"The Growing Consensus ... Is Toronto Will Win Darvish Rights"

Per Gerry Fraley:

The growing consensus among officials with several major-league clubs is Toronto will surpass the Texas Rangers and win the negotiating rights to Japanese righthander Yu Darvish.

Without having direct knowledge of the offers, the officials believe Toronto came in with a bid similar to what Boston offered for the rights to righthander Daisuke Matzusaka in 2007. The Red Sox paid $51.11 million for the negotiating rights and $52 million for a contract. The Rangers finished second, with a bid of about $28 million.

[...]

We stress none of these officials has direct knowledge of the offers. At the same time, monitoring other clubs is part of their job. They usually have a good idea of what their competitors are doing. 

Fraley also suggests that the AAV on Darvish's deal would be roughly $15 million over six years, leaving the victorious team on the hook for a total $135 million commitment. I think that would be well beyond what even Darvish's bigger advocates out there would feel comfortable paying.

Of course, we're also mucking around in the realm of scuttlebutt here, and there doesn't seem to be any direct evidence of the Blue Jays ponying up $50-55 million. But I also can't say it would surprise me to learn that Toronto prevailed, and that the Rangers came up at least $10 million short of the winning bid.