Talking Yu Darvish With Patrick Newman Of NBP Tracker

We got in touch with Patrick Newman, founder, writer, and editor of  NPB Tracker and asked him some questions about 24 year old Japanesepitcher Yu Darvish. Patrick has been a fan of Japanese baseball since Sports Channel aired the 1994 Japan Series while the Major Leaguers were on strike. He then lived in Japan between 2000-2003, and has been following NPB very closely ever since.  Content from NPB Tracker has been featured or referenced in numerous media outlets, including ESPN, SNY.tv, the Boston Score, the Boston Herald, AOL Fanhouse, NESN, MASN,  Baseball Prospectus; online editions the Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, and the  Examiner. So when we had some questions about the intriguing talents of Darvish, we knew exactly where to go. We highly recommend checking his work out and hope you enjoy his chat with Metszilla.com:

MetsZilla-

What would have to happen for Darvish to come over this season? How much do you think he will demand in salary/year?

Patrick Newman-

My guess is that either he’d have to really push for it or his team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, would have to believe these rumors are becoming a distraction. He still has three years left before hitting free agency, and he’s the best pitcher in the league.  Posting him would make little sense for Nippon Ham.

MetsZilla-

What percentage would you give of this actually coming to fruition?

Patrick Newman-

I wasn’t going to bite on this, but then I noticed that I said 1% earlier on NPB Tracker. So I’ll stick with that.

MetsZilla-

Can you compare the hype surrounding Darvish to that of any recent player to join the MLB or, because of his age and popularity is there simply no comparison?

Patrick Newman-

The velocity of the rumors exceeds what we saw with Daisuke Matsuzaka, who would be the most obvious comparison.

MetsZilla-

In terms of his development, who among MLB rookies might you liken him to?

Patrick Newman-

The short answer is that I don’t see an obvious comparable among this year’s rookies.  The ones you’re going to want to hear about are Strasburg and Chapman.  Darvish doesn’t have the raw velocity of either of those guys, but he’s shown he can hit...TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST HEAD TO METSZILLA.COM BY CLICKING HERE:

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