Morosi: Darvish ‘Increasingly Likely’ to Sign This Week
The Yu Darvish chatter has picked up over the last few days and there’s a sense that something is imminent with spring training report dates only three weeks away. We heard Monday that the Cubs were in “active talks” with Darvish, who may actually be in play for more than just the six teams to which he’s most often connected.
The latest update comes from MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, who tweeted that a source tells him Darvish is “increasingly likely to sign with an MLB team this week.” Morosi notes that multiple teams are engaged in ongoing talks with the star pitcher, but only mentions the Twins by name. So are we to take something from this?
Source: Yu Darvish is increasingly likely to sign with an @MLB team this week. #Twins are among the teams with whom he is engaged in ongoing discussions. @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) January 24, 2018
It’s certainly interesting that no other teams are listed in the report, though it might simply be a matter of conserving time and effort. Then again, Morosi isn’t above making full use of Twitter’s expanded 280-character limit, so it’s not as if his social media decorum is dictating the abbreviated report.
A previous report regarding the Twins’ pursuit of Darvish was that they were unwilling to go to $150 million for him, though even coming short of that figure might put them ahead of the pack. And I’ve speculated more than once that Minnesota might choose to be aggressive with the understanding that they may not possess as much intrinsic value as some of the other teams in the hunt for Darvish’s services.
The Cubs appear to be focused on the Japanese pitcher at this point, too, prioritizing him over Jake Arrieta. They may have even gone so far as to sign Chris Gimenez, Darvish’s favorite catcher, in an effort to improve their positioning. Gimenez last played for the Twins and was rumored to have been recruiting Darvish on behalf of his old team, so getting him out of Minnesota might be doubly beneficial.
However this ends up, it’s likely to be the move that finally, mercifully breaks the ice dam on this offseason. Of course, that’s what we’ve been saying since the Winter Meetings.
