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ARLINGTON -- The Rangers have agreed to terms with Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish on a six-year, approximately $60 million contract.
The Rangers won negotiating rights with a $51.7 million bid that will now be paid to the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. Texas was able to come to an agreement with Darvish before a 5 p.m. ET Wednesday deadline.
The deal is the largest for a player joining the Major Leagues through the posting system. It tops the deal of Daisuke Matsuzaka, who left the Seibu Lions after the 2006 season, when he was 26. He signed a six-year, $52 million contract with the Red Sox, who paid a $51.1 million posting fee to Seibu.
Darvish, 25, was 18-6 with a 1.44 ERA in 28 games for the Fighters last season. He pitched 232 innings and struck out 276 batters. It was his fifth straight season of pitching at least 180 innings and finishing with an ERA of under 1.90.
Darvish pitched for Japan's national team in the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He has won two Most Valuable Player Awards in Japan's Pacific League and has twice been named the top pitcher.
Darvish joins a rotation that already includes right-handers Colby Lewis and Alexi Ogando, and left-handers Derek Holland and Matt Harrison. The Rangers are also planning on moving closer Neftali Feliz into the rotation.
That gives the Rangers six pitchers for a five-man rotation. That doesn't include Scott Feldman, a 17-game winner in 2009 who was used in relief last season after returning from knee surgery. A trade is a possibility but the most likely scenario is Ogando returning to the bullpen. He was a setup reliever for the Rangers in 2010 and was used in that role during the playoffs last October.
Darvish is the third Japanese pitcher added to the Rangers' 40-man roster, joining relievers Yoshinori Tateyama and Koji Uehara. The Rangers have had five Japanese pitchers play for them in club history with the others being Hideki Irabu, Akinori Otsuka and Kazuo Fukumori.
Welcome to Texas Mr. Yu Haul