Darvish May or May Not Play in the World Baseball Classic

Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish is headed back to Japan, but it is still unclear whether or not he plans on participating in the third World Baseball Classic. That’s because, according to Gerry Fraley at the Dallas Morning News, Darvish did not respond to any of the media’s questions about the WBC.

The manager for the Japanese squad, Koji Yamamoto, has said that he’d like Darvish on the team--which makes sense, because (a) as we saw this year, he’s pretty good at pitching, and (b) Darvish is 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA for his career in the WBC.

Team Japan has yet to not win a WBC (2-for-2 in 2006 and 2009), and as Rangers’ general manager Jon Daniels said this week, the team encourages players to participate in baseball’s answer to the World Cup. (Even if they didn’t, Major League rules prohibit teams from keeping players out of the WBC.)

“It really depends on the individual situation and what the players’ off-season is like,” Daniels said, via the Morning News, “what they’re looking for, what they’re trying to accomplish in spring training.”