Yu and the Rangers

The other day, I posted on Twitter of Facebook that as a Rangers fan, I could say I love Yu. I meant that in a totally platonic way, of course.
Let me say that I saw Yu coming years ago, in 2005, and was very disappointed by some early reports indicating that Texas might not get in on the posting bidding for the Japanese star.
Back in '05, when my old website fantasybaseballscout.com was still in business, one of my contributing writers was Michael Cohen, an American living in Japan and following the Japanese leagues closely. He sent in a glowing report on the even younger Yu Darvish, which I published on the web under a clever headline something like "Japan's whirling Darvish." There was speculation even then that there might be a way to get him posted to come to the U.S. earlier than usual.
So if you happened to see fantasybaseballscout.com that year, or in the subsequent years when the article still was archived, you could have read the same glowing scouting report that accompanied the time when Darvish actually was posted this fall. You know, about his power, his maturity, his poise, his competitiveness, his barely believable stats, the seven (or nine) pitches he throws.
The other day I saw a projection for Darvish in 2012. It predicted a 15-7 record and a relatively low ERA. I'd say that's a low end of what he could do for the Rangers. I'd put him down for somewhere between 15 and 18 wins this season. Twenty or 21 wouldn't shock me.
More to come soon on the Rangers. And I need to get you a Caribbean Series report.