I'm sad we missed out on Yu Darvish. Sadder than I thought I'm be. I mean, I've never watched Yu pitch. He pitches in a league whose stats I can't figure how to translate into MLB stats. A few months ago I said I wouldn't want the Jays paying $100 million plus, in posting fee and contract, for a guy that we can't compare to other free agents.
But the last couple of weeks, I kind of fell into thinking that he fit what Alex is trying to do here. He's, potentially, got a high ceiling. He's young enough that his prime is in front of us. We wouldn't have to guarantee him a contract that will pay him a ton of money well after his prime.
Now I think Yu will be a good MLB pitcher. I don't wish him bad luck just because he isn't a Jay. But I don't have any complaints with what Alex and the Jays did. I wouldn't want Alex to have to bid more than he felt Yu was worth. Alex saw him pitch, I didn't. I can't say Alex should have offered more, anymore than anyone else here can, because that would be saying that I know better than he does, even though he's the one that watched Yu.
I never believed the line about Rogers 'ordering' Alex to 'get Yu no matter what it cost'. It didn't ring true to me at all. Ownership did that to JP with Vernon Wells, that didn't work out well. Non-baseball people telling the baseball people how to do things just doesn't work.
I believe that Alex went to Rogers and said "I think a bid of 'X' would be the right amount for Yu." And I believe that Rogers likely said something like 'well if that's what you think he is worth, bid that.' Alex seems to have an idea on what every free agent is worth and he's won't offer more than he that amount. It works for me. I think that's a good way of doing business.
I don't think that, because Alex wasn't able to guess what the Rangers would offer and then offer $5 more, that it means that Rogers is cheap or that they don't want to win or that they won't fund the team. Or that it means that Alex is bad at his job. I think we lost on the bid because the Rangers figured Yu was worth more than the Jays thought he was worth. That happens in the bidding process.
I also think we all learned a lesson about 'sources'. We knew that the posting was a sealed bid. We knew that the Jays wouldn't be telling folks what they bid, so there was no way that anyone had a source that could tell us the winner before it was announced. I knew those people knew nothing, but I still let myself think the Jays had the edge.
We also learned that the New York Post will has no credibility at all.
I also don't believe that the money that Alex isn't spending on Yu will suddenly be offered to Prince Fielder. Alex, once again, has a number that he thinks Prince would be worth and won't go beyond that. Even after missing out on Yu.
Anyway, I'm sad that we didn't get Yu, but I'm still a Jays fan. I don't think it changes the way Alex will do business. He has a process he uses and he'll stick to it. I liked the way Alex was doing things 2 weeks ago, and I still like him now. I think he'll be back trying to improve the team tomorrow. He's made a ton of moves in the last year and I'm sure he will make a bunch more before the start of spring.
This isn't the end of the fun, it is just getting started.