Yu Darvish (38) of the San Diego Padres was disappointed that the team lost Shohei Otani (30) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (26) to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
American media outlet Dodge Nation said on the 1st (hereinafter Korean time)
The recruitment of Shohei Otani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto
the biggest free agents in name and reality this offseason, has the effect of bringing about polarization.
Many baseball fans cheered for new stars to join the Dodgers. Others viewed the Dodgers as baseball’s new villains.
San Diego starting pitcher Yu Darvish also raised his voice regarding this Dodgers contract.”
Darvish is a veteran starting pitcher with a career record of 103 wins, 85 losses, and an ERA of 3.59 in 266 major league games (1,624 ⅓ innings).
He signed a six-year, $108 million (approximately 140.3 billion won) extension contract with San Diego last year and recorded 8 wins, 10 losses, and an ERA of 4.56 in 24 games (136⅓ innings).
Darvish, who recently expressed his opinion through a radio platform, said, “When signing the extension
I checked with general manager AJ Preller to see if my contract would be a problem in recruiting Otani or Yamamoto.
San Diego had no intention of signing these two players, and it’s sad that they both ended up going to the Dodgers.”
Otani and Yamamoto were the biggest free agents that received the most attention this winter. Ohtani has a career batting average of 2.74 % in 716 major league games (681 hits in 2,483 at-bats)
171 home runs, 437 RBIs, .922 OPS, 86 games as a pitcher (481 ⅔ innings), 38 wins, 19 losses, and an ERA of 3.01, and was the first unanimous MVP in history.
He is a special star who has won the award twice.
Yamamoto also conquered Japan with a total of 172 games (897 innings) in Japanese professional baseball, 70 wins, 29 losses, an average ERA of 1.82, and 922 strikeouts, and became the first pitcher to win four awards (multiple wins, ERA, strikeouts, and winning percentage) for three consecutive years in Japanese professional baseball.
At the same time, he won the Sawamura Award and MVP for three consecutive years.
Ohtani, who qualified as a free agent for the first time since entering the major leagues
signed a 10-year contract worth $700 million (about 909.3 billion won) with the Dodgers on the 10th of last month.
It is the largest contract in Major League history, surpassing Mike Trout’s (Angels) 12-year contract worth $426.5 million (about KRW 554 billion)
as well as the largest contract in professional sports history, surpassing Lionel Messi’s 5-year contract worth $674 million (approximately KRW 875.5 billion)
am. Yamamoto also broke the record for the largest contract ever for a pitcher by signing a 12-year, $325 million (approximately 422.2 billion won) contract with the Dodgers on the 22nd of last month. The amount the Dodgers invested in Ohtani and Yamamoto amounts to $1.025 billion (about 1.3315 trillion won).
San Diego, which missed Otani and Yamamoto, instead signed Japanese special closer Yuki Matsui on a five-year contract worth $28 million (about 36.4 billion won).
Matsui recorded a total of 501 games (659⅔ innings) in Japanese professional baseball, with 25 wins, 46 losses, 76 holds, 236 saves, and an ERA of 2.40. Darvish strengthened his resolve, saying, “Now that Matsui is here, we will work hard together.
He continued, “But if Loki Sasaki (Chiba Lotte) goes to the Dodgers, he will cry and pitch. Now is the time to become a San Diego fan. “Let’s beat LA!” he added jokingly.
Dodge Nation said, “Despite Darvish’s request, San Diego was unable to make meaningful offers to Otani and Yamamoto.
San Diego is in a situation where it needs to reduce its payroll. Darvish knows how talented these two players are and now he has to face them until the end of their major league careers.
Looking at Darvish’s remarks, the competition between the Dodgers and San Diego will become more interesting in the future.
The two teams weren’t always on good terms, and now I can’t wait for the season opener in Korea
he said, looking forward to the Seoul series between San Diego and the Dodgers to be held in March.