But before one final sleep, you can now go to www.newbergreport.com and order “JD: Building the Team That Built a Winner,” the project that I’ve been working on since September.  I’m pretty sure things are working from a technical standpoint, because about 50 copies have already sold in the last hour or so.

The e-Book is a look at Jon Daniels and his team of advisors and scouting and player development officials who make up the Rangers’ formidable baseball operations group.  The feature digs into where many of them came from and how, in coming together, they’ve helped change the fortunes of a franchise that had never won.  It includes a focus on the philosophies and objectives that drive the group and a detailed look at the club’s fortunes on the trade market since Daniels was made the franchise’s eighth General Manager after the 2005 season.

It’s about 31,000 words (reference point: 65 pages in Word, single-spaced, with photos) and is available in e-Pub, PDF, and .mobi formats (compatible on the Kindle, Nook, and iPad, as well as on your computer in the PDF format).

The cost is $2.99, and I’m donating a portion of every purchase to charity.  I’ve never charged for content like this before, but this is substantially larger than anything I’ve done other than the Bound Editions, and releasing it in an e-Pub format gives us a chance to test the process and see if we might be able to offer next year’s Bound Edition not only in hard copy but in e-formats as well.  If you’re not satisfied with this project, I’ll refund your $2.99.

Thanks again to my pals Mike Hindman and Adam Zaner for the edits and the guidance, to Devin Pike and Don Titus and Brian Rhea for the work going on right now to turn the document into an e-Thing, to the great Brad Newton for sharing his photography, and to all the folks I talked to for the story itself.

If you’re a media member interested in a complimentary copy, email me.

And to everyone who orders a copy: I’m very interested to hear your feedback, both on the content and the e-format.

Thanks.

It’s about 31,000 words (reference point: 65 pages in Word, single-spaced, with photos) and will be available within a week in e-Pub and PDF formats.  I’m told that the e-Pub will read on the Kindle & Nook, and the PDF will read on the Kindle and iPad, as well as on your computer like any other PDF would.

The cost will be $2.99, and I’m donating a portion of every purchase to charity.  I’ve never charged for content like this before, but this is substantially larger than anything I’ve done other than the Bound Editions, and releasing it in an e-Pub format gives us a chance to test the process and see if we might be able to offer next year’s Bound Edition not only in hard copy but in e-formats as well.  If you’re not satisfied with this project, I’ll refund your $2.99.

Thanks to my pals Mike Hindman and Adam Zaner for the edits and the guidance, to Devin Pike and Don Titus and Brian Rhea for the work going on right now to turn the document into an e-Thing, to the great Brad Newton for sharing his photography, and to all the folks I talked to for the story itself.

Six sleeps until the next important day on the baseball calendar.  We’re hoping to roll this project out by then, if not sooner.  Thanks for your patience.

A few weeks after my “Which team wouldn’t?” trade hypothetical – “On December 12, 2013, the Texas Rangers trade shortstop Elvis Andrus, lefthander Martin Perez, righthander Cody Buckel, and third baseman Christian Villanueva to the Los Angeles Dodgers for lefthander Clayton Kershaw and catcher Gorman Erickson” – news emerged yesterday that both Andrus and Kershaw had signed multi-year contracts on Tuesday to avoid upcoming arbitration hearings.

Pending a physical, Andrus gets a three-year deal (for a reported $14.5-15 million) that fully wipes out his arbitration window.  He’ll be a free agent after the 2014 season unless the contract is ripped up beforehand and replaced with a lengthier one.

Kershaw gets $19 million for two years.  According to Dylan Hernandez (Los Angeles Times), the Dodgers proposed a four-year commitment that would have bought out the lefthander’s first year of free agency (2015) as well as a package that included a fifth-year club option.  But Kershaw rejected both.

The Kershaw contract is reminiscent of the one Texas signed Mark Teixeira to in January 2006, a two-year, $15.4 million commitment that covered his 2006 and 2007 arbitration seasons but left open his final year of arbitration (2008) before he could become a free agent.

