2011 MLB Offseason Discussion - Rangers choking edition

[Demosthenes11]

Rangers have the best international scouts in the league, they have done their homework on Yu.

you mean the rangers super secret international coach-scouts!?

[Rhinox]

Most Baseball Analysts agree he's nothing special. Essentially what Rangers are buying is hype and popularity in Japan.

he is bigger in japan than any sport star is here. None of his pitches are graded higher than a 7.

[Valisk]

Although I wanted Yu at the beginning of the offseason, I think it was a knee jerk reaction to how atrocious our starting pitching was during the classic. I have a problem with overhyped prospects, especially ones that come with a $51.7M fee to just talk to them. For me, Yu Darvish to the MLB is Andrew Luck to the NFL. The most "professional ready" prospect coming into the league. But if you know my take on Andrew Luck, you know that I think he'll be decent, but not as good as everyone is hyping him up to be. I definitely don't think Yu will live up to the $100M+ pricetag. Damn you Nelson Cruz! DAMN YOU!

[Rhinox]

Not saying he is gonna be amazing, but he is a much better pitcher than dicek ever was

not really saying much here.

[Headspace]

You guys. Texas has the best international scouts, domestic scouts, hitting coach, outfield and coach.

That's how they've lost two straight World Series

[Cephius]

Dice-K was actually pretty solid when he wasn't hurt.

The problem is the player doesn't see a penny of the posting fee, and Davish has said he wants to be paid like a top MLB pitcher (read: 20m/year). But Texas is going to want to offer him a smaller contract given that it's taking 50m just to talk to him. It's the reason the As talks with Iwakuma failed last year.

[Man0warr]

You guys. Texas has the best international scouts, domestic scouts, hitting coach, outfield and coach.

That's how they've lost two straight World Series

Getting to the WS 2 years in a row is a feat in itself, getting there straight out of bankruptcy is even more impressive. They had no choice but to make their team better through the farm system and international talent - they didn't have any money.

There's websites that rank such things, not just pulling it out of my ass. Just look at the number of good foreign players on their team right now.

No JP pitcher has come over as young as Darvish before, or had the kind of stats Darvish has. Not to mention he is built much differently than previous pitchers coming over because he's a halfblood.

[Headspace]

It's okay to settle for BILLS

[Rhinox]

Oh man he is 11 months younger than nomo and taller!

[Man0warr]

And bigger, and has better stats in Japan than Nomo had.

Plus, Hideo was pretty damn good. Way better than Dice K.

[Rhinox]

I hope Justin verlander enjoyed his cyvp cause darvish winning the next 10

[Soa]

That's a hell of a lot of money just to talk to someone who is realistically only gonna be a #3 quality starter. I always take hyped up international players with a grain of salt since most of them end up more like Jose Contreras or Chan Ho Park than superstars, and since the quality of the leagues they play in closely resemble AA or AAA.

[Rhinox]

It's amazing how much hype this guy is getting even Jeff passan who I normally respect is being insufferable about it.

[Demosthenes11]

winning the bid on darvish for 51 mil, you are basically then committed to 120+m

on a guy that is unproven and will only play once every 6 games. That's really effing bad

[Rhinox]

Nono the rangers have the best international scouting ever. They know what they're doing

[archibaldcrane]

Meanwhile, the Brewers only paid 2.5M to talk to Norichika Aoki, the only player in Japanese history to have two 200-hit seasons.

No big deal, Yu Darvish is awesome.

[Rhinox]

Enjoy juan Pierre jr.

Big fan of empty batting average are ya archi?

[archibaldcrane]

Enjoy juan Pierre jr.

Big fan of empty batting average are ya archi?

With baserunning and plus fielding, sure! It's not like he's breaking our bank.

[Rhinox]

Losing prince and losing braun for the first two plus months you're gonna have a rough year.

[Rhinox]

David dejesus nl MVP