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Yu enters final year of first MLB contract
- Updated: December 26, 2016
ARLINGTON — The clock is winding down on Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish.
The Rangers just celebrated the five-year anniversary of submitting the winning bid on Darvish after he was posted by the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan. The Rangers’ bid, announced on Dec. 19, 2011, was approximately $51.7 million, and they signed Darvish for six years and another $56 million.
Their $107 million investment is about to expire. Darvish will become a free agent after the 2017 season if the Rangers don’t sign him to a contract extension.
General manager Jon Daniels has made it clear the Rangers are interested in doing that, but he has been putting together the 2017 team. The Rangers will likely broach the subject with Darvish’s representatives after the new year or in Spring Training.
There is a strong chance that it will take more than $107 million to extend Darvish, 30, who is 46-30 with a 3.29 ERA in 100 starts for the Rangers while missing all of the 2015 season recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Darvish made 17 starts for the Rangers last season, going 7-5 with a 3.41 ERA. He allowed five runs in five innings in a 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
The Rangers are counting on Darvish being at full strength in his first full year back from surgery.
“I think this guy is obviously trending up, in the sense that he’s got a fresh arm,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “He’s prepared, learned how to pitch in the sense of what it feels like. When these guys come back from Tommy John surgery, it’s time off, time away. It’s a new feel for them. They have to learn what it feels like again.
“We saw that kind of transformation. We saw some games where he didn’t quite have the …
