Having made a posting bid above $40 million and possibly close to $50 million, the Blue Jays are the favorites to land the negotiating rights to Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish.
There is a belief the Cubs also made a large bid on the right-hander but a number hasn’t been attached to their bid.
The Yankees made a bid Wednesday night, but it’s not expected to top what the Blue Jays submitted. The Rangers are also believed to have bid.
According to several sources with knowledge of the situation, the Blue Jays’ made the monster bid on orders from owner Rogers Communications.
By Tuesday at 5 p.m. EST, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, for whom Darvish pitched the past seven years, will either accept the highest bid without knowing the identity of the team or reject it.
If accepted, the winning club will have 30 days to cut a deal with Darvish, who is 93-38 with a 1.99 ERA lifetime in Japan. If rejected, Darvish remains in Japan and the club gets its posting money back.
Should Darvish not be able to reach a deal he remains where he is and the club gets the posting money back.
While the baseball fraternity wasn’t shocked the Yankees made a bid, heads shook over the rumored size of the Blue Jays’ bid.
Add that estimated $40-50 million posting fee to the five-year, $75 million deal Darvish is supposedly going to seek and you have a $115 million to $125 million price tag for a hurler who has never thrown a pitch in the big leagues and has gotten fat against over-matched hitters in Japan who aren’t as good as those he’ll face here.
Several people who have scouted Darvish have differing opinions about what the 6-foot-5 pitcher is worth to a MLB team.
“He has better stuff than (Hideki) Irabu and (Daisuke) Matsuzaka,’’ a talent evaluator from a team that didn’t bid said of Darvish. The evaluator was referring to the two high-profile Japanese right-handers who landed with the Yankees and Red Sox, respectively, and pitched their ways into the disappointment bin.
“He is making $6 million a year in Japan on the field, close to that off the field. So you are starting at $12 million a year over here. I would say five years for $75 million is about right.’’
Another scout from a team not involved doesn’t dispute Darvish’s talent but suggested a shorter deal for less money to make sure he is the real deal.
“Is he worth $20 million? No,’’ the scout said. “Not yet, at least. Maybe he will be, but you can’t give him six or seven years. How about three years to see how he does?
“The ability is there, this guy can pitch but we don’t know if his makeup will fit here. Give him time to get his feet on the ground. Let’s not pay him like a Hall of Famer right away.’’