With the right to control Teixeira only through 2008 (at an unknown but predictable number), Texas traded the first baseman in July 2007.  (Yes, for a package including Andrus.  Irrelevant to this discussion.  But you knew I couldn’t resist.)

If the Dodgers, under new ownership, can’t get Kershaw to commit long term before this time two years from now, they’ll go into that final arbitration season with the specter of the Dallas native hitting free agency when the 2014 season ends.

So even with yesterday’s announcements, my December 2013 trade idea stands.

But the real reason I wanted to write something this morning was to address an issue that I assume bothers some of you, if a handful of Tuesday night emails raising identical concerns is any indication.

Some of you asked:  What sort of signal does the Andrus contract send to Jurickson Profar, who should be ready long before the contract expires?

Answer: An awesome one.

The Rangers did it for Hank Blalock, Michael Young, and Kinsler, and on a smaller scale for Teixeira, Josh Hamilton, and Scott Feldman – committing multiple years before they needed to for players they identified as part of the core, even when those players weren’t yet in a position to command extended guarantees.  Taking care of Andrus fits the pattern.

Yesterday’s announcement signals a commitment from Texas that sets Andrus’s family up for life.  He probably gave up some earning potential in exchange for that long-term security, and in that sense everybody gets to call it a win.

But the win for the franchise goes beyond the cost certainty it now has with Andrus in 2012, 2013, and 2014.  This move sends an important statement to Profar.  And Perez.  And Mike Olt.  And Buckel and Jorge Alfaro and Matt West and Yohander Mendez and this June’s draft class and this July’s international crop.

The three-year contract that Texas and Andrus have agreed to doesn’t mean the shortstop won’t leave after that as a free agent, and it doesn’t mean he won’t be a Ranger for life.  What it does is reward Andrus right now financially, and symbolically, too, the latter of which may not be quite as important to the Rangers as the ability to define (if not contain) costs going forward.

But it’s not a trivial point (like, say, Andrus-Kershaw and Jackson-Kinsler commentaries), because the signal this contract sends to the next Andrus or the next Kinsler or, we can all hope for one day, the next pitcher on a Kershaw arc, is one that helps lock in the brand internally, designed in part to increase the chances that they might be players, when it’s their turn to sit at the table, who have very little interest in leaving for another place to play.

Northwest League opponents in 2003, at Spokane and Yakima.

Texas League opponents in 2004, at Frisco and El Paso.

Pacific Coast League opponents in 2005, at Oklahoma and Tucson.

And at every one of those steps, Conor Jackson was more highly regarded than Ian Kinsler, at certain times exponentially so.

The two right-handed hitters, each of whom broke into the big leagues in the other’s home state (Jackson was born in Austin but would attend El Camino Real High School in the Los Angeles area), could realistically have become teammates in 2007, when Arizona finished as runner-up in the chase to acquire Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira, with a package that was fronted by Jackson, AA outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, and possibly lefthander Brett Anderson as a player to be named later (once he’d been a pro for 12 months in early September).

Texas then wanted to make them teammates in June 2010, but the Diamondbacks weren’t going to help subsidize the cash-strapped Rangers without getting a significant prospect or two in return.  (The A’s came away with Jackson that summer [for TCU product and former Rangers draftee Sam Demel] because they were willing to take on more of the $1.5 million or so that remained of his 2010 salary than Texas was.)

Instead, Elvis Andrus and Neftali Feliz and Matt Harrison and Jarrod Saltalamacchia became Kinsler’s teammates in 2007, and in 2010 it was Jorge Cantu rather than Jackson who came in to give Texas a right-handed bat for the pennant run.

Andrus and Feliz and Harrison remain integral parts of what in some ways might be viewed as Kinsler’s team, and now Jackson will suit up with them later this month.

On a minor league contract.

