Wary Yankees might not bid on Darvish

When an international star becomes available, the Yankees almost automatically have "favorite'' status bestowed upon them.

That again has been the case with Yu Darvish, officially posted Thursday, but conversations Friday yielded the impression that the Yankees might not put in a bid of any kind for the star Japanese righthander.

In other words, they very well might sit this one out.

Multiple people in the organization are prepared to lobby managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner, who will make the final decision, against submitting a bid. They view the potential price tag of $80 million to $100 million -- a combination of the winning posting fee bid plus a contract offer -- as too risky for an unproven talent at the major league level.

The Yankees have extensively scouted the 6-5 Darvish -- who went 18-6 with a 1.44 ERA for the Nippon Ham Fighters in 2011 -- the last four years, and the reports are generally glowing. Scouts pretty much universally think highly of him, but there's still that fear of the unknown.

One talent evaluator who has seen a lot of Darvish said "he has front-line, No. 1, No. 2 starter's stuff.'' But the transition that Darvish would have to make to, say, the AL East caused him to pause.

"He's never really been hit,'' the talent evaluator said. "He's going to have a day when someone rips his face off. That's going to happen. How's he going to respond when [Jose] Bautista takes him deep twice? That's an issue. How's he going to respond to that? Flip a coin. You keep coming back to, is he worth the price tag?''

The Yankees, with Kei Igawa, and the Red Sox, with Daisuke Matsuzaka, felt burned in recent years after big investments in Japanese pitchers. That is part of what has the Yankees, a team official said Thursday, "wary'' of spending big on Darvish.

No decision has been made, but Steinbrenner, more fiscally cautious than his father, might just decide Darvish isn't worth it.

Major league clubs can submit sealed blind bids to MLB by 5 p.m. (ET) Wednesday for the right to negotiate with Darvish. After the bidding period, MLB will notify the Japanese Commissioner's Office of the amount of the highest bid but not the identity of the club with the highest bid. The Japanese Commissioner's Office then will have four business days to notify MLB if the bid has been accepted or rejected by his club, the Nippon Ham Fighters. If it is accepted, the winning club has 30 days to reach a contract agreement.

Extra basesA report Friday out of Japan said the Yankees have made a one-year, $12-million offer to free-agent righthander Hiroki Kuroda, but two sources said no offer of any kind has been made. The Yankees do remain interested in Kuroda at the right price . . . The Yankees made it official that they have signed Freddy Garcia, 12-8 with a 3.62 ERA last season, to a one-year deal.