The Los Angeles Dodgers made one of the biggest moves at the non-waiver trade deadline, as with just 10 minutes remaining before the buzzer they completed a deal with the Texas Rangers to acquire starter Yu Darvish.
Darvish has been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball since coming over from Japan in 2012. With the ace set to reach free agency this winter, the Dodgers were able to pry Darvish from the Rangers at a reasonable cost.
The soon-to-be 31-year-old did not disappoint in his Dodgers debut, tossing seven shutout innings last Friday night against the New York Mets. Darvish allowed just three hits and issued one walk while striking out 10.
Losing a pitcher of Darvish’s caliber was tough on the Rangers organization, and they recently showed their gratitude for everything he did in his five years by taking out a full-page ad in a Japanese newspaper to thank him.
The kind gesture received a thank you tweet from Darvish’s wife, Seiko:
Thank you very much Texas Rangers and the rangers fan.
My parents got the newspaper for us ☺️#TexasRangers #rangersfan #japanesenewspaper pic.twitter.com/tbmhdetLv2— Seiko Darvish (@seiko63) August 6, 2017
The translated message read: “To Yu Darvish, In appreciation for your dedication to hard work, many accomplishments since 2012, thank you for your All-Star performance.”
In a similar act, Darvish placed a full-page ad in The Dallas Morning News to thank Rangers fans. There’s a suspicion the parties could reunite this winter once the right-hander becomes a free agent.
The addition of Darvish could help put the Dodgers over the top in what is shaping to be their best season in franchise history. Los Angeles has won 44 of their last 52 games, which is the best stretch in baseball since 1912.
