starters making 10 million or less. The Yankees are always trying to win, so they will max out their spending to do so. More teams should do the same.
willthathrill
Darvish just needs to come back home to Texas, he was already quoted saying hed like to come back here and him and his wife were both quoted saying he didnt like staying on the west coast for long periods of time due to being away from family. Hes still got his house here in Arlington, and the Rangers treated him extremely well his time with them from fans, team mates to other staff around the ballpark
ThatBallwasBryzzoed
Cubs need to drop out. Rather have Alex Cobb.
AngelsAdvocate
ミルウォーキーブルワーズ
PDub4170
Angels GM Billy Eppler on his way to Japan to meet with Ohtani re: training, etc. Wouldn’t be out of the realm for him to be talking to him about adding Darvish. Eppler on a roll right now and Angels have had great success with swooping in at 11th hour and landing FA’s (see Pujols and Hamilton).
Momus
Could be, although didn’t Ohtani say he specifically preferred to go to a team without another Japanese pitcher for some reason?
jd396
He also said he didn’t want to go to a big market
Momus
Did he? Lol – I guess that puts it in perspective then.
cman
its all bullsh1t at the end of the day. Money and length of contract do the most talking.