[vincesanity82]

There aren't any Japanese players heading to the U.S. via the posting system this offseason. Kosuke Fukudome joined the Cubs as a conventional free agent and Hiroki Kuroda joined the Dodgers in the same fashion, but what about next year? There could be a frenzied bidding war for 20-year old phenom Yu Darvish brewing. Via East Windup Chronicle:

The Yu Darvish to MLB rumors may have just officially kicked off right along with the new year. A Sports Hankook (Korea) report, relying on a Japanese source (Sports Nikkan), says that the Yankees plan to nab Darvish following the 2008 season.

The report goes on to say that the Dodgers, Mets and Cubs have also made "love calls" to Darvish and that the floor of negotiations is something along the lines of what Daisuke Matsuzaka was able to command during his posting extravaganza in 2006.

If Darvish was already in the U.S. his hype would be on the same level of Phil Hughes and Clay Buchholz. He posted a 1.82 ERA with 210 strikeouts in 207 2/3 innings last season for the Nippon Ham Fighters and won the Pacific League MVP. That's more than Matsuzaka was doing at that age and Darvish just became the youngest player to sign a 200 million yen contract (about $2 million) in Japanese history.

Is Yu Darvish the Next Dice-K? - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Japanese pitchers are like European basketball players, you never know what you are gonna get.

[ThePundit]

Yu Darvish sounds like he should be in a Star Wars movie.

[azrael492]

He dominated over there, but it is a different talent level here. How many bad Japanese pitchers have there been. It is a crap shoot.