This past December, the Baltimore Orioles signed Japanese pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada to a two year contract worth more than $8 million. Wada, and his high strike out/low walk rates in Japan represented an intelligent risk for a franchise that had an off season full of missteps.
However, as we’ve learned over the last few years, the Baltimore Orioles tend to legitimize Murphy’s Law on a frequent basis.
Yu Darvish. No. Let me get this right. Yu Darvish! Stil not quite there. YU DARVISH! Almost there. YU DARVISH!!!!!!!!!! There we go.
Against the New York Yankees last night, Texas Rangers starter Yu Darvish threw eight and a third innings giving up zero runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out ten batters throwing 119 pitches, 82 of which were for strikes, including 15 whiffs.
It seems false to point to one moment as a player’s arrival, but given the tremendous expectations on Darvish, brought on by the equally tremendous amount of money that the Rangers spent on the pitcher who hadn’t thrown to a single batter in Major League Baseball, his dominance of what has undoubtedly been the most offensive lineup in baseball so far this season is probably the reason that “arrival” cliché exists.
I don’t know about you, but I tend to think of player agents as a particular brand of slime. That’s not to say they are slime. I’m not Stan Kasten. I understand that they’re a necessary part of negotiations between a baseball player and a baseball team. And I’m glad that baseball players have them to maintain some semblance of fairness when it comes to getting paid.
Of the three parties involved in contract negotiations, I find the team’s interest, no matter how wealthy its ownership, to be the most interesting as it attempts to find value in a contract while balancing current budget demands with future revenue streams. After that, I find it easiest to empathize with a player who wants to make as much money as he possibly can over the course of his relatively short career. This leaves us with the parasite who gets paid a percentage of the player’s contract to do whatever he can to eke out as much money possible.
Again, I understand it’s a necessary role, but I prefer to avert my eyes from the actions of player agents, and pretend that they don’t exist. That was before today. And more specifically, before I was introduced to my new favourite agent, Matt Sosnick.
Yesterday, we linked to a story out of Baltimore that centred around pitcher Dontrelle Willis, with the Orioles on a Minor League deal, curiously being placed on the restricted list after pitching only three and two third innings for Triple A Norfolk.
When reached for comment, Willis was dumbfounded as to why he would have remained under the organization’s umbrella after requesting his release.
I don’t understand what’s really going on. I don’t know if there’s been a miscommunication there. I talked to my agent and we talked about it, I talked to the proper representation, I talked to Dan [Duquette] personally. It was face-to-face. I don’t know what’s going on. And now if I want to sign with another team, I can’t.
The latest report from MLBTR has the Orioles refusing to grant the Minor League pitcher his release after the pitcher left the Minor League team without permission.
Given the setting, the results from Saturday afternoon’s New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox game in which ten doubles were hit and 24 runs were scored were hardly surprising. What was unexpected was the enormity of the Boston bullpen’s melt down.
Alfredo Aceves, Matt Albers and Vicente Padilla faced a combined fourteen batters, but got only a single member of the opposition out, allowing eleven earned runs in the process. Without knowing any better, one might misinterpret the pitchers’ actions as an attempted remake of a particularly awful movie from the 1970s.
Last week, super agent Scott Boras made the seemingly hopeful proclamation that his veteran left fielding/designated hitting free agent client Johnny Damon would be gainfully employed once again by the beginning of May. Given that the player’s usefulness on a Major League roster seemed more on the designated hitter side of his two possible positions, combined with the fact that he was coming off his worst season at the plate since 2001, the statement from Boras came across as especially ambitious.
Nonetheless, late last night, reports and text messages began surfacing that suggested Damon was on his way to Cleveland to play left field for the Indians. While no dollar figures have been announced, it’s expected that the agreement will be a one year deal that will include a special opt out clause, for when Grady Sizemore returns from back surgery in eight to twelve weeks.
On Monday night, Yu Darvish made his much awaited first start for a Major League Baseball team. If you’ll recall, the Texas Rangers committed to spending $112 million this off season to ensure that the studallion of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League was a member of their ball club for what they hope will be the next six years. That journey started with Darvish making his debut against the Seattle Mariners.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t much of a debut. In what appeared to be a case of misdirected nervous energy combined with simple bad luck, Darvish allowed four runs on four hits and three walks (including one with the bases loaded) in a disasterpiece of a first inning that lasted 42 pitches. Thanks to the Rangers ever impressive offense, Darvish collected a win for his efforts, and in fairness, he did settle down after his shaky start.