One that probably has an out clause permitting him to find another team by a specified date if it’s looking like he’s headed for Round Rock rather than Arlington.

This shouldn’t be viewed as a huge longshot.  At age 29, it’s conceivable that Jackson (who is six weeks older than Kinsler) might have something left, with his 2009 valley fever and pneumonia scare and 2010 major hamstring issue and abdominal surgery well in his past.

But he may not.

Sometimes they refind themselves, and turn into Marlon Byrd or Gary Matthews Jr.

A lot more often they’re Chris Shelton or Ryan Garko.

Like his dad, Conor Jackson is now relegated to playing a supporting role, at best, something few would have guessed would be his lot as a 29-year-old after the way the former first-round pick tore through the minor leagues and established himself early with the Diamondbacks.

But at least Jackson stands a good chance to be playing pro ball when he turns 30, somewhere, which is more than could be said for Hank Blalock, whose place on Top Prospect lists as he was coming up was in territory that not even Kinsler or Jackson would ever touch, and whose last game in pro ball came on June 27, 2010, batting eighth and DH’ing for a Rays team that fell on that day to the Diamondbacks, 2-1.

Blalock’s final act was a harmless groundout to first baseman Rusty Ryal, who was manning the position that on some days Jackson had occupied before being traded away two weeks earlier.  Blalock finished the game on deck, with the bat on his shoulder, as B.J. Upton flew out to center with the tying run on first.  He was designated for assignment two days later, and after clearing waivers Tampa Bay released him, not even asking him to return to AAA Durham, where he’d started the season.

It’s a game of failure.  Some, like Kinsler, find ways to keep getting better, and it’s around those types that winning teams are built.  Others, like Blalock, shine bright and fade quickly.  Jackson was supposed to be the former but wasn’t, yet he now has the chance to do what Blalock couldn’t and what Byrd could, to bury the failed expectations and, at some level, reestablish a once-promising career.  It’s not necessarily too late.

I can understand most parts of the conversation at some level when it comes to baseball.  But I’m not an expert.

And I’m far, far less qualified to understand what happened in Josh Hamilton’s life this week, let alone to weigh in on it.

I do understand that there are baseball implications to all of this – the same implications that were there in January 2009, and in December 2007 when Texas traded for Hamilton, only now they’ve become news again and not just an incidental risk factor to weigh when evaluating how long a baseball commitment to make to an extraordinary baseball player.

There’s so much we don’t know about Monday night’s facts, even more that most of us don’t know about the other part of all this.  My thoughts are with Josh and Katie and their daughters, and that’s all I’ve got.

I have nothing else to say right now.  Spin the dial or pull up Google and you can find a thousand people offering commentary, some of it quite good and helpful.

But as far as this space is concerned, this story is more about someone’s life than it is about contract extensions or whiteboarding a future roster, and with that I’m gonna just hit “send” and do a little reading.

The competitive advantage that Texas had developed in Latin America, for instance, was watered down considerably because of hard composite spending caps, the requirement that international amateurs register with the Scouting Bureau, and the rumored implementation of combine-like showcase events where the top players from that pool would be spoon-fed to all 30 clubs.  The upshot seemed to be that tenacious scouting would be less advantageous, and theoretically less essential.

And yet the Rangers added to their scouting staff this week.

With the ability to score internationally diluted, Texas fortified its stateside scouting effort substantially.  While spending in the draft will be capped, the strike rate on finding high school and college players can always improve, and the Rangers are seeing to it that more talent evaluators will see more draft-eligible players going forward.

In 2011, Texas employed 17 full-time area scouts.  That number increases to 18.  Several new scouts were brought in to replace those who departed for other organizations or were promoted or dismissed, and the added post comes in the State of Texas, where Randy Taylor’s job will now be handled by two men, Jay Heafner (who will cover Lousiana in addition to Southern Texas after having had the Northeast United States region, where he scouted and signed Mike Olt) and Steve Watson (entering his first season as a scout).  The Rangers also have two part-time scouts in North Texas, Mike McAbee and James Vilade.

