Yu have to admire the Rangers' guts

It's amazing what back-to-back trips to the World Series can do for a general manager's credibility. What, do you think Rangers president Nolan Ryan would've signed off on a reported 51.7 million bid for the negotiating rights to right-hander Yu Darvish a couple years ago? The Rangers could've taken a much more conventional approach to this offseason, but obviously Daniels and his staff felt like making a remarkably bold move. They let the baseball world think the Toronto Blue Jays were going to win the bidding for Darvish while secretly putting together an offer to the Nippon Ham Fighters that would make the Red Sox and Yankees blush. The Rangers have until Jan. 18 to reach an agreement with Darvish, but they've already shown they are all-in on the 25-year-old pitcher. And just in case you're thinking this was an impulse buy, the Rangers have been tracking Darvish's every move for years. A high-ranking member of the organization told me Tuesday morning that Rangers scouts had seen more than 30 of his starts in person over the past year. Basically, the pursuit of Darvish had nothing to do with the Angels plunking down 330 million for Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson on the same morning. Now, it's completely fair to wonder why the Rangers would potentially invest more than 125 million in Darvish when they could've acquired proven commodities such as Wilson and Mark Buehrle for something in that range. Rest assured that Ryan would've been much more comfortable with that type of approach. But again, Ryan decided to defer to Daniels and his talented baseball people. And he also deferred to an ownership group that isn't waiting on monster TV money to make another run at the World Series title. Daniels thanked the co-chairmen of the club's board of directors, Ray Davis and Bob Simpson, for their commitment to winning during a conference call with reporters Monday night. "We want the best possible team out there," said Daniels. "We've had success the last two years, but we haven't been able to close it out. That's our goal, and we're doing everything possible to bring a championship to Texas." The Rangers know that Darvish will have to overcome a disturbing history of Japanese starters failing in the majors. The Red Sox invested more than 100 million in Daisuke Matsuzaka and watched him excel for two seasons before becoming a huge disappointment. Hideo Nomo finished his career with a 123-109 record, but he faded after two successful seasons and finished with a career E.R.A. of 4.24. Former Rangers outfielder Kevin Mench never faced Darvish in the Japanese League because they played in different divisions. But he has a definite opinion on why Japanese starters have struggled with the transition. "They face two or three good hitters on any given night," said Mench. "Over here, there are seven or eight guys who can hit the ball out of the ballpark. Darvish may have a good first year, but eventually teams are going to destroy him. I hope I'm wrong, but history seems to support what I'm saying." Darvish, the son of an Iranian father and Japanese mother who met in the U.S., is 6-5 and weighs 220 pounds. He has an extremely strong work ethic, but he's really cut his own path on and off the field. Darvish uses a three-quarters delivery that is different than a lot of pitchers who have come over from Japan. The Rangers are well aware that his numbers (93-38, 1.99 career E.R.A) are inflated, but they haven't let his countrymen's history overpower their evaluation of him. The comforting thought to the scouts I've talked to is that Darvish doesn't remind them of any of the Japanese pitchers who've pitched in the majors. Of course, the Red Sox probably had a similar feeling when Dice-K showed up on the scene. The good news for Rangers fans is that Darvish doesn't seem to have similar eating habits to Dice-K and he's regarded as an extremely hard worker. The Rangers certainly could've found a safer route this offseason, but they decided to do something incredibly bold. That's what happens when you build this much credibility.