Major League Baseball (MLB) Stove League drew as much attention as a free agent (FA) contract with a long-term extension contract for key players. Japanese major leaguer Darvish Yu (37) hit the peak. This is because he, who is 38 years old in our age and in his twilight years, has signed a six-year contract extension with his current team, the San Diego Padres. The total amount is 108 million dollars (about 136 billion won).
A pitcher in his late 30s was guaranteed an active career until well past his 40s. The club judged that the player’s skills and durability would not be drastically compromised.
Darvish, who was the best pitcher in the Japanese league, debuted in the big leagues in 2012 with the Texas Rangers. Ahead of the 2018 season, he signed a free agent contract with the Chicago Cubs for $126 million and moved to San Diego for the 2021 season.
In the meantime, I didn’t just walk on the flower path. He achieved double-digit multipliers in a row for three years of his debut (2012-2014), but after that, until last season, he won 10 wins only once in the 2017 season. He even underwent elbow surgery in 2015 and 2018.
The 2022 season threw well. He appeared in 30 games, went 16-8 with a 3.10 earned run average, leading San Diego to the postseason. Top pitchers in the league, such as Joe Musgrove, Sean Manea, and Blake Snell, fill the San Diego starting lineup, but Darvish definitely played the first starting role.
San Diego has a league-leading offense. Darvish, who still throws fastballs in the 150 km/h range and has the ability to use the ‘eight-colored’ breaking ball, will be able to keep the top of the starting lineup for the next two to three years.
Even considering all of these points, 6 years is an unprecedented period. The best pitcher in the league, Jake deGrom, who signed a free agent contract with Texas this winter, has been guaranteed five years. He is two years younger than Darvish. Max Scherzer, born in 1984, signed a three-year contract with the New York Mets ahead of last season, and Justin Verlander, born in 1983, signed a two-year contract with the Stove League this year. In the 2026-2028 season, attention is focusing on what Darvish will show for three years from the age of 41 to the age of 43. 바카라
With Darvish’s contract, domestic MLB fans were worried that the ‘Korean Express’ Park Chan-ho’s record of most wins (124 wins) by an Asian pitcher could be broken. Darvish went 95-75 in 11 MLB seasons. There are 30 wins left before his new record. It is possible with an average of 5 wins per year. There has never been a season in which Darvish started more than 30 games and did not win five games.
Darvish is the most successful Japanese pitcher in MLB after Nomo. Current icon Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels) also has only 28 wins in his career. Park Chan-ho surpassed Hideo Nomo (123 wins), a fellow player with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The old mother’s heir is looking at the record again.