Darvish: Jays were a very poor third

[dagger]

http://blogs.thescore.com/djf/2012/07/0 ... h-bidding/

At least $35 million less than the winning bid, YIKES!

Well here’s something completely unnecessary to get everybody fired up on a Wednesday afternoon, as Buster Olney includes the following tidbit in his latest piece for of ESPN.com (Insider Olney)…
Source: Remember how the Jays were expected to be such big players in the Yu Darvish bidding? Well, one official said that Toronto actually finished third in the bidding, behind the Rangers and Cubs, and that no bid was within $35 million of what Texas tendered.
Ugh. Don’t say I never do anything for you, clowns who pretend Rogers doesn’t spend on the Jays and insist because they have yet to sign a big free agent that it means they never will.
Don’t get my sarcasm wrong, though. The pass on Darvish still hurts. A lot. Plus, it looks pretty stupid after how terrific he’s looked so far, and there’s no Beltran excuse here, where the Jays can plausibly claim that they offered a competitive bid and were turned down– it was a straight-up bid and they weren’t even in the ballpark. Though I suppose it mitigates it somewhat to know that the Jays were one of 29 teams who didn’t bid close to what the Rangers did.
That said, it would have been nice if, y’know, they’d told us that outright before letting everyone get so worked up about it, but I guess I understand the principle that revealing their intentions with Darvish to the league may have impacted other negotiations that were ongoing. I guess. Still… ugh.
Rage away, if you still have the wherewithal.

[tiger7]

Surprise, surprise Rogers/AA not willing to spend. Its like getting water out of a rock. When AA says we'll be buyers at the deadline he means the cheapest scrubs he can find to fill those injured starters spots.

[LittleOzzy]

All I'm seeing here is the Rangers paid 30 Million over market value.

Looks like a genius move right now, but possibly the Jays felt they put in a very good bid and the Rangers simply overpaid.

[dagger]

All I'm seeing here is the Rangers paid 30 Million over market value.

Looks like a genius move right now, but possibly the Jays felt they put in a very good bid and the Rangers simply overpaid.

If a signing works out, then it says 29 teams were wrong and Texas scouted this correctly, or had the cahones to take on added risk.

[dagger]

Surprise, surprise Rogers/AA not willing to spend. Its like getting water out of a rock. When AA says we'll be buyers at the deadline he means the cheapest scrubs he can find to fill those injured starters spots.

That may be the case at the deadline, and maybe with all the injuries it isn't such a bad idea - remain relevant, but don't use up your best trade chips.

My concern is more about next winter when we might have to replace EE and KJ and likely add a quality third or fourth starter (which we should have done last winter).

[Michael Bradley]

I was hoping the Jays got Darvish, but even then I thought it would have been a huge risk. So far it is paying off for the Rangers, but starters coming from Japan and having long ace-level MLB careers is unheard of, so the risk was definitely high.

[Kaizen]

Who is this 3rd or 4th pitcher that fans keep talking about? Give me a name and do not use Gio. That was an insane price that the Nats paid. Just because prospects suck for the A's does not change that. Who is to say our prospects would have sucked too that we traded?

I wanted Darvish too but I do not see what purpose there is to talking about it 4 months later. Can we go back in time and change it?

[tiger7]

Of course the risk was high but then again so was the reward factor. I'd like to see KJ moved since we can move Esco over to 2nd and have Hech at SS. I wonder if or how much the Blue Jays would be willing to spend on Encarnacion. The pitching depth is really bad right now with all our prospects only at the single A level so it could take a while...

[Brinbe]

Thought it was worth the risk, but whatever, we lost. They absolutely failed to manage expectations though, same ish that's going on with Nash now.

[Attonitus]

They didn't say anything because they never expected us to find out how much they bid. Otherwise they could have kept the impression they put in a competitive bid despite the fact they obviously never had any interest (or more likely the financial go ahead).

[Tyrone Slothrop]

I'm over it.

[nonc]

look at me not caring, we could get two pitchers as good as Darvish for his combined $100mil+ fee&salary.

EDIT: or just 1 who is better.

[Bautista19]

look at me not caring, we could get two pitchers as good as Darvish for his combined $100mil+ fee&salary.

EDIT: or just 1 who is better.

Hilarious. Did you not just see the contract Matt Cain got? We'll never ever get the shot again to sign a 25 year old free agent starting pitcher who's on pace for 4.5 WAR (and could be a 7-8 WAR pitcher easily if he ever ironed out his control) for a little over 100 million. I don't know if there has ever been a pitcher as young and as good as Darvish to hit the free agent market and it is frustrating when you realize that the Rangers got an elite pitcher signed to a free agent contract that by time it expires Darvish won't even be past his prime. How often has a team signed a marquee free agent to a contract that didn't pay him past his prime? The Rangers were smart enough to recognize that they could sign a #1/ace that wouldn't pay him a contract based on past performance, but rather future performance. No wonder they have not only the most talented team in the majors, but arguably the best farm system as well. With the free agent market the way it is now, you overpay immensely for what a player will do for you going foward when it comes to signing marquee free agents (you pay them based on their past performance, not future). Darvish was the clear exception there last year and everyone knew it, but nobody was willing to make the high reward high risk signing the Rangers were willing to make. Luckily they have the ownership that was willing to take that risk.

[Raps in 4]

I'm over it.

[Hamyltowne]

I'm over it.

True. Dwelling on this is a bad idea.

It hurts, but it's also over. Time to move on.

[Kurtz]

I'd like to hear Schad's opinion on this.

[xAIRNESSx]

Texas just wanted him that much more. I know it's been said, but sucks that we didn't pick up a starting pitcher this past off-season.

[tecumseh18]

Well, it's a useful piece of news to assess AA's/Beeston's/Rogers' overall strategy, given the dearth of public information.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm going through a phase where the idea of spending big bucks through multi years on such an inherently fragile entity as a pitcher seems anathema. Let's just keep drafting them, pushing them through the system and spitting them out. If we get lucky, we'll be the Rays.

To put it another way, if Darvish was with the Jays, I'd expect him to have already booked his appointment with Dr. Andrews by now, and be weighing the pros and cons of rehab and surgery.

[OldNo7]

Anything lower than Daisuke got means they weren't serious and were putting in a token bid.

[rtcaino]

With all due respect, AA basically said that they were way below the Rangers.

He said the strategy was to beat the Dice-K bid, or you came in well below. His tone intimated that they were not in the former camp of beating the Dice-K bid.

Not sure I agree with his thought process; but the Jays' bid being well below the Rangers' should not be a surprise.