Arlington, TX – The Texas Rangers have agreed to terms with year contract.
The deal, announced Wednesday, runs through the 2017 season. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the Dallas Morning News reported it is worth approximately $60 million.
A two-time Pacific League MVP, the 25-year-old Darvish pitched to a sub-2.00 earned run average the past five seasons for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, the first pitcher in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league to accomplish that feat.
He's thrown at least 200 innings in four of the past five seasons and struck out 276 batters in 232 innings last year while leading the league in walks/hits per inning pitched for the fifth straight season (0.83). He went 18-6 with a 1.44 earned run average -- the lowest of his career.
Texas had been looking to fill the void of losing starting pitcher C.J. Wilson to the division-rival Angels this offseason.
The Rangers won the rights to negotiate with Darvish on December 20, beating out the Yankees, Blue Jays and Cubs, and will pay his former Hokkaido Nippon team $51.7 million, according to the Morning News.
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