The Dodgers Are Still In Contact With Yu Darvish
The Dodgers made it back to the World Series in 2017 after a 29-year drought. As we all know, they didn’t achieve the ultimate goal. Luckily, the Dodgers are young, talented, and will consistently contend in the years to come.
Los Angeles doesn’t have any glaring needs, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any room to improve. The boys in blue have already added pitchers Pat Venditte and Tom Koehler to help bolster their pitching staff. Venditte spent all of 2017 with the Phillies’ triple-A affiliate and put up a 3.36 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP in 69.2 innings. Koehler, on the other hand, spent 2017 with the Blue Jays and the Marlins. During his time in Toronto’s bullpen, he put up a 2.65 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP in 17 innings.
So their bullpen looks to be covered, but what about the Dodgers’ starting rotation? There are plenty of strong internal options, but that’s not stopping the front office from checking out the free agent market. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reported that the Dodgers’ General Manager, Farhan Zaidi, said that the team is still in contact with Yu Darvish.
Zaidi said the club still is having active dialogue with Darvish, a free agent.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) December 12, 2017
Now, I know a lot of you will immediately want to scream and shout thanks to Darvish’s performance in the World Series. I know you’ll turn to the reports that he was tipping his pitches and wonder why the Dodgers would want to re-sign him. However, bringing Yu Darvish back would be huge for the starting rotation.
In his nine regular season starts with the Dodgers, Darvish put up a 3.44 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. His starts in the NLDS and NLCS were amazing, where he went a total of 11.1 innings and gave up just two earned runs. But how much will he cost? Jon Heyman of FanRagSports.com predicted that Darvish will get a six-year deal worth $144 million, but of course that’s just an estimation.
Most recently, the Astros have also shown interest in the 31-year old and I’m sure they are not alone. We will see what kind of deal Yu Darvish gets and whether or not it is with the Dodgers, but the fact that the Dodgers are still in contact with him is good news.
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Uh, actually this is a terrible thing for the Dodgers organization. Who cares what numbers he put up in the regular season – the Dodgers have enough depth to make up for that during the regular season. When it REALLY counts, Yu Darvish is one of the worst pitchers you can find. Just ask Texas how he did for them a couple years ago in their off-season run… He’s NOT a big game type pitcher, so if the ultimate goal is to actually WIN the World Series and not just win a division title, we should look elsewhere for a real competitor who doesn’t crack under the pressure like Yu. There will be a mutiny if he is re-signed. Oh and by the way, Yu – you owe me $3K for the Game 7 tickets I bought and were ruined within 10 minutes of you stepping foot on the rubber.
What gets me about the Info of Yu tipping his pitches…Dodgers are saying they knew about it…Hmmm wouldn’t you think if you knew something was wrong you would go out and fix it…don’t they have eyes…Freaking world series at stake….
We must all remember that Darvish came onto the scene about 3/4 of the way thru the season. He was not in the mix who decided that they would take the division, then the league, then enter the World Series and win it. So Yu was not part of this scheme. However, with Honeycutt being coaxed to return for one more season, and probably his last, he can work with Darvish who wants to prove that he can win 15+ games and be part of the WS scheme. But he should not expect that high a salary especially from the Dodgers. If he does want to make amends to his fellow players and to the fans, he may want to sign a one-year contract and re-negotiate at season’s end.