Yu bet!

Since my fellow blogger (see, I’m nice about him in spite of his nastiness…..maybe he wasn’t hugged enough when he was a kid…) has laid down the gauntlet about the possible posting of Yu Darvish, we’ve decided to make it a wee bit interesting.

Should Darvish be posted before the 2009 season (regardless of which team pays the most for his posting), then there is £10 on the line (that’s about $20 for those of you reading from afar).

If his posting fee is lower than that of Dice-K, then ph34 wins, whereas if it exceeds Dice-K’s fee, then I am the winner.

I’m sure this is of no interest to any of you reading this, but we just thought we should make it official by going public about it. I can’t have my co-blogger backing out when he loses now, can I!?

Yu are talking rubbish

I’m going to have to disagree with my co blogger(underling) about almost all of his points about Yu Darvish -

1 – Most of the Majors are going to be put off the Japanese market after a disappointing, for the most-part, return from the recent imports.

2 – The above point goes double(or triple) for the Yankees.

 3 – With the Red Sox winning the bidding war for Dice-k by a huge amount i find it very difficult to believe that a pitcher without Dice-k’s his track record will recieve bids anywhere near the $51,111,111 that the Sox paid for their number 2 pitcher.

 4 – It is unlikely after the Igawa fiasco that the Yankees will be keen on spending tens of millions of dollars(lets say $80 mill for posting fee and contract) when it is extremely likely that current Cy Young winner, C.C Sabathia would be available via free agency.

Are Yu Ready?

Jeff Passan has a piece on Yahoo Sports today about the young Japanese phenom Yu Darvish. This gives an indication into just how big a star he has become in Japan so far in his fledgling career.

Quite a few sources have suggested that he’ll be seeking to Post to the USA after the 2008 MLB season, and the Yankees are sure to be one of the most interested suitors should he post. Although the posting fee will likely match, or even eclipse that of Dice-K, everything I’ve read about him seems to suggest that he’ll be a far better pitcher than him, and far more adaptable to life in the Majors. He definitely seems to be more of a sure thing than an Igawa… Should the Yankees make a play for him, it could make for a very interesting rotation next year with him possibly competing with Wang, Phil, Joba and Ian for major roles.

Check out some videos of Darvish in action here;

- Yu Darvish 1

- Yu Darvish 2

- Yu Darvish 3