Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters will be posted for availability to MLB clubs, according to a report on MLB.com. The report cites a Thursday morning tweet by Darvish’s agent Don Nomura.
Darvish, 25, was 18-6 last season with a 1.44 ERA and 276 strikeouts. In his seven-year career the 6'5” Darvish has posted a combined record of 93-38 with a 1.99 ERA.
In addition, Darvish was a big part of Japan winning the 2009 World Baseball Classic, going 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA.
Teams that wish to sign Darvish will have to submit sealed offers to his former team. The highest bidder will then have 30 days to come to an agreement with Darvish.
The market value for Japan pitchers is difficult to gauge, with Boston spending $51 million (and change) for the right to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka back in 2006.
