MLB Chatter

The news took forever to come out last night, but it finally broke around 11:30pm that the Texas Rangers had won the bidding for Yu Darvish. They paid a record $51.7 million just for the rights to negotiate with him, and now they have a month to sign Darvish to a contract. Considering Darvish brings over even more hype than Daisuke Matsuzaka did, it seems likely that when it's all said and done, the Rangers will have committed more than $100 million in Darvish.

Insane? Most likely. Dave Cameron noted it on Twitter last night that if the Rangers do pay that much for Darvish, he'd have to perform on a Jered-Weaver-like level for him to be worth the cost. While that's certainly possible, those are some hefty expectations to put on someone's shoulders who has never thrown a pitch in the majors.

Also, I'd recommend reading this piece by Brisbee on the Blue Jays missing out on Darvish, if for no other reason than the line about the Rays made me spew coffee at my computer this morning.

• Andres Torres linked his late-career emergence to finally getting treatment for his ADHD. People always forget that ADHD doesn't solely affect children; adults can suffer from it too, and it can be quite the debilitating disorder.
• So apparently Ryan Braun tested positive for steroids because he was taking medication for a medical condition?

Rays Talk

I took a look at some "bottom of the barrel" relievers yesterday at FanGraphs, and I was surprised how much I didn't like Michael Wuertz. We mentioned his name earlier this offseason as a potential buy low piece for the bullpen, but I don't know if I see it. The most concerning thing to me was that his velocity was well down last season and he was getting hit hard, which implies that he simply didn't have the same sort of "stuff" that he had when he was dominant. He'd be worth a flyer on for a minor league deal, but considering his injury history and velocity issues, I don't really think he's a likely bet to turn things around next season.

Anyway, that's all I've got. What a slow offseason for the Rays. Ugh.