In a move that has shocked the baseball world, the Blue Jays are reportedly the team to win the bidding rights to sign Japanese pitching sensation Yu Darvish, according to the New York Post.

The bid was somewhere over $40M and possibly as high as $50M according to the report.

They were able to outbid the richest team in baseball in the New York Yankees with the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers making bids as well.  

The baseball world can’t believe that a smaller market team that struggles with attendance would throw down that kind of money on one player, but the humongous bid was placed at the orders of Rogers Communications, the owner of the team. The amount of money Darvish will reportedly cost the team is eye-popping according to the Daily News:

Though the baseball fraternity wasn’t shocked the Yankees made a bid, heads shook over the rumored size of the Blue Jays’ bid.

Add that estimated $40-50 million posting fee to the five-year, $75 million deal Darvish is supposedly going to seek and you have a $115 million to $125 million price tag for a hurler who has never thrown a pitch in the big leagues and has gotten fat against over-matched hitters in Japan who aren’t as good as those he’ll face here.

It’s certainly a high risk, but that’s what the Jays’ have to do to keep up with the Yankees and Red Sox in the AL East.

If accepted, Toronto will have 30 days to get a deal with done Darvish, who is 93-38 with a 1.99 ERA lifetime in Japan. If an agreement cannot be met, Darvish remains in Japan and the club gets its posting money back.

Assuming the two teams can come to an agreement; the Blue Jays will have the most exciting hitter in the American League in Jose Bautista and the most intriguing/talented pitcher in Darvish.

At the very least you now have a reason to care about Toronto again.