Whirling Darvish

Editor's Note: I wrote all of this piece about Yu Darvish last week, these football topics are added last minute

Rest in Peace Joe Paterno. It's still sad that his career ended the way it did, but now his life itself followed that same ignominious end. I truly believe that if he was still the coach at Penn State, he would still be alive. Nothing excuses any wrong conduct or omissions he may have had in his role in the Sandusky scandal, but let's all at least take the time to remember what he was to all of college football 3 short months ago.

Quick notes on Sunday's title games:

1. Lee Evans is bad.

2. Billy Cundiff (former crappy Cowboys kicker) is bad.

3. Tom Brady is mortal.
4. Holding New England to 23 points should have been enough to win.
5. Anquan Boldin should have had 18 receptions for 263 yards with Julian Edelman on him all game. The fact Flacco couldnt hit him every time shows why Flacco isn't good.
6. I didnt watch anything but the 4th quarter and OT of the NFC game, and Eli Manning took a beating in what i saw. Each pass rush was excellent. 
7. Going 0 for 12 in the game on 3rd down conversions should be an automatic loss. (No i don't count the last one which was a gift and completely irrelevant to the game)
8. When you are punt returner in a game that is a  defensive struggle you never field a punt rolling on the wet ground, or even think about it. Youd never get in trouble if you let it go, you will get in trouble if you let it bounce off of you for a fumble.
9. Even when your punt returner fumbles the ball off his leg, don't let a team score on 3rd and 13, especially one you have been dominating all day.

 10. Honestly though that was a very good throw and catch from Manning to Manningham.

For all my taunting and razzing of Niners fans, I still think you should hold your heads up high. It was a season never anticipated and gave you guys meaningful football for the first time in a decade. Now we can commiserate together on our hatred of Bitchface Eli.

I will refrain from doing a full analysis of these games and save them for next week. I also hope to have a special treat in the next couple of weeks as I attempt to take this blog to the next level. I will get this on paper though: The current Super Bowl spread of Patriots -3 is laughable. Its 6 points too high. It should be Giants -3. Unwavering prediction: NY Giants 31 New England 27.


The real big news just came out of Dallas last Wednesday that Yu Darvish, the most highly sought after Japanese import since Daisuke Matsusaka, has signed with the Rangers. Unlike many of my fellow bloggers, I had absolutely no trepidation with this entire process. If we didn't secure Darvish we get our 51 million dollar posting fee back and hand it immediately over to Prince Fielder. I understand we lost CJ Wilson but I think lost is a relative term. CJ Wilson was one of the worst "aces" I have ever seen start for a World Series team. He has good stuff and he can help a team especially like Anaheim who already has two much better tier 1 starters in Weaver and Haren, but it is clear he can't be number 1 material for a World Series contending team.

 

So then, what is Texas ever to do? Well the first thing they did was sign Joe Nathan right away in the offseason. That gives them a veteran presence in the bullpen to move Neftali Feliz to the rotation where he belongs. At age 23, Feliz can be next Felix Hernandez. Feliz came into camp last year as possible rotation man to replace Cliff Lee and in spring training he showed those electric secondary pitches that made him Baseball America's number 9 overall prospect heading into 2010 and the number 2 pitcher behind only Stephen Strasburg. In the end, the Rangers could not find enough reliable end game relievers and had to move him back to the bullpen. But with the acquisition of both Mike Adams and Joe Nathan in the last 6 months the Rangers are free to move young Feliz into the rotation, and that is precisely where he is going this year. Feliz by all accounts is a better pitcher than Wilson and if anyone knows their history, Wilson was a closer before becoming an All-Star pitcher under the tuteluge of Mike Maddux. I think Feliz can do the same.

Why then the pursuit of Darvish? We filled the hole and then some left by Wilson. Well, in baseball you need pitching and you can never get enough. Its why teams like Philadelphia, Anaheim, San Francisco, Atlanta, and even Tampa Bay have even been competitive the last couple of years. Outside of Philly who actually does have some offensive talent, those other teams have had average to below average lineups over the last couple of years. Hitters can be streaky or unlucky, pitchers on the other hand make their own streaks or luck. Being a pitcher is like being the server in a game of tennis or racquetball. You have the advantage knowing what type of serve you are making and where it is going and when executed correctly you can induce weak returns, or even no return at all. The more pitchers you have that can execute properly the more likely you are to win a series, to prevent lengthy losing streaks and to keep the pressure off the offense from having to produce every single night.

Phildelphia didn't win 102 games because Ryan Howard hit 33 home runs. The Phillies didnt go nearly the whole season from opening day to September 10th compiling a record of 94-48 and suffering only two losing streaks of 3 or more the whole time because Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino set the table for Chase Utley. They did it because they had 4 guys who could go out and execute and not rely on offense. Even bad teams get their wins from pitching. The Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners won 74 and 67 games respectively on the backs on Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, Miquel Pineda and Felix Hernandez. They certainly didnt win because of offense, since I doubt either team's offense rated comparably to a little league squad.

So why not Darvish? Why not have the possibility of securing a potential second ace to go with a very effective back end of the rotation with Lewis, Holland, and Harrison? Every concern was related to Japanese pitcher fatigue by GMs and baseball scouts after the recent "failures" of Daisuke Matsusaka and Kei Igawa. There were no concerns about size, age, makeup, just that hes a highly touted Japanese pitcher and they have all failed here. While it is a ton of money to spend just to purchase his contract from Japan ($51.7 mil), his contract itself was very cost friendly for the ceiling (6 years, $60 mil). By the time he finishes the contract he could be beyond his prime and a new evaluation made. He could be a dominant force here, and considering this Rangers front office scouted him for 3 full years before he could even sign with anyone, I'm going to trust their judgment. They havent made a wrong move yet. Besides, in 2015 Texas starts making 80 mil a year just from TV revenue, they can afford this gamble. Last side note, we paid 65 mil over 5 years fro Chan Ho Park, who never generated this much excitement. Cant do worse than that contract. I just cant wait for spring training to unwrap our new present.

Besides we had to do something to stop the talk of Wilson and pujols to the Angels. I think we did. We will officially eliminate them from baseball if we sign Prince too. One can dream...