It's deja vu all over again.
5 years ago it was a record offer for Dice-K made by the Boston Red Sox. $50 million posting fee plus 5 years at $8+ million a year.
The Texas Rangers took the plunge yesterday. $51 million posting fee plus 6 years at $10 million per year for Yu Darvish.
The Red Sox got about 1 1/2 years of decent pitching from Dice-K over his first 4 years. He was part of the World Series team in 2007, but those days are long gone. Dice may get another 1/2 season in this year after recovering from Tommy John surgery & then he is back on the free market. You give the Sox credit for trying this move, but they certainly saw the difference from Japan in culture, practice routines & the inability for Dice-K to consistently take the ball every 5th day.
The Rangers must think they have learned from the mistakes of the Red Sox with Dice-K. Darvish will need to go from 6 days to 4, pitch every 5th day not every 7th, deal with language & cultural differences, etc. It's another bold move - but one that now takes Texas out of the running for Prince Fielder. You hope Nolan Ryan & his crew get more than 2 good years out of this contract.
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