Griffin: Getting to know Yu

A source that has been covering and scouting the Japanese professional baseball leagues all of this past summer and has watched most of Yu Darvish's starts, indicates that the dominant feeling around Japan today is that the Jays are indeed the winners in the Yu Darvish sweepstakes. That doesn't mean it's 100 per cent fact. It's amazing that in this era of social networking no true confirmation had leaked as of Friday afternoon. 

The winning bid for the 30-day window to negotiate with Darvish will officially be announced by MLB on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 5 p.m. ET at which time the Nippon-Ham Fighters, Darvish's current team will also learn for the first time the actual identity of the team with the higest bid. Right now all the Fighters know is the amount and in the interim they must decide to accept or reject it. 

My source in Japan sends some interesting updated info on Yu's season. The 6-5 righthander gained 22 lbs. this year and upped his velocity on the four-seam fastball to a top speed of 97 m.p.h. The righthander in 2011 posted the highest Japanese strikeout total in the past 19 years, but failed to win the Sawamura Award, the Japanese eqivalent of Cy Young. That was captured by Masahiro Tanaka, of the Rakuten Eagles.

Darvish' father was an Iranian soccer player who attended school in the States, meeting his Japanese-born wife in St. Petersburg, Fla., according to Rays' beat writer Marc Topkin.

That familiarity would suggest an easier transition to North American customs than was experienced by guys like Dice-K and bodes well for Darvish's immediate impact.

Yu is currently in the midst of divorce proceedings from his wife, a Japanese actress, and is rumoured to be dating a young Japanese golf pro.

For those interested in the history of posting, here are the four winning bids of over $10 millon since the process began in '99. Prior to this year there had been a total of 15 contracts posted by a player's Japanese league team, with eight playing in the majors. 

1-Dice-K Matsuzaka...$51.11 millon by the Red Sox on 11/2/06

2-Kei Igawa...$26.0 million by the Yankees on 11/17/06

3-Ichiro Suzuki...$13.13 million by the Mariners on 11/9/00

4-Kaz Ishii...$11.26 million by the Dodgers on 1/3/02

Comments

[Kristian]

I dont understand why they wouldn't throw this money at a proven commodity like a Prince Fielder, instead they might end up spending close to $100 million on the rights and contract of an unproven player. I just don't understand the logic of this transaction????

[sam]

If the Jays did have the winning bid - and can sign this guy.
What will the marketing impact be - can they recoup the 50 plus million investment over the length of the contract. Will it put more folks into the dome on a consistent basis?

[Jonas McCann]

Can you compare what a win/quality start in the majors costs a team? Out of the bullpen and as a starter.

How long/how much money does it take to generate a quality start from the draft?

100 million plus over 4 years should reasonably equal???
Seems as though we throw that same amount for a proven MLB starter.

That being said we have not experienced the Japanese factor in TO. If a player is a star in the MLB, every Japanese TV and radio station will show clips of Toronto playing. It will help to draw in a new audience and possible tourism.

[cashew mirman]

Here's an interesting article looking at the similarities between this whole Darish thing and A&E's Storage Wars: http://flamingphoenixofflames.blogspot.com/2011/12/top-4-reasons-yu-darvish-posting-pocess.html

[Mr. Moonlight]

Great to hear that the jays are getting back into the game; for the gate and on the field this seems like a good move by Rogers. What's a Ham Fighter anyway.. or was something lost in translation?

[Bay Packer]

It is not the 'Ham Fighters'. It would be like calling the Green Bay Packers, the 'Bay Packers'. It is Nippon Ham and then there nickname is the Fighters.

[Adam]

Hard to believe Ichiro's bid was only $13million. Funny how time can change the landscape of how people getting paid especially with the other duds on this list.

[Chris]

I'm all for this. AA needs to put his money where his mouth is and start spending Rogers $$$!!!!!

P.S. To all that say they should sign Fielder...he will want MORE money and an insane number of years. He's not worth a 10 year contract IMHO