This is the trade we've all been waiting for. Finally, after all the hollerin' and yellin' by the faithful, the Dodgers have made a trade for an impactful player -- a kind of player who we all hope and expect will take us to the promised land. The Dodgers have traded for ace starting pitcher Yu Darvish, and it didn't cost us our best prospects to get him. The Dodgers sent to Texas slugger Willie Calhoun, pitcher A.J. Alexy and second baseman prospect Brendon Davis. Per a Dodgers press release:
Darvish, who turns 31 on Aug. 16, has gone 52-39 with a 3.42 ERA in 122 career starts in five big league seasons with the Rangers from 2012-17, earning All-Star selections in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2017. Since making his MLB debut in 2012, Darvish leads the American League in opponents’ batting average (.218) and strikeouts per 9.0 innings (11.04), while ranking among the league’s best in ERA (7th), strikeouts (960, 7th) and WHIP (1.18, 10th).
The 2017 All-Star has gone 6-9 with a 4.01 ERA in 22 starts this year, while limiting opponents to a .225 batting average with a 1.17 WHIP and averaging better than a strikeout per inning with 148 Ks against just 45 walks in 137.0 innings. Darvish has pitched well on the road with a 2.49 ERA (18 ER/65.0 IP) in 10 starts and received the third-fewest run support of any American League pitcher (3.42 RSA).
Darvish was originally signed by the Rangers on Jan. 18, 2012 following seven seasons pitching in Japan with the Nippon Ham Fighters.
You can follow Yu on twitter here: @faridyu. Hilariously, Yu was eagerly awaiting who he was being traded to, as evidenced by this pic tweeted by Darvish 10 minutes before the end of the trade deadline:
In honor of Yu's addition to the starting rotation I made the above two fantasy Baseball cards of him. I used the 1952 Topps Baseball design for the card on the left and the 1988 Donruss Baseball design for the card on the right.
With this move the Dodgers now have a formidable rotation of Clayton Kershaw, Yu Darvish, Alex Wood and Rich Hill -- with Kenta Maeda, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Brandon McCarthy waiting in the wings. Per Jeff Todd at MLB Trade Rumors:10min!! pic.twitter.com/gwP7qwvh8d— ダルビッシュ有(Yu Darvish) (@faridyu) July 31, 2017
While he has only managed a 4.01 ERA on the year — much of that due to an awful recent start — he’s still rolling with 9.7 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. Of greater importance, perhaps, he has managed to provided 137 innings over 22 starts — putting him on pace to approach or top 200 innings for the first time since 2013.I'm excited. Are you excited! Wow!
In honor of Yu's addition to the starting rotation I made the above two fantasy Baseball cards of him. I used the 1952 Topps Baseball design for the card on the left and the 1988 Donruss Baseball design for the card on the right.
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