Which Yu Would You Choose?

Back in April of 2012, I was sitting in the restaurant section of the Bottom Lounge, a popular Chicago concert venue located on the near west side.  After a long day of work, I was waiting on a group of friends to meet me there, so that we could enjoy the musical stylings of Bowling for Soup and Patent Pending on the cozy stage.  However, these friends were running late, so I plopped down at a booth, ordered a cheeseburger, and took in the baseball game that was playing on the TV in front of me - the Texas Rangers vs. the Toronto Blue Jays.  You might be asking yourself, why was a lounge in Chicago showing a Rangers/Jays game?  You see, the Rangers were starting a high-profile rookie who had just been imported from Japan, a pitcher by the name of Yu Darvish.

In that contest, the young phenom carved up the opposition, striking out nine Texas batters in seven innings while earning the win.  As I took in the action, I was simultaneously upset with my friends because we ended up missing all of Patent Pending due to their tardiness, but also pleased that I was able to take in such a dominant performance.  Since then, Darvish has been one of my favorite non-Cubs... well, now, six year later, you can officially drop the "non."

After months and months of seemingly endless hemming and hawing, labor saber rattling, and column after column about how the dearth of free agent signings could last into March, Yu Darvish signed a contract with my Chicago Cubs yesterday.   Basically, since connections were made in late November, we rabid North Sider fans have been obsessively refreshing Twitter, living for updates on MLB Trade Rumors, and even got so desperate as to turn to a cat for hot stove news, all in hopes of seeing the headline that popped up in our feeds last night:  "Cubs to Sign Yu Darvish."  Due to the stale market, they were able to get him on a six year, $126MM contract - roughly $34MM less than projected.

All I can say is, "it's finally happened - can Yu believe it?"  Also, get ready for an endless stream of terrible, low-fruit grabbing puns like that one.

This ace-caliber pitcher has an impressive resume.  The four-time All Star has posted a career 3.42 ERA, a career 3.30 FIP, and regularly ranked near the top of the league in strikeouts for the Texas Rangers.  After a late-season trade to the Dodgers last year, Yu helped to lead the powerhouse into the World Series, including a masterful start against the Cubs in the NLCS (6.1 IP, 1 ER).  Seeing as he is essentially replacing fellow free agent holdout, Jake Arrieta, in the Cubs rotation, Yu is going to have some big shoes to fill

Of course, as with any hurler signed to a lengthy deal, there are many risks associated with the move.  First of all, Darvish previously missed the entirety of the 2015 season when he went under the knife for Tommy John Surgery.  While he has obviously come back strong, there will always be questions about the durability of his right arm.  Furthermore, the true elephant in the room has to be his dreadful performance in the 2018 World Series - 2 starts, 3.1 IP, 8 ER - which lead many to wonder if those numbers were giving teams pause.  Although, during the course of the off-season, reports from the Astros leaked out that Yu was tipping his pitches, a problem that the Cubs coaching staff should easily be able to help their new TOR starter work through.

All in all, the Darvish deal has plenty of risk associated with it; however, there's no way that Theo and Co. were going to be able to acquire a pitcher of that caliber at a lesser cost.  Personally, I cannot wait to see Yu suit up in Cubbie blue when pitchers and catchers report, this Wednesday, February 14th (I feel like there's something else going on that day too... hmmmm....).

Now, with this big transaction officially in the books, it's time for me to update my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection binder.  Seeing as the Cubbies' new moundsman spent a lot of time as a big-time star for a club that I have yet to establish a regular trading partner with, I have a small handful of Texas Ranger Darvishes in my possession.  Yesterday evening, I took delight in digging through the Rangers section of my trade box in search of the new North Sider.  In the course of my excavation, I was able to uncover five different options for inclusion in my CATRC tome.

Of course, whatever card I ultimately decide to use as Yu's representation is obviously going to be a place-holder.  You know that Topps is already scrambling to get his name on the Cubs portion of the checklist for Series II - big name and big team.  On a related note, I am curious to see how the backlog of upper-echelon free agents will affect the cardboard releases of 2018.  Will Topps actually be able to get Darvish and his fellow holdouts into Series II?  Did they wait so long that they'll have to settle for Update?  Was Topps preparing for this eventuality when the market freeze became undeniably apparent?  I guess we shall see.

Meanwhile, as all of that is being straightened out, I'm left asking myself which Yu Darvish should hold down the fort until he makes his Cubs cardboard debut?

As I've done with big free agent/trade additions in the past, I'll pose that question to you loyal readers - which of the above five cards should I use for Darvish in my marquee binder?  Which Yu would you choose?

I look forward to responses - I'm having a hard time making a choice, though I think I'm leaning towards either the Archives card or the GQ parallel.  Please let me know what you think!

In the meantime, here's hoping that this major signing will help kickstart the extremely stagnant free-agent market... not that we haven't been saying that every time anyone signs a contract this off-season.  Although, this move is a little different as it officially sets a bar for the top-tier starting pitchers; thus, maybe this will cause some movement on the Arrieta, Alex Cobb, Lance Lynn, etc. front.  Personally, I believe that all this talk about a free agent spring training camp and potential labor stoppage has driven us fans to the proverbial edge.

At any rate, welcome to Chicago and to the CATRC, Yu Darvish!

(Here's a little taste of what I missed out on that chilly April evening in 2012)