A report late last week indicated the Texas Rangers had begun the process of gauging the market for a potential Yu Darvish trade. At the time, the Rangers were mired in a season-worst tying five-game losing streak. They responded to win three straight before falling to the Miami Marlins on Monday.
Although Darvish would join a crowded group of rental starting pitchers who are available, the right-hander vaults to the top of that list when evaluated on talent. The Los Angeles Dodgers were named among the teams with reported interest in Darvish.
That came prior to Clayton Kershaw officially being diagnosed with a lower back strain. He’s expected to miss at least four weeks.
The prospect of the Dodgers potentially trading for Darvish is one that Kenley Jansen endorsed, via Bill Plunckett of the Southern California News Group:
“Why not? I would say – why not? … Everybody wants luxury in their life. Everybody wants to drive one day a Ferrari – so why not if you can get a guy like Yu Darvish? But it’s not our decision. We know we have a great team. We believe this team can do the job and win a World Series.”
In spite of the Rangers beginning the process of determining what they could receive for Darvish, they reportedly are informing teams the 30-year-old is not available. That presumably is tied to Texas not yet being out of the American League Wild Card race.
If the Rangers are to trade Darvish to the Dodgers, they reportedly would want two of their top four prospects (Yadier Alvarez, Walker Buehler, Willie Calhoun and Alex Verdugo). Los Angeles has generally avoided trading their top prospects during president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman’s tenure.
In addition to the Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros are among the reported teams with interest in Darvish.
