if the Cubs made a bid on this guy. I just read the article and I think he would be spectacular. I know he’s only 21 and still developing, but hey it’s worth a shot.

against the possibility of his arm falling off, then damn right!

They are essentially selling humans; kind of like baseball prostitution.

He’s among the most popular players in NPB. They’ve lost so many good players, the $ they get for the posting fee wouldn’t be worth it for the fan support they’d lose.

He’ll probably come to the USA as a free agent, but that takes several more years.

If they want to get something for him before he leaves, if he does, though the ambiguity of his/teams stance makes me believe he will, like it said theyre just going neutral to build up the intrigue, theyd better sell him now..

Besides if they want 100 million dollars for him, do it sooner rather than later, b/c the dollar certainly isnt getting any stonger.

Well it seems as though the NPB is akin to the MLS, where our best players leave for Europe, but if you like soccer, then the MLS is the best you can see live in person, so I would suspect that Japanese baseball will survive b/c they love the sport and the NPB is the best game in town, so to speak.

either way, Id be stoked if the Cubs got him of course, its not my 100 million, my 100 million is in various Swiss bank accounts.

for a 21 year old?

Pete’s sake. Sometimes I really dislike professional sports.

I could see his posting fee going over $100mil easily. Simply because the conventional thought on Daisuke was it would be in the $20-$30mil range and just to make sure, Boston jumped waaay up there to $50mil. If the thinking is $75 for Yu, then I could see some team thinking someone is going to bid $100mil and they’ll submit one for $105 or so.

That said, I would love the Cubs to be able to get involved seriously for him. In the video he says his goal is to finish a season with a 0.00 ERA. That’s a very impressive goal and not a bad quality to have. I’m not sure who the owner of the team would be and if they’d be willing to make that kind of investment a few years into their new ownership but what a splash to make with the fans.

I doubt he gets posted this off-season or next simply because he is only 21 and has 5 more years under Nippon Ham control. At worst, he plays 4 years for them and is posted the immediate year before free agency and at best I would guess 2 years before to maximize the posting return. Figure at that point you would have a 24 year old who after the posting fee you could sign to a contract through his prime. Somewhere between 4 and 6 years.

to leave this type of thing alone. let the yankees,mets red sox make foolish bets like this. he may be a johan type pitcher or he may be a nomo. I personally think posting fee business is ignorant.

Stone said that upon hearing speculation that teams were bidding in the 40-50 million range (remember, it was a secret bid), the Cubs submitted a bid in the 20-30 million dollar range. Doesn’t inspire much confidence in their attempt to get Daisuke. However, a new owner might be interested in making a splash.

Why not just sign Sabathia instead for a lot less?

I like Yu

or

Whirling Darvish

or

Fuku? Fuk Yu!

/patent pending

Matsuzaka had kept loudly saying he want to go to MLB since he was a rookie in NPB, even before he became a pro, and asking Lions managements for posting everttime he renewed his contract. Then finally Lions gave him up posted in return of big money before he got FA rights.
Darvish is repeatingly saying he has no interest for MLB and no intention to go to US, and even though Fighters asked him not to say anything, there are some interviews before ESPN and US media start talking about him evidently showing his mindset.
Anyhow nobody knows how he think about his future in near future and Fighters can stay being financially healthy, but my instinct tells me that the posting would not happening on this guy.

Jim Caple, the author of the piece, did a chat on espn.com today, and he was asked if and when he thought Yu would request a posting. He responded, that while everyone has their guesses, his guess would be the winter of 2009- so he could be in the majors by next season.

Caple sighted Darvish’s need for a bigger challenge and also his wife as influencing factors. I mustve missed something on the latter, is she like the japanese Posh Spice? I guess that makes you David Beckham.

So it could be an interesting winter for pitchers b/t him and sabathia. Caple speculated that the big market teams, NYs , LAs, CHIs, Boston and Seattle would be the most likely to pony up the dough.

did anyone happen to see that film on ESPN2 about Bobby Valentine and Japanese baseball? It was very interesting and showed Yu Darvish pitch a great game

about MLS soccer, i think this could be a beckham like signing. pouring money into the guy and having become a massive media and sports star. Did anyone notice he threw 124 pitches? thats awesome