Sox on the Farm: Yu Darvish

This week's edition of "Sox on the Farm" is a little different than those of the past. Although we will be looking at a prospect who may be able to help the Sox down the road, this week's prospect, Yu Darvish, isn't in the Red Sox system....at least not yet. However the 21-year old Japanese starter is likely to follow countryman Daisuke Matsuzaka and head for the U.S. shortly, and when he does so the Sox are likely to be big bidders in the Darvish sweepstakes. Like Dice-K he was a legend from the Koshien National High School Baseball Tournament where he threw a no-hitter his senior year. The following year he was a member of the Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japanese League. In his 3 seasons he has good from good to downright dominant; 5-5 3.53 in '05; 12-5 2.89 in '06; 15-5 1.82 in '07. In 2006 he led the Fighters to their first Japan Series title since '61, pitching Game 1 and the clinching 4-1 win in Game 5. He then won MVP of the Konami Cup Asia Series (a tourney for the champs of Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea). Not turning 22 until August he is already the most dominant pitcher in Japan, striking out 210 in 207 innings last year (4.5-to-1 K/BB ratio) to go along with career marks of 32-15, 2.53 ERA and 17 complete games and 6 shutouts in just 64 starts. He has been scouted by some teams since Junior High, but the Sox will certainly be among the top bidders for a prize that is expected to cost upwards of $75 million just for negotiation rights! Making him a "Sox on the Farm" is slightly presumptuous I understand, but since he will likely be heading straight to Fenway I figured this was the only chance I would get.