PDA

View Full Version : Rangers Going All In



Red in Atl
01-18-2012, 05:08 PM
Breaking News
Rangers sign Darvish

Japanese free agent Yu Darvish has agreed to a six-year, $60 million deal with Texas, sources tell Yahoo! Sports.

texasdave
01-18-2012, 05:17 PM
Breaking News
Rangers sign Darvish

Japanese free agent Yu Darvish has agreed to a six-year, $60 million deal with Texas, sources tell Yahoo! Sports.

Add on the posting fee and that makes it roughly 18.5 million per season. Quite a gamble. Good luck.

brm7675
01-18-2012, 06:21 PM
He just replaces Wilson, so not really a overall big improvement, now if they get Fielder then watch out.

LegallyMinded
01-18-2012, 07:42 PM
ZIPS projections are very kind to Darvish, as shown in the sidebar of this (http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/19385/yu-darvishs-pitch-counts-in-japan) article. If he lives up to those projections, and you consider the going rate for 1.0WAR is about 5 million on the free agent market, then 18.5 million/year seems like a bargain. Obviously, there are concerns about how Darvish will adjust to major league hitting, living in a new country, pitching on a different schedule, and so on, but the Rangers could have done worse with $120 million or so.

texasdave
01-18-2012, 09:43 PM
ZIPS projections are very kind to Darvish, as shown in the sidebar of this (http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/19385/yu-darvishs-pitch-counts-in-japan) article. If he lives up to those projections, and you consider the going rate for 1.0WAR is about 5 million on the free agent market, then 18.5 million/year seems like a bargain. Obviously, there are concerns about how Darvish will adjust to major league hitting, living in a new country, pitching on a different schedule, and so on, but the Rangers could have done worse with $120 million or so.

Hey, maybe he turns out to be a bargain. It will be interesting to watch. 120 million for someone who has never thrown a pitch in the majors still seems pretty risky to me.

LegallyMinded
01-18-2012, 09:50 PM
120 million for someone who has never thrown a pitch in the majors still seems pretty risky to me.

Oh, I definitely agree. I just meant to say the Darvish signing made more sense than some of the other mega deals out there: Pitchers like Barry Zito and John Lackey, after all, have been raking in 18.5 million/year or so the last few years.

The DARK
01-18-2012, 10:06 PM
Tough luck for the Rangers this offseason. They totally overestimated the bid for Darvish while losing their ace, CJ Wilson, to their main divisional rival for cheaper. They can no longer reasonably afford Fielder either, while the Angels added arguably the best player in the game. Ouch.

R_Webb18
01-18-2012, 11:06 PM
while the Angels added arguably the best player in the game. Ouch.

disagree with this. yes HE WAS but he's not anymore. also for some reason if you were GOOD ppl always assume your the best forever.

really good player but he's not the best right now

The DARK
01-18-2012, 11:36 PM
disagree with this. yes HE WAS but he's not anymore. also for some reason if you were GOOD ppl always assume your the best forever.

really good player but he's not the best right now

In all honesty I think Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander have a strong case for being the best (Cabrera for the better stats last season, Verlander because he's the best pitcher in a pitching-dominant era), but many 2012 fantasy drafts have him going first. That's in spite of the fact that he plays a replaceable position, doesn't steal much, and doesn't have his exceptional defense factored in to those stats. Combine that with his generally dominant track record, his rebound after a slow start, and leading his team to a World Series title... I can't say anybody's knocked him off the pedestal yet. It's not much of a gap anymore, though.

nmculbreth
01-18-2012, 11:43 PM
ZIPS projections are very kind to Darvish, as shown in the sidebar of this (http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/19385/yu-darvishs-pitch-counts-in-japan) article. If he lives up to those projections, and you consider the going rate for 1.0WAR is about 5 million on the free agent market, then 18.5 million/year seems like a bargain. Obviously, there are concerns about how Darvish will adjust to major league hitting, living in a new country, pitching on a different schedule, and so on, but the Rangers could have done worse with $120 million or so.

While I understand this argument, I'm just not sure it's a completely fair argument.

