Yu Darvish’s asking price might be dropping

The Cubs, as we all know, are looking for another starting pitcher, and one of their prime targets is Yu Darvish.

That target might have gotten a little more prime, according to John Harper of the New York Daily News:

What’s reasonable? Not seven years and $160 million, which sources say the Yankees never offered to Darvish, contrary to what Michael Kay said on his ESPN radio show on Thursday.

That might be Darvish’s asking price, but with teams throughout baseball determined to limit the length of long-term contracts, and the righthander coming off that poor World Series performance, the Yankees seem to think it’s possible they could get him for five years, $80-90 million.

If the Cubs could get Darvish at that price... well then, they should probably sign him right now. That’s an AAV of between $16 million and $18 million, far below the $20 million-plus that Darvish was supposedly asking for (though, of course, we don’t know any precise amount Darvish was asking for — he’s never said).

Darvish, who has been very active on Twitter this offseason, sent out this tweet in response to a question asked about him at the Cubs Convention:

That’s great. Darvish wins Twitter for yesterday.

But seriously, if the Cubs could get Darvish at the price noted in the NY Daily News article, I hope they pounce soon, even if it takes that fifth year of salary.