Red Sox Likely Out Of Yu Darvish Sweepstakes
BOSTON (CBS) - As other MLB teams get ready to start a bidding war on Japanese Pitching sensation Yu Darvish, it sounds like the Red Sox will sit this one out.
"I'm not sure the timing of this off-season puts us in a position to be the most aggressive team,'' general manager Ben Cherington said before leaving the Winter Meetings in Dallas. "He's a good pitcher. We have a lot of respect for him. We certainly will discuss it. We've got to figure out if a post makes sense."
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The 25-year-old Darvish was 18-6 with a 1.44 ERA and 276 strikeouts for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. He will go through the same bidding process Daisuke Matsuzaka went through five years ago, when Boston posted a $51.1 million bid just to talk with him.
Boston ended up signing Matsuzaka to a six-year, $52 million deal.
While the Red Sox have needs in the back of their rotation, they are not ready to commit front-line starter money on Darvish.
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"We've got a lot of commitment to the starting rotation, as you guys know. We feel pretty good about the front end of our rotation," said Cherington. "Certainly if a team is going to be posting and trying to sign him, it's going to be part of the front end of the rotation. We feel pretty good about that part of our team.''
Boston has Jon Lester, Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz penciled in for the top of their rotation. Diasuke Matsuzaka is expected to miss most of the 2012 season, with John Lackey expected to miss the entire season after both underwent Tommy John Surgery.
The Red Sox have internal options to fill their final two starter slots, with Andrew Miller, Alfredo Aceves, Felix Doubront and even reliever Daniel Bard possibly taking a turn in the rotation.
