The East Windup Chronicle offered a third-hand report that the Yankees had interest in Yu Darvish, the young Iranian-Japanese phenom of a pitcher, who could become available after the 2008 season. At the ripe young age of 21 and standing 6'5", weighing under 180 pounds, Darvish has considerable upside, as he has probably not yet finished growing. The pitched (and dominated) in Japanese baseball with the Nippon Ham Fighters. He throws a low 90's fastball (91-93 mph) with strong secondary offerings of a knuckle-curve, slider, sinker, and change-up. His control is strong as well. In 2007, his first year without Daisuke Matsuzaka in the league, he won the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young award.
He is nowhere near free agency, but, apparently, a few MLB team have hoped and inquired his team to use the posting system that allowed Daisuke to reach the MLB a year early. If he is posted, he will almost certainly cost more due to his youth.
Prediction (if the Yankees get him): $75 million posting fee (he projects to be in the $50-$60 million range like Daisuke, but, remember, Daisuke's projected posting fee was $30-$40 million, and we know how that ended up). His contract will be larger as well, perhaps: $65 million for 5 years, a little more than Daisuke $52 million contract. Yu has more leverage than Daisuke because he won't have any problems returning to Japan for a few more years. In fact, there is no real proof he, his team, or his family even will consider the posting.
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