Yu Darvish: Yankees “Modest” Bid May Land Sought-After Pitcher Elsewhere
December 14, 2011 · Doug Rush · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The anticipated bidding for Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish ended at 5 p.m. EST on Wednesday night.
Teams had just under a week to submit a bid to the Nippo-Ham Fighters of the Japanese baseball league to earn the right to negotiate with Darvish.
The deadline for the bidding came and went, now we all wait to hear the results on what team ended up being the winner for the right-handed starter.
The New York Yankees were known to be interested in bidding on the services for Darvish. But the question is: How serious were the Yankees in their pursuit to get Darvish?
According to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated and WFAN, the Yankees’ bid was only a “modest one.”
And also according to Heyman, the ending bid for Darvish was “sky high” and the Yankees are likely not going to be the team to land Darvish.
To me, when I heard “modest” on the bid for Darvish, the Yankees made the safe bid.
They didn’t go too high, but put in a bid worthy enough of a showing that if the others weren’t as serious, they might end up getting Darvish.
But with teams like the Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays hot in pursuit for Darvish, I honestly feel the Yankees will not end up with Darvish when it’s all set and done.
According to Jack Curry of the YES Network, Nippon doesn’t know the identity yet of the highest bidder, but they do have until Tuesday, December 20 to decide if they want to accept or reject the highest bid.Buster Olney of ESPN said a lot of MLB executives feel that it will either be the Rangers or Blue Jays winning, and I think it ends up being Texas who wins.
With the Rangers getting to the World Series two straight years but missing out, they probably feel like they need one more piece to add to their championship-caliber roster.
They lost C.J. Wilson to the Los Angeles Angels via free agency, but he wasn’t a clutch pitcher for them in the playoffs. With Nolan Ryan running the show in Texas, he had the funds and resources to land Darvish if needed.
I was never 100 percent sold on Darvish, and I don’t think Yankees GM Brian Cashman was either, which is why he played it safe with the modest bid.
So if in fact the Yankees did fail to land Darvish, they need to figure out where the rest of their winter offseason goes from here.
Most of the quality pitching is off the market with Wilson now on the Angels and Mark Buehrle on the Miami Marlins.
There is Roy Oswalt, who could interest the Yankees, but his demands would need to come down a lot more if the Yankees were going to make a bid.
Or, the Yankees could still try to explore a trade, although teams have been demanding Felix Hernandez-like packages in exchange for decent, but not great pitching—like Oakland‘s Gio Gonzalez or Chicago’s John Danks.
Soon enough, we’ll know the results of the Darvish bidding and find out who ended up winning the sweepstakes.
And once it’s all settled, the Yankees can continue their winter plans and see if they can find another way to improve for 2012.
But judging from how the Yankees approached this process, don’t expect Darvish to be pitching in the Bronx anytime soon, unless it’s in a road game.
Stay tuned, Yankees Universe.
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