I commend the Texas Rangers for finally realizing that pitching is key in baseball. After all, this team that seemingly was on their way to slugging for a World Series Title was sidetracked by a quality pitching staff.
Additionally, the Ranger pitchers, which had been reliable throughout the season, faltered all throughout the Fall Classic. This franchise suffered with a rotation that had an abysmal 4.65 team ERA in the World Series. When you compare that with the Rangers’ Regular Season team ERA of 3.79, along with the fact that starting pitcher C.J Wilson left for the Anaheim Angels, folks then realize that something had to be done to fix this problem.
Thus started the “Darvish Sweepstakes”, in which the Rangers (and other Major League Baseball clubs) began to bid to acquire Japanese Pitcher Yu Darvish. Darvish played with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2011, going 28-6 with an ERA of 1.44. Yeah, 1.44…that’s better than MLB’s Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, who had a 2.28 ERA in 2011.
It’s obvious that Darvish is a commodity that many franchises want on their team…hence why the bidding war just to negotiate for Yu got so high. The Rangers ended up spending $51.7 million to just talk with the guy, then spent an additional $60 million on a contract that will go for 6 years. Yikes! Almost $112 million dollars to sign one player. It’s a sign of the times.
So, here’s the million dollar (rather 112 million dollar) question everyone will ask going into the 2012 season: Will the acquisition of Yu Darvish help Texas’ pitching situation to win the World Series?
In my mind…no. Although Yu Darvish is a strong pitcher and will no doubt excel on the Major League level, the problem for Texas lies with the rest of their staff. During the World Series, 4 pitchers on the Rangers’ staff had ERA’s above 9.00; In the League Championship Series, the Rangers had 3 pitchers with ERA’s above 6.00. When the Rangers needed quality pitching during the most important time of the year, they just never seemed to get it. The end result being the Cardinals making their miraculous comeback, snatching away the title from the Rangers’ grasp.
While obtaning the services of Darvish is a step in the right direction for the Ranger organization, when it comes down to it, they need plenty more help in the pitching department.
On the bright side…at least Yu knows how to dine on the company dime.
stats gathered from: texas.rangers.mlb.com, mlb.com, npb.com
About Moses Leos