Rangers Not Likely Serious About Yu

The speculation has been building since midseason over Japanese star pitcher Yu Darvish, the 6-5 fireballer who isn't your typical Japanese pitching import.

Following the regular season, the Rangers were thought to be a frontrunner for the pitcher, who's never thrown in the big leagues but has a sub-2.00 ERA in his Japanese action.

Now, many are saying the Rangers might not be as in on Yu as originally thought.

Many, including FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal, are saying that the Rangers budget isn't quite as big as they might have thought, not that they're going to go bankrupt again or anything, just that spending somewhere around $40-50 million just to negotiate with the pitcher, then a contract might not be worth the money for a guy that's never proven himself in America, where the baseballs are bigger, the workload is bigger and the hitters are better.

The Rangers are rumored, instead, to be interested in trading for a proven starting pitcher, most notably Matt Garza or Gio Gonzalez with another possibility of John Danks.

Is Yu Darvish the next Dice-K, the last major Japanese import pitcher to come to the states? Most people in baseball say no when asked to compare him to the Boston Red Sox's bust.

In fact, new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine, who managed in Japan for ages, said Yu is a top-4 pitcher in the world. Wow. Those are some lofty words, but who's to say the Red Sox manager isn't simply trying to drive up the bidding.

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Darvish was posted and now sealed bids are due to the league by Wednesday afternoon. It'll be interesting to see what the Rangers' bid will be.

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