YU DA MAN: Today’s the deadline for major league teams to post a bid for Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish. (AP)
No matter how strong the signals coming from The Bronx about the Yankees not being hot for Yu Darvish, others will believe it when there is proof.
“They need him and when the Yankees need something they make a play for it,’’ one team executive predicted yesterday.
Yet, voices throughout the Yankees’ organization paint a lukewarm — at best — picture of them going hard after the 25-year-old Japanese right-hander major league teams can put in a posting bid for until 5 p.m. today.
The team with the winning bid, if it’s accepted by the Nippon Ham Fighters, gets a month to exclusively negotiate with Darvish.
Estimates have the winning bid in the $30 million range and Darvish commanding a five-year deal worth $75 million. Of course, the Yankees could submit a low bid and hope they win. That way they would control the process without outside interference.
According to Trey Hillman, the former Royals manager and current Dodgers’ bench coach who managed Darvish in Japan, whoever lands him will be getting a stud.
“A while ago, 2005 or 2006, I was asked about him and I said barring injury he was among the best five pitchers in the world,’’ said Hillman, a former Yankees minor league manager. “I still feel the same way. I think he will be a major impact.’’
The Rangers are believed to be preparing a serious bid for the 6-foot-5 right-hander.
There are more than enough questions to make MLB teams squirm about Darvish, who bounced back from a 12-8 year in 2010 by going 18-6 last season with a 1.44 ERA and 226 strikeouts in 232 innings.
While Darvish has been working out with the bigger baseball used in America, how he adjusts to the change is a question, even if he possesses large hands. So, too, is the quality of hitters Darvish will face here. He has a filthy slider, a curveball and a fastball that reaches 95 mph, but Japanese hitters were easily overmatched.
“I remember sitting down and talking to him and telling him he had to treat every game like it was his last, because he was bored with the competition,’’ Hillman said. “They weren’t good enough.’’
The Yankees, who have held budget meetings the past two days, don’t claim poverty, but the days of spending on guilty pleasures have been over for a while, if you can see past giving Rafael Soriano three years and $33 million last winter.
A strong indication the Yankees are practicing financial restraint is they didn’t do more than talk with the representatives for C.J. Wilson and Mark Buerhle before the lefty free agent hurlers signed with the Angels (five years; $77.5 million) and Marlins (four years; $58 million), respectively.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has talked about Phil Hughes bouncing back, Ivan Nova progressing in Year 2, Hector Noesi possibly challenging for a rotation spot and the development of Manuel Banuelos and Dellin Betances.