Taylor is the new Midwest Crosschecker, part of the organization’s effort to boost the tier of the scouting department that reports to Director of Amateur Scouting Kip Fagg.  Last year, Texas had three crosscheckers, responsible for specific regions of the country (Western, Central, and Eastern) and the area scouts who scour them.  This year, the role will be split into four territories (West Coast, Midwest, Southeast, and Eastern), and an extra tier above those four is being reinstated in the form of two National Crosscheckers.

Phil Geisler remains the Eastern Crosschecker, John Booher moves from pro scout to Southeast Crosschecker, and Casey Harvie comes in from the Angels organization (where he scouted and signed Mason Tobin) as the West Coast Crosschecker.  Before joining the Angels, Harvie served as an area scout for Cleveland (overlapping in part with John Hart and Mike Daly) and Colorado (coinciding with Thad Levine).

The National Crosscheckers are Mike Grouse, who has scouted for the Rangers for 20 years, mostly recently as Central Crosschecker, and Clarence Johns, who comes over from the Astros, where he was East Coast Crosschecker the last four seasons after scouting for the Dodgers (at a time when A.J. Preller and Don Welke were there) and Rockies (including one year while Levine was still there).

The key bullet point for both Grouse and Johns came in the 17^th round of the draft.  Grouse, at the time an area scout with coverage of six Midwest states, recommended Ian Kinsler in 2003, a year after Johns, who was scouting in Florida for the Dodgers, had traveled to Chipola Junior College to scout the school’s starting catcher, a draft-and-follow that Los Angeles had chosen in 2001.  He didn’t like the catcher, but was convinced that Chipola’s third baseman, Russell Martin, could be a tremendous catcher prospect himself.  The Dodgers took him in 2002’s 17^th round.

The Rangers’ 18 area scouts will report to Taylor, Booher, Harvie, and Geisler, who will report to Grouse and Johns, who will report to Fagg.  They’ll all see players.

Texas employed 10 pro scouts in 2011 and will go with that same number in 2012, though the group includes two new men, Chris Briones (who caught in the Rangers system in 1995 and 1996 and was most recently a hitting coach in the Diamondbacks’ farm system) and Ross Fenstermaker (who began last season as a pro video scout for the Rangers).  They replace Booher and Greg Smith, the latter of whom was promoted to Special Assistant, Major League Scout, a key advisory position in Jon Daniels’s cabinet.

Joe Furukawa, Hajime Watabe, and Curtis Jung, all integrally involved in the scouting and recruitment of Yu Darvish, are now officially listed as international scouts for the organization.  Jim Colborn’s title was amplified from Director of Pacific Rim Operations to Senior Advisor, Pacific Rim Operations.

I don’t know whether Roy Oswalt is going to sign with Texas (despite Dave Cameron’s proclamation at FanGraphs that “[n]o team in baseball needs a starting pitcher less than the Texas Rangers”) and I don’t know what the club has planned next if he does.

But I do know that Texas will pick four times in the first two rounds of the draft in June, positioned (for now) at 29, 39, 53, and 81, a range in which the club has made plenty of noise the last few years (2007: Julio Borbon [35], Neil Ramirez [44], Tommy Hunter [54], Matt West [80]; 2008: Robbie Ross [57]; 2009: Tanner Scheppers [44], Tommy Mendonca [62], Robbie Erlin [93]; 2010: Luke Jackson [45], Mike Olt [49], Cody Buckel [72], Jordan Akins [103]).  And even though the specifics of some of the CBA changes are still murky, I know that each team’s league-imposed draft budget will be amplified to cover extra picks.

And I also know that, no matter what measures the league implements in an effort to even the playing field by amputating the clubs that have scouted the most aggressively and effectively, the Rangers aren’t going to surrender that advantage they’d created for themselves.  We’re already seeing how resources might be reallocated, how strategies might be adjusted, with this week’s expansion of the scouting roster.

