Early rumblings about Darvish?

[UK1679666180]

http://eastwindupchronicle.com/?p=984

 

The report goes on to say that the Dodgers, Mets and Cubs have also made “love calls” (러브콜) to Darvish and that the floor of negotiations is something along the lines of what Daisuke Matsuzaka was able to command during his posting extravaganza in 2006.

 

Good luck seeing him posted anytime soon.

[Backtobanks]

Yu Darvish On Yankees' Radar?

Yu Darvish is a 21 year-old Iranian-Japanese starter for the Nippon Ham Fighters. Darvish backs up his celebrity status as perhaps Japan's best pitcher. His Wikipedia page is a good read.

 

Today, East Windup Chronicle speaks of a thirdhand report indicating the Yankees' intent to acquire Darvish after the 2008 season. Apparently the Dodgers, Mets, and Cubs are on his trail as well. According to the report, Daisuke Matsuzaka's $8.6MM salary would be the floor with Darvish. And I'm guessing his posting fee would easily exceed Dice-K's $51.1MM.

 

Two huge questions remain. Are the Fighters actually considering posting Darvish after the '08 season? The loss of such a popular player would be a huge hit for Japanese baseball. Also, does Darvish even want to play in the U.S.?

[BCVM22]

I think the last paragraph tells the tale right now. "He's definitely a possibility to come to the USA, assuming he wants to and Nippon agrees to post him and some MLB team puts up the monumental amount of cash for him." Good analysis.

[Mephistopheles]

Maybe Darvish will be the one to break the posting system.

 

It only takes one..

 

 

If Darvish were posted this year, he'd probably get a 75 mil bid. no kidding. hes better than matsuzaka at the same age.

[Banedon]

Love calls. Awesome.

[biittner77]

I know its been asked before but it bears repeating:

 

Nippon Ham Fighters! Do they fight with ham? To defend ham? Using ham as a weapon? Either way its the coolest name in sports.

[CoolHandLuke]

I know its been asked before but it bears repeating:

 

Nippon Ham Fighters! Do they fight with ham? To defend ham? Using ham as a weapon? Either way its the coolest name in sports.

 

 

Nippon Ham is the company that sponsors the team, I believe.

[GoCubsGo1679625768]

Does Darvish eat? sheesh.

[umpunk]

Did anybody else click on the link about the scorned wife interupting the Olympic press conference?

[Clem Fandango]

If Darvish were posted this year, he'd probably get a 75 mil bid. no kidding. hes better than matsuzaka at the same age.

 

But does Darvish throw a GyRoBALL?

[1908]

Two huge questions remain. Are the Fighters actually considering posting Darvish after the '08 season? The loss of such a popular player would be a huge hit for Japanese baseball. Also, does Darvish even want to play in the U.S.?

I'd be shocked to see it happen so soon. Darvish is 6 years away from free agency.

[Guest]

Nice to see the Cubs have already started trying to get involved (not surprising given the bigger role they're playing in Asia).

 

I would love to see a player of his caliber come to the U.S. before Japanese teams normally post their stars or he becomes a FA.

[CubinNY]

Why can't MLB get involved in drafting players from Japan?

 

What I mean is why can't a team do the research and draft a guy like Darvish like they do for the amateur draft?

 

Also, why don't they have a draft for non-North American players. Why should the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox get to gobble up all the superior Caribbean players?

[1908]

Why can't MLB get involved in drafting players from Japan?

 

What I mean is why can't a team do the research and draft a guy like Darvish like they do for the amateur draft?

 

Also, why don't they have a draft for non-North American players. Why should the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox get to gobble up all the superior Caribbean players?

Your final question answered your first two. International players aren't subject to the MLB draft.

 

In addition, MLB teams are hands off players drafted by NPB (Japanese) teams per the working agreement between the two leagues. The opposite is true as well.

[Mephistopheles]

Why can't MLB get involved in drafting players from Japan?

 

What I mean is why can't a team do the research and draft a guy like Darvish like they do for the amateur draft?

 

Also, why don't they have a draft for non-North American players. Why should the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox get to gobble up all the superior Caribbean players?

Your final question answered your first two. International players aren't subject to the MLB draft.

 

In addition, MLB teams are hands off players drafted by NPB (Japanese) teams per the working agreement between the two leagues. The opposite is true as well.

 

To clarify, MLB teams can sign Japanese prospects before the draft starts. So a guy like Yuki Saito could have been brilliant when he decided to go to college.

