Texas Rangers: Planning to re-sign Yu Darvish after 2017?

Yu Darvish is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He is coming off a shaky 2016 season. 2017 is his chance to rectify his previous struggles. The Texas Rangers were reportedly in pursuit of several free agents. Texas took a pass on them, possibly to save money to re-sign Darvish.

Edwin Encarnacion and Mark Trumbo were two free agents that the Texas Rangers were reportedly after. Encarnacion signed with Cleveland and Trumbo is back in Baltimore. Nevertheless, Texas’ roster is still in good shape. In other words, Texas felt they didn’t need either of them.

Did Texas do the right thing by not signing them? I’d say yes. For one thing, they’d be too expensive. And with the money Texas is paying to Shin-Soo Choo, Prince Fielder, Elvis Andrus & company, they don’t need to be giving blockbuster deals to anybody at the moment.

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The Rangers seem committed to Darvish. If they did, indeed, take a pass on signing big names in free agency just to be able to re-sign him, then Texas seems to trust Darvish, as well. In other words, Darvish is considered a top priority and Texas doesn’t want to see him leave.

Darvish’s record is 46-30, including 0-2 in the playoffs. He’s started 100 games. He’s a three-time All-Star (2012-2014) and he’s the 2013 American League Strikeout Leader. He missed all of 2015 due to Tommy John Surgery. Last season he was still recovering and he was battling several other nagging injuries. Regardless, his tenure in Texas hasn’t gone too bad.

2017 is Darvish’s golden opportunity to prove himself. Obviously 2016 wasn’t a very good one for him, but he was still going through the recovery process for his surgically repaired elbow. In other words, he wasn’t 100 percent.

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In any case, he should be good to go by the time Spring Training begins. Meanwhile, there’s been nothing to report on the status of Darvish as of late. 2017 should be a good season for him, provided that he can stay healthy and focused.

However, in any case, we’ll just have to wait and see.