That’s not to say that Texas won’t remain at the forefront internationally – because it’s not about who spends the most money in that market as much as it’s about who spends it most intelligently – but it’s clear this week that the Rangers are taking steps to be even stronger in the draft, as they strive to find the next Ramirez and next Erlin and next Olt and keep a top-five farm system in that same tier, even as waves of prospects continue to graduate.

The addition of Yu Darvish meant that Texas, already well heeled in rotation depth with Scott Feldman around, would be moving Alexi Ogando, who made the All-Star Team as a first-time starter in 2011, back to the bullpen.  Acceptable.

Now there are rumors spreading wildly that Roy Oswalt may be down to choosing between a one-year, $5 million offer from the Cardinals (with some suggesting he might be asked to relieve), according to St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat writer Joe Strauss, and a $7 or $8 million offer (with added incentives) from Texas.  MLB.com’s Peter Gammons spoke to three GM’s about Oswalt; two believe he will sign with the Rangers, the other with the Cardinals.

Assuming Oswalt would be asked to start here – and for that level of money you’d have to believe that would be the plan – then Matt Harrison ends up in the bullpen as well, which would certainly improve the relief corps but reduce Harrison’s value, and arguably might not even improve the rotation, particularly given Oswalt’s health question.

As we discussed on December 22 (“Yu Darvish and the potential chain reaction“), there could always be a step-two plan to trade Harrison – considering what Mat Latos and Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill and even Tyler Chatwood brought in trade this winter – with a one-year commitment to a veteran like Oswalt designed to hold a rotation spot down until someone like Michael Kirkman or Neil Ramirez or Martin Perez is ready a year from now.

Last night’s Oswalt speculation came a year to the day after Texas traded Frankie Francisco for Mike Napoli, a deal that nobody could have expected would have the impact it did.  Some thought the move was made to give Texas a replacement for Michael Young, who was rumored to be on Colorado’s radar.  Otherwise, it wasn’t fully clear where Napoli would get all his at-bats.

That’s not what the Rangers had planned, though, and whether Texas is in on Oswalt (if that’s true at all) because they want Harrison to give them a more valuable left-handed relief weapon than they think they can find on the open market, or because they have a deal lined up to take advantage of the very healthy trade market for controllable starters, or because they aren’t counting on having another absurdly healthy year from the rotation and want more quality depth there, we know this much:

Whatever the immediate plan is, the Rangers have mapped things out several steps ahead of it.

And for what it’s worth, I’m not buying that the Strauss report is anything more than his own speculation, at least as far as the Texas offer is concerned.  Hard to believe that Oswalt, given his apparent interest in Texas (and lengthy relationship with Nolan Ryan and Mike Maddux) and his back issues, wouldn’t have already grabbed it.

Jon Heyman (CBS Sports) says Oswalt has already rejected Detroit’s overtures, hasn’t responded to Boston’s offer, and may be considering Cincinnati as well – though the Reds’ non-roster deal with Jeff Francis would seem to shut that door.  He adds that for Oswalt to sign with Texas, he’d have to do it “at their price” since “he’s not really a fit.”  (Does $7 or $8 million plus incentives sound like a club-friendly deal?)

Ken Rosenthal (Fox Sports) includes Washington, Cleveland, and Milwaukee as interested parties.

Incidentally, recall that the Phillies declined to offer arbitration to Oswalt, a Type A free agent, and accordingly he won’t cost a draft pick to sign.  In fact, no Type A’s remain on the market now that Prince Fielder has signed.

Ben Rogers (ESPN 103.3 FM) hears that the Rangers and Dodgers were the two clubs that Scott Boras gave final shots to on Fielder once Detroit put nine years on the table.

Koji Uehara’s veto of an apparent deal to Toronto (one of six teams on the no-trade clause he negotiated with Baltimore) is disappointing.  The Jays have one of the game’s best farm systems and thus, theoretically, they’d be more willing to part with Prospect X than if that same player were in the Orioles system, for instance.  (One Japanese outlet suggested the Jays return for Uehara would have been an unidentified minor league position player.)

