Links and news for the sport that starts right after the Superbowl...

Right after the Masahiro Tanaka signing, every journalist in baseball looked over their shoulder at Yu Darvish.  It's been intimated from the time his posting was first rumored that Darvish is a bit of a prima donna.  If you follow his blog and twitter (and occasionally do a little reading-between-the-lines, which is dangerous when in interpreting Japanese) you can certainly see that the current strikeout king regards himself highly, although Yu does, mostly, keep his ego checked.  And he has his own museum in Japan.  Notwithstanding, Darvish prompted a few knowing looks when he recently responded to questions about Tanaka's (a friend of Darvish) contract "Why don't you go ask Ma-kun."*

*If you're not familiar with Japanese culture; formality and very specific social status is a rule and a lifestyle.  An aquantance or casual friend may be addressed by their "family" name, with appropriate suffix to indicate the status of the relationship.  E.g. if Darvish and Tanaka knew each other but were not close in anyway, Darvish would have probably called him "Tanaka-san".  A regular friend might earn the privilege of being referred to by their given name, e.g. "Masahiro-chan".  For a closer relationship, especially between boys or when addressing a male friend, the -kun suffix might be added, as in "Masahiro-kun".  At around the same level, or perhaps a bit closer, a shortened "nickname" associated with the more intimate suffix, e.g. "Ma(sahiro)-kun" might be used.

Rumors started flying around immediately regarding the value of Darvish's contract, and whether he might see a sizable extension soon.  However, General Manager Jon Daniels says a contract extension isn't a focus for the Rangers right now:

"At some point we'll sit down and talk just like we do it on everybody," Texas general manager Jon Daniels said. "He's still got four years on his deal. I don't see a rush necessarily. We'll address is at the right time. Right now we'll just focus on getting him into camp."

In the meantime, Hall-of-Famer and Rangers special assistant Greg Maddux sees nothing but ups, ups, ups for Darvish:

"The sky is the limit for him," Maddux said. "He's got four quality pitches. He's pitched now over here for two years. Hopefully, he's a lot more relaxed and Americanized, or however you want to say it. I think if he continues to be better and wants to be better, there's no telling how well he can do."

Maddux said he believes Darvish is "one of the top pitchers in the game" right now, adding that the numbers "could be sky-high for him." General manager Jon Daniels has credited Maddux with helping Darvish on the mental side of the game. Maddux instead gave Darvish the credit.

Jamey Newberg makes a bad joke, but has a couple of interesting things to say on this situation:

But I’m in the camp betting that the Rangers’ off-season blueprint sessions included long-term thinking not on how Darvish’s $10 million salaries will fit the payroll in 2014, 2015, and 2016, and not on whether he’ll be able to void his $11 million in 2017 with more final-discussion Cy Young rankings, but instead on how Tanaka’s eventual deal, whatever it ended up being, might force Texas to rip up Darvish’s contract sometime soon and replace it with one more in line with what it would have been in today’s market.

Or, the way I’d prefer to look at it, might prompt Darvish to be open to such an extension.

and:

Bottom line: Good for Tanaka, and as a Yankee I hope he fails majestically.

But in the meantime, I hope the deal New York just gave Tanaka pushes Darvish himself to the table, something that I’d like to think the Rangers anticipated, planned for, and more than anything are eager to do something about.

Steven McMahon, Jr. ponders whether the 2014 Cy Young Award winner and 2014 MVP will both come from the Rangers:

It’s clear that if this trend continues, Yu Darvish will own most, if not all, of the Rangers major pitching stats. There were several games last year that Darvish only gave up 1 or 2 runs but got no support from a very streaky lineup. The 2014 lineup won't let that happen.

Prince has to be excited to see the home run porch for at least 81 games a year. His raw power gives him the opportunity to challenge for the league lead in home runs for years to come.

His last 3 seasons he protected the league MVP all 3 years. Once with Ryan Braun in Milwaukee and the last 2 years with Miguel Cabrera in Detroit.

Well this year, during Fielder’s introductory press conference,Ron Washington expressed his desire to have the roles reversed and someone protect Fielder.

Long-time Face-of-the-Franchise Michael Young has announced his retirement.  He played all but one of his major-league seasons in Texas.  I do think it's a bit of a shame that he didn't spend his whole career in Texas, but I fully supported trading him last year.  He didn't have an efficient role in what was supposed to be a reloaded team trying for the playoffs.  Of course, in hindsight, he wouldn't have been any worse than what we had, but that's a different argument.  Maybe he'll take a one-day contract to retire as a Ranger, maybe not, but he already stated earlier today that he considers himself a Texas Ranger only.