In most circumstances when you're paying the market rate for WAR you're dealing with players with a much longer track record and can come up with a much better projection of their performance going forward. In this instance you're talking about paying fair market value without having the benefit of seeing Darvish pitch under similar circumstances.

Maybe the deal works out well for the Rangers, but it I'm still not sure it was a smart bet by the Rangers.

[deleted]
01-19-2012, 01:04 AM
Pujols may not have been the best player last year, or the year before that. But I'd still give him the crown because I don't think anyone else has stepped up to his level of consistency. Kemp, Braun, Tulo, Votto, Cabrera, Bautista, Cano, Ellsbury... they've all put up better numbers in the last season or two seasons. But if you pooled them all together and asked me which I had the highest certainty would be a 5 or 6+ win player next year... It would be Pujols. Anyone of those guys could fall off, and while we'd be surprised, I don't think we'd be shocked. It happens all the time. But not to Pujols.

10xWSChamps
01-19-2012, 01:49 AM
These Japanese player signings usually are bad investments. No way this guy is worth 110 million over 6 years

R_Webb18
01-19-2012, 04:37 AM
;2526774']Pujols may not have been the best player last year, or the year before that. But I'd still give him the crown because I don't think anyone else has stepped up to his level of consistency. Kemp, Braun, Tulo, Votto, Cabrera, Bautista, Cano, Ellsbury... they've all put up better numbers in the last season or two seasons. But if you pooled them all together and asked me which I had the highest certainty would be a 5 or 6+ win player next year... It would be Pujols. Anyone of those guys could fall off, and while we'd be surprised, I don't think we'd be shocked. It happens all the time. But not to Pujols.

i would not take pujols and id win. ppl always wait to long for good players.

texasdave
01-19-2012, 04:57 AM
i would not take pujols and id win. ppl always wait to long for good players.

You are exactly right. Pujols regularly posted 8 or 9 or 10 WAR seasons. In 2011 he was 27th in the majors as a position player with 5.1. He was a great player and is still a very, very good player. But he is trending downward. That being said, I would absolutely make room for him in my lineup.

R_Webb18
01-19-2012, 05:25 AM
You are exactly right. Pujols regularly posted 8 or 9 or 10 WAR seasons. In 2011 he was 27th in the majors as a position player with 5.1. He was a great player and is still a very, very good player. But he is trending downward. That being said, I would absolutely make room for him in my lineup.

agree. im not saying he's bad but for some reason ppl forget ppl get old. great player but not the best atm. top 5 yea

alett12
01-19-2012, 08:59 AM
I like it. If healthy I think that Hamilton is no question the 3rd best in the game behind Albert and as much as I hate saying this Cano. I'd have Joey right behind him too.

Tadasimha
01-19-2012, 09:17 AM
;2526774']Pujols may not have been the best player last year, or the year before that. But I'd still give him the crown because I don't think anyone else has stepped up to his level of consistency. Kemp, Braun, Tulo, Votto, Cabrera, Bautista, Cano, Ellsbury... they've all put up better numbers in the last season or two seasons. But if you pooled them all together and asked me which I had the highest certainty would be a 5 or 6+ win player next year... It would be Pujols. Anyone of those guys could fall off, and while we'd be surprised, I don't think we'd be shocked. It happens all the time. But not to Pujols.

Anyone who's watched a decent amount of baseball the past two seasons knows better. Pujols, while still an amazing player, is no longer a sure bet to give you those numbers anymore. Several of the players you listed (and I think you need to include Josh Hamilton) are much more likely next season to give you 5/6 wins than Pujols.

alett12
01-19-2012, 11:23 AM
Anyone who's watched a decent amount of baseball the past two seasons knows better. Pujols, while still an amazing player, is no longer a sure bet to give you those numbers anymore. Several of the players you listed (and I think you need to include Josh Hamilton) are much more likely next season to give you 5/6 wins than Pujols.

I think that Albert being in a line up helps that line up just because pitchers aren't sure how to get him out. He isn't the player he was 2 years ago but he isn't a bad player either so willl he personaly add 5/6 wins? probably not but i think him being in the line up makes any lineup that he's in automatically better.