The Yankees Are "Not Getting" Yu Darvish

I'll be throwing up a four questions post (and delving further into some of the emergent questions springing up as this Gio/Darvish talk intensifies) in a bit, but in the meantime, here's a new report from the Star-Ledger's Marc Carig:

If Japanese pitching sensation Yu Darvish indeed throws his first major league pitch next season, it will not be in a Yankees uniform.

The Yankees are "not getting him," a person with knowledge of the situation said today, on condition of anonymity because the posting process is still ongoing. Darvish's Japanese team has until Tuesday to decide whether to accept the highest bid to negotiate with Darvish.

The Yankees submitted a bid. But the only way they can emerge with Darvish is if it proves to be the highest on the table, and the person with knowledge said the Yankees' bid will not be high enough to top those they believe were submitted by a pair of American League rivals, the Rangers and Blue Jays.

"A ridiculous number," the person with knowledge said, while declining to offer exact figures.

Meanwhile, SI.com's Franz Lidz reported yesterday that the winning bid for Darvish was, in fact, greater than the Red Sox' $51.1 million bid for Daisuke Matsuzaka's negotiating rights back in 2006.

The Cubs reportedly submitted a "very low offer" for Darvish.

The Red Sox apparently submitted a bid, but there were previous indications that Boston was skittish on the idea of submitting a bid at all, and that would be a smokescreen for the history books if the Red Sox pulled a one-eighty from their previously tentative position and threw down $50-plus million for Darvish.

The Blue Jays reportedly submitted a bid above $40 million and "possibly close to $50 million," but that doesn't tell us whether they bid more or less than $50 million, and the inclusion of the "possibly" qualifier further muddies the waters. I could possibly be a Dominican drug lord. Tim Tebow could possibly be the Cthulhu. Anything's possible!

And the Rangers ... well, nobody seems to know much of anything. 

I feel more enlightened already.