New Japanese phenom on Yankees’ radar?
January 2nd, 2008 11:28 AM
2008 has barely begun, Spring Training is more than a month away, and already the Internet is abuzz with word of the next great phenom who could be available to major league teams after this season.
That would be pitcher Yu Darvish, a 21-year-old Iranian-Japanese righthander. He won the 2007 Sawamura Award, Japan’s equivalent of the Cy Young Award, after posting a 15-5 season with a 1.82 ERA.
How good can Darvish be? According to Wikipedia, Kansas City Manager Trey Hillman, former manager of Darvish’s team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, has said this.
“How good do I think he can be? I think he can be the best in the world. He’s not there yet … but I think he can potentially pass a guy like Matsuzaka.”
That, of course, would be Daisuke Matsuzaka, who cost the Boston Red Sox more than $100 million when he came to America last year with the reputation of being the greatest pitcher ever born.
Rumors out of Japan say the Yankees and several other teams have already expressed interest, …