[1908]

To clarify, MLB teams can sign Japanese prospects before the draft starts. So a guy like Yuki Saito could have been brilliant when he decided to go to college.

Yep, MLB teams are free to sign undrafted Japanese prospects. They haven't pursued any of the big name Japanese high school players historically, though. Kind of an unwritten rule between the two leagues.

[jersey cubs fan]

To clarify, MLB teams can sign Japanese prospects before the draft starts. So a guy like Yuki Saito could have been brilliant when he decided to go to college.

Yep, MLB teams are free to sign undrafted Japanese prospects. They haven't pursued any of the big name Japanese high school players historically, though. Kind of an unwritten rule between the two leagues.

 

I assume MLB believes it's in their best interest to have a strong pro league in Japan, which would give them reason not to raid all their prospects. Plus, while those guys can ultimately come here and make more money, it's probably not all that beneficial to sign as prospects.

[1908]

I assume MLB believes it's in their best interest to have a strong pro league in Japan, which would give them reason not to raid all their prospects.

That's certainly MLB's party line at the very least.

 

Plus, while those guys can ultimately come here and make more money, it's probably not all that beneficial to sign as prospects.

Yeah, high school baseball is huge in Japan. The best players at Koshien are all but guaranteed large signing bonuses and a spot on an NPB team roster right out of school. That said, I'm sure every MLB team would've been happy to have Ichiro for the first six years of his career. I wouldn't be shocked to see some MLB team break the unwritten rule in the next few years and take a flyer on a top high school prospect from Japan.

[Mephistopheles]

To clarify, MLB teams can sign Japanese prospects before the draft starts. So a guy like Yuki Saito could have been brilliant when he decided to go to college.

Yep, MLB teams are free to sign undrafted Japanese prospects. They haven't pursued any of the big name Japanese high school players historically, though. Kind of an unwritten rule between the two leagues.

 

It has changed over the last five years though. yuki saito, sho nakata, and yoshinori sato were heavily pursued by Major League teams before the 07 draft. yu darvish was as well. Ultimately three of the four went to NPB, but the three mentioned for this years draft were the three biggest names and nakata may have been the biggest position prospect coming out of japan in years.

[1908]

It has changed over the last five years though. yuki saito, sho nakata, and yoshinori sato were heavily pursued by Major League teams before the 07 draft. yu darvish was as well. Ultimately three of the four went to NPB, but the three mentioned for this years draft were the three biggest names and nakata may have been the biggest position prospect coming out of japan in years.

Three of the four -- if the four are Nakata, Sato, Saito and Darvish -- signed with NPB teams, and the fourth, Saito, didn't sign with either an NPB or an MLB team. Not that much has changed.

 

Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised to see an MLB team sign a big name high school prospect out of Japan in the near future, but they have not signed them with any frequency or success in the past. That leads me to believe MLB teams aren't serious about it yet, and I suspect that has something to do with not wanting to step on NPB's toes.

[Mephistopheles]

they signed w/ npb teams but there was a large push by mlb teams to sign the players. yuki saito can come here in three more years if he wants to though

[1908]

they signed w/ npb teams but there was a large push by mlb teams to sign the players.

Not a large enough push apparently. If they're serious about signing a player, an MLB team is going to win almost any bidding war against an NPB team. Besides, I remember reading about some interest, but I don't remember that much buzz about it. Do you remember where you read about this large push to sign these players?

 

yuki saito can come here in three more years if he wants to though

Assuming he signs with an MLB team before the NPB draft that year, yes.

[Mephistopheles]

no, it was over sho nakata though. i believe it was the mets for saito and nakata. its not the fact that they didnt sign them thats encouraging, but the fact that theyre making a bigger push than they did pre-ichiro. as you said its only a matter of time. saito may be that guy.

[1908]

no, it was over sho nakata though. i believe it was the mets for saito and nakata. its not the fact that they didnt sign them thats encouraging, but the fact that theyre making a bigger push than they did pre-ichiro. as you said its only a matter of time. saito may be that guy.

I'm not as encouraged by the pursuit as you are. MLB teams weren't interested at all pre-Ichiro, so any push now would be bigger than that. Until they start signing players successfully, I'll remain skeptical that MLB teams are serious about breaking the unwritten rule.

[mordecaibrown]

Did you guys go on Darvish's site? PURE MAGIC........................

http://darvish-yu.jp/index.html