CJ Wilson vs. Yu Darvish

CJ Wilson vs. Yu Darvish

Wilson with his best Duck Face

I find it laughable when Texas Ranger Fans comment on how great Yu Darvish is versus CJ Wilson. "Well the Rangers seemed to be ok with taking a chance on a rookie rather than giving away playoff games with CJ," was a post from a dear friend who has the tragic illness of being a Ranger fan.  The most alarming thing to me is that there is a perception that Darvish is better than Wilson because of Wins versus Loses.  I have never claimed to be a huge stat guy.  But I did a quick look on some measurables.  And as of last nights disapointing loss to Oakland you can compare the two pitchers and it isn't as one sides as Ranger Fans would lead you to believe.  Darvish has 68 Earned Runs, Wilson is at 55. Darvish has given up 12 HR, Wilson is at 11. Darvish has thrown a lot more strikes, but the he's also walked 14 more batters and his ERA is 4.57 to CJ's 3.34

How quickly the Ranger Fans forget how CJ carried that team to the World Series last year and was an important part of getting them their in 2010.  Now grant it, I wouldn't say Darvish is a horrible pitcher.  He's actually a pretty solid pitcher.  He was the Ace of the Japanese Staff in the final Olympic Baseball game played in 2008.  And was a part of the Japanese Team that won the WBC Championship, prior to coming to the states.  It is said in a first time match up between a pitcher and a hitter that the pitcher always has the advantage, the batter can always make adjustments for his next at bat.  Darvish came into the league and very few players had faced him.  Darvish benefited from that.  Both Darvish and Wilson had very good starts to the year, but both of them have struggled and both looks bad in their last outings.  

CJ Wilson is signed to the Angels for the next 5 Years making roughly 15 Million a Year.  Yu Darvish is signed for 6 Years and is making roughly 9 Million a Year, however when you include the posting fees the Rangers had to pay 51.7 Million Dollars to Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, it cost the Rangers roughly 17.61M a year.  There is roughly 40 Games left to the season, each pitcher will probably have 8-9 more starts before the post season. 

In conclusion the Rangers are paying nearly 3 Million dollars more a year for 2 more wins and 28 more strike outs, really doesn't make a lot of fiscal sense to me.

Go Halos!