For ESPN E-Ticket, Jim Caple profiles Yu Darvish, the 21 year old phenom on the Nippon Ham Fighters.  Darvish, half Iranian and half Japanese, made his professional debut in 2005. 

Last year, Darvish was 15-5 with a 1.82 ERA, and has already won the Japanese equivalent to the Cy Young award.

While Darvish is five years away from Japanese unrestricted free agency, he can be posted to MLB teams, similar to the way stars Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka have come over.  According to Caple, if Darvish were posted, peopole expect the posting bit to exceed the $50 million paid by the Red Sox for Matsuzaka, and perhaps exceed $75 million.

Caple quotes Trey Hillman, Royals manager and previous coach of Darvish in Japan, ”The curveball is just not fair. Honestly, it’s just not a fair pitch.”

Caple also profiles how Darvish is almost a rockstor in Japan in terms of popularity.  Trey Hillman likens Darvish’s popularity to Michael Jordon and Tiger Woods.

Really just a fantastic and informative read.

If he is posted, I have to imagine the Mets would be interested in a young SP stud that they could acquire without having to give up prospects, or even draft picks.  Yet, the idea of paying $75 million just to negotiate with the guy seems a little insane to me, but so is the market.

I’ve never heard anything but rave reviews on this guy, and I know Japanese baseball isn’t the same as baseball here, but he was 20 last year and in a full season had a 1.82 ERA. That’s just nuts.