Lance Berkman retired, too.  He was an important Astro and an important Cardinal and an embarrassing Ranger.  Crawfish Boxes has an epic love poem posted.  Yes, I'm being a bit snarky about this.  Berkman was one of those "really damned good but not *quite* great" players.  But his connections to the Rangers are ALL negative.  Maybe I would feel better about him if he would have been a hero in 2013 instead of an hero (of knees).

In other Rangers player news, Derek Holland's micro fracture surgery could have been worse.  Yay.  Dumbass.

Bless You Boys says "Do Not Want" to Nelson Cruz, while the Mariners allegedly might have made an offer to the power-hitting outfielder.

FakeTeams says Geovany Soto may be about to explode:

His fall from grace was pretty dramatic. In 2010, when the Indians traded Jhonny Peralta to the Tigers for Giovanni Soto, I told my buddy Sean (a die-hard Cubs fan) that "the Indians traded for Giovanni Soto," just to mess with him, and he flipped out on me. Two years later, I told him that the Rangers had traded for Geovany Soto, and Sean just gave me a "so?"

Also from the land of loggers, the embarrassment that is the Wii-U may be affecting budgets:

Nintendo Co. (7974) President Satoru Iwata said the maker of video-game machines is considering a new business model after forecasting a surprise 25 billion-yen ($240 million) annual loss because of tepid demand for the Wii U.

Nintendo fell the most in more than 12 years in the U.S. yesterday. The company had previously projected profit of 55 billion yen for the year ending March as it counted on Christmas shoppers to revive sales of the Wii U console featuring games with iconic characters Mario and Zelda.

Beyond the Box Score compares the Yankees' off season and the Mariners' off season, and comes to the conclusion that neither team really moved the needle all that much:

The spending part isn't what is surprising about these teams. It's the spending without any plan that shocks the casual observer. Maybe the Mariners just wanted to build an 80 win team in the most expensive fashion possible, and perhaps the Yankees ditched the $189 cap in order to guarantee $500 million for a third-place team. Given what's happened so far this off season, that's a fair characterization.

Daily Dish continues the Yankee talk:

Many experts have responded to the Tanaka signing by labeling the Yankees Wild Card contenders. $345 million spent and the Yankees are still not even clear favorites to make the playoffs. That wasn't the case in 2009 and that shows just how far the Yankees have fallen in the last five years.

ESPN Sweetspot analyzes which teams have done the most with their money over the past five years.  Here are the highlights:

The Cubs certainly win honors for most mismanaged franchise of the past half-decade, at least in terms of dollars spent per win.

The Mariners have stumbled and bumbled their way through a decade's worth of bad, boring teams and awful free-agent signings...

The Marlins tried that whole fancy free-agent thing in 2012 and look what happened: 93 losses.

A small payroll and no high draft picks make it nearly impossible to build a winner, but Billy Beane has figured out a way, thanks to great trades and finding the right guys from the scrap heap.

The Angels have spent more than twice as much as the A's in five years -- and won a grand total of 10 more games. They haven't made the playoffs since 2009.

Note that the three teams immediately ahead of St. Louis have all won a few more games over the past five years while also spending less on payroll. The Cardinals aren't the only team winning without spending like the Yankees or Red Sox.

Beyond the Box Score thinks Jaime Garcia is a cheap comp to David Price:

Price has the edge in most categories, but it's not by much, and overall, they have similar outcomes. Garcia doesn't have the same upside as Price and has his fair share of risk, given his shoulder issues. However, 2014 might be the season where he finally rids himself of the injury bug, given early reports on his current health. If so, Garcia could present himself as a bargain for a team.

Rob Neyer is leaving SBNation, at least for a while.  His farewell address is about data vs. humanity:

One can imagine a baseball team where all the roster moves are dictated by a computer program. One can imagine almost anything. But we're so, so far away from anything remotely approaching such a thing that it won't happen while I'm alive, and probably not while you are, either. One might argue that baseball teams could use a little less humanity, or a little more. But it's not going away. If you're really worried about that, you don't understand baseball. Or humanity.

And speaking of stats, I have to admit that I never understood the 20-80 scouting system.  Until I read that it's a handy way to gauge 3 standard deviations above and below average.  Why didn't someone just tell me that years ago?

Posted by: Ben at 07:58 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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