On Monday night, it was revealed that the Texas Rangers had placed the winning bid for exclusive negotiating rights with right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish. After losing aces Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson in subsequent off-seasons, the two-time defending American League champs are looking to lock down a formidable arm for their rotation.
The Rangers won the 30-day negotiating rights by barely outbidding the Toronto Blue Jays for the honor. According to Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star, the Blue Jays organization is disappointed at losing out on Darvish and must regroup for the rest of their free agency plans for the offseason. Jays' GM Alex Anthopoulos had this to say:
"We still need help in the bullpen, in the rotation and if we can add a bat," Anthopoulos admitted. "We continue to explore those possibilities, first through trade then free agency. I think we have plent of resources to work with. Do we have enough (payroll)? Absolutely and I feel we have enough creativity here to make it work. My sights and my focus haven’t changed."
The Wall Street Journal was privy to a conference call with Rangers GM Jon Daniels following the announcement of the winning bid.
"Obviously, it's a very exciting night for our organization, our fans and our community. Our ownership went the extra mile on this one."
USA Today has a more in-depth breakdown on how the exclusive negotiating rights work.
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