Factor in inflation, the declining number of #1 starters reaching free agency in MLB, & how young he is, and you can expect a very heated competition just for the right to habla with him.

My feeling is that the Seattle Mariners will blow everyone out of the water with a huge posting fee when the time comes (no pun intended). They are very close to Japanese baseball, including the obvious, which is the physical distance to Japan, about an 8-hour flight. Given the current abysmal situation of Mariner baseball, they will be looking to dump contracts at a rapid pace. If they manage to rid themselves of crap like Washburn, Silva, Beltre, Vidro, Sexson, Bautista, Ibanez, & Jojima while getting a decent return for trading Bedard, Ichiro, & Putz, they should be in contention financially to make this badly needed move.
They will definitely need to eat an unhealthy amount of these horrible contracts but there’s no way this situation can get any worse than it already is.

A rotation a few years from now consisting of King Felix, Brandon Morrow, & Darvish plus whichever #1 overall draft picks that they net from now til then will most certainly help. The Mariners will most certainly receive the 2009 #1 draft pick & probably the #1s for 2010 & 2011 as well. If they follow the 2006 Yankee draft template & concentrate on pitching-heavy drafts with high-ceiling, signability guys, they can right this capsized ship.

The reason I bring up this issue about the Mariners in a Yankee blog is that if it were not for Brian Cashman’s success in steering the Yankees away from a free-agency mentality to an emphasis on building a team through, scouting, player development & the Draft, the Yankees would be in the same exact boat right now.

I know the general feeling among Yankees fans concerning Japanese pitchers (Irabu & Igawa) is that they’re overrated. What’s intriguing about Darvish is his bloodlines. Darvish is not pure Japanese.

While his mother is Japanese, his father is Iranian. This would probably account for his large physique. His body type resembles that of power pitchers such as Josh Beckett & while I’m not comparing him to Beckett’s stuff, Darvish does have the arrogance & cockiness that you find with power pitchers such as Beckett & Clemens. Being only 21, the guy is still growing into his body, which means you can expect a further increase to his current mid-90s fastball velocity.

I see Darvish as the exception to the rule with Japanese pitchers because of his mixed bloodlines & he will definitely be someone the Yankees should pursue if he is posted. Darvish profiles at least as a #2 in a MLB rotation with the very real potential to be the horse & the ace of a starting rotation.

His posting fee will probably be at least as much as what Dice-K’s team received & probably considerable more if he continues to mow down Japanese competition. From what I have read, he is already getting bored with Japanese Baseball, which is something Yu’s Father had stated in an interview this year.

at this point. We don’t know what his ceiling is.