Yanks Sent 'Stick' To Japan to Check Out Darvish

Last week I posted a report from the NY Daily News about Gene Michael going over to Japan on a scouting mission. Today the NY Post has some more details.

From George A. King III:

Even though previous reports on Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish weren't glowing, the Yankees are taking a second look at the 21-year-old.

Billy Eppler, the Yankees' head of professional scouting, and scout Gene Michael are in Japan, to see Darvish, who pitches for the Nippon Ham Fighters. The club isn't expected to post Darvish, but if it does the Yankees want to be in a position to judge if they make a bid for him.

The Yankees aren't interested in Junichi Tazawa, the top amateur pitcher in Japan. MLB and Japanese clubs have a loose agreement not to go after each other's amateurs, but a few MLB teams are prepared to ignore the agreement for the 22-year-old right-hander.

People have estimated that Darvish's posting fee is going to be somewhere near $75 MM, which is insane. If the Yankees are going to cough up that kind of dough, they better know if Darvish is for real or not. And i admit, after Hideki Irabu and Kei Igawa, I don't have the greatest feelings regarding Japanese pitchers.

Here's some more info on Darvish here, here, and here. And here's some video of Yu Darvish that 'Godriguez' posted in the comments.

Also if you're interesting in seeing Tazawa, here's a video from Youtube.