Yu Got What I Need

Two stars from Japan went head to head last night. The game between the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers was practically broadcasted worldwide. The Rangers came out on top in a 2-0 win over the Yankees.

Yu Darvish was spectacular. He pitched 8 and 1/3 innings collected 10 strikeouts and didn't give up a run. Hiroki Kuroda gave up 2 run over 6 and 2/3 innings while getting 5 strikeouts. There was a lot of hype on this game and the end resulted in Yu Darvish proving that he can compete at at major league level.

Kuroda has the 5th most wins in Japan and Darvish is a superstar in Japan. There two going head to  head was a trill for people all of the world. Both performed well, but Darvish just baffled the Yankee hitters.

Yu Darvish

Yesterday Darvish started his first spring training game. According to scouts his fast ball reached up to 95 MPH and was consistently 93 MPH. His slider was also very effective. He struck out two batters and got ahead of batters in the count. 26 of his 36 pitches were strikes. Will Venable hit a 410 foot double off of Darvish, but that was the only well struck ball. The other hit was by Orlando Hudson.

In Japan Darvish's ERA was never over 2.00 and he has about 200 innings pitched each of his 5 seasons. He also strikes out slightly more than one batter every inning. Darvish is probably the most hyped up Japanese pitcher ever, but lets see how he may do.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was another hyped up pitcher coming over from Japan. He had an average ERA of 3.00 over his 7 seasons in Japan. That is not even close to Darvish's sub 2.00 ERA. When Matsuzaka pitched for The Boston Red Sox in his first season he pitched 204 innings with a 4.40 ERA. He was a fluke, but in his second season he pitched 167 innings with a 2.90 ERA. Then from 2009-2011 he had an ERA above 5.00.

Hiroki Kuroda had a 3.69 ERA in his time in Japan with 103 wins. In the MLB he has a 3.45 ERA with 41 wins. Kuroda came to the U.S. when he was 33, Darvish is 25. Hideo Nomo came to play in the MLB at the age of 26. He had a 3.15 ERA in Japan and posted a 2.54 ERA in his first season with The Dodgers. He would only have 3 other seasons of with an ERA below 4 and about 3 years into his contract Nomo had a 5.05 ERA.

Yu Darvish is major league ready. He is consistently pitching a lot of innings and his ERA is incomparable to other pitchers who made the transition. Never posting a an ERA higher than 1.88 ERA is great and Darvish may have a promising career in The MLB.

The Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers finished the 2011 season with a record of 82-79. In 2011 they had a Cy Young award winner and a runner up in the MVP voting.

The Dodgers have a definite force in Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw has been a dominant pitcher his past 3 seasons in the MLB. Since 2009 Kershaw has only pitched to sub 3.00 ERA's and over 9 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. In 2011 he earned himself the National league Cy Young award with the following stats: 21 wins, 2.28 ERA, 233 IP, and 248 strikeouts. He won the pitching triple crown tied in one category with Ian Kennedy with 21 wins. Chad Billingsly used to be the ace pitcher for The Dodgers before Kershaw came on the scene. He had a 4.21 ERA in 2011 which is much higher than it should be. In 2008 he pitched to a 3.14 ERA over 200 innings. Billingsly is now 27, if he can return to the pitcher he should be The Dodgers will have a nice 1-2 combo.

The Dodgers also lost Hiroki Kuroda due to free agency. Kuroda signed with The Yankees after his best season. Kuroda pitched 202 innings with a 3.07 ERA and 161 strikeouts. He was the cap on The Dodgers rotation making the 1-2-3 combo of Kershaw, Billingsly and Kuroda, but now it looks like the Dodgers will have to do without.

After Ryan Braun being accused of performence enhancing drug usage I think Matt Kemp should have won the MVP. Kemp was 1 home run away from being into the 40-40 club. The 40-40 club is an elite list of players who have hit 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in as single season. Matt Kemp finished with 39 home runs, 126 RBI's, 40 stolen bases, a .399 on base percentage, and an 171 OPS+.

The Dodgers don't have many other notable offensive players. So you can see why they didn't make the playoffs. One notable player is Andre Ethier. Ethier gets injured often not playing more than 140 games  in 2010 and 2011. One thing he is good at is facing right handed pitching. In 2011 there was a right handed pitcher on the mound 74% of the time. Ethier had a .410 on base percentage vs right handed pitching and a .468 slugging percentage vs right handed pitching. Although he is neutralized by left handed pitching Ethier can bring a wallop to the offense 74% of time.  

Since The Dodgers have only 2 offensively dangerous players and 1 pitcher you can take for granted The Dodgers will have a rough time in 2012. It is highly unlikely that Kerhsaw or Kemp will repeat the great seasons they had in 2011, but if they do it; it won't bring The Dodgers to the playoffs.