Also, a little trade leverage is lost when one less interested club is involved – though according to T.R. Sullivan (MLB.com), Uehara continues to draw “considerable interest from other teams.”

Toronto signed Francisco Cordero only after the Uehara deal, whatever it was, fell through.

Sullivan adds that teams are asking about Feldman but Texas would probably have to pick up part of the $7.1 million he’s due in 2012 (which counts the $600,000 buyout to void a $9.25 million option for 2013) in order to deal him.  Seems like that wouldn’t make much sense for the Rangers unless the salary relief or the return were significant.  He fills an important role here.

Karl Ravech (ESPN), who says Oswalt will choose Texas or St. Louis, has the Rangers along with the Red Sox as the finalists for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, an interesting suggestion in that the Rangers have been linked to Cuban teenagers Jorge Soler (an outfielder) and Gerardo Concepcion (a lefthander) but not as far as I can recall to the 26-year-old Cespedes.  (Again, though, the Rangers almost never betray their intentions on these things.)

Rosenthal and others have the Cubs and Marlins at the top of the list for Cespedes, who was officially declared a free agent yesterday (though he still needs a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control before he can negotiate with clubs), while Danny Knobler (CBS Sports) hears that the outfielder doesn’t want to play for Miami (which MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro hears is untrue).  Jim Bowden (ESPN/XM) ranks the Orioles and White Sox behind the Cubs and Marlins as his most likely destinations.

According to Jesse Sanchez (MLB.com), Concepcion’s top suitors appear to be the Rangers, Yankees, Cubs, and White Sox, while the Marlins, Phillies, Giants, Blue Jays, Red Sox, and Royals have shown interest as well.  Baseball Prospectus’s Kevin Goldstein projects him as a back-of-the-rotation type.

MLB.com’s Top 100 Prospects list, published last night, includes Jurickson Profar (7), Perez (29), Mike Olt (43), and Leonys Martin (89).

Baseball America’s top 10 Rangers prospects: Darvish, Profar, Perez, Olt, Martin, Ramirez, righthander Cody Buckel, catcher Jorge Alfaro, third baseman Christian Villanueva (who saw some instructional league time at second base), and second baseman Rougned Odor.  Righthander Matt West would have been 10^th had Darvish not signed.

BA’s Best Tools:

Best Hitter for Average          Profar

Best Power Hitter                   Olt

Best Strike Zone Discipline    Profar

Fastest Baserunner                  Leury Garcia

Best Athlete                            Jordan Akins

Best Fastball                           Darvish

Best Curveball                        Perez

Best Slider                              Darvish

Best Changeup                        Miguel De Los Santos

Best Control                            Buckel

Best Defensive Catcher          Kellin Deglan

Best Defensive Infielder         Profar

Best Infield Arm                     Garcia

Best Defensive Outfielder      Engel Beltre

Best Outfield Arm                  Akins

Goldstein pinpoints Olt and Tanner Scheppers as two prospects who saw their stock rise this winter based on performance and scouting reports.

John Sickels ranks Toronto’s farm system as the best and the Rangers third, but he said he’d have Texas at number one if he counted Darvish as a prospect.  Sickels has Seattle fourth, Oakland 10^th, and Los Angeles 18^th.

Nearly 11,000 people attended Darvish’s press conference in the Sapporo Dome on Tuesday, during which he said: “I want people around the world to say that Darvish is the world’s best pitcher.”

AP

I’ve recommended the Joe Sheehan Newsletter to you before and will do so again, this time in order to shoehorn in some very cool things he said in Monday’s edition, in which he featured five baseball books he’s got on his coffee table, including this one:

The Newberg Report: 2012 Edition.  If there was a Jamey Newberg and a Scott Lucas for every single team, that would be amazing.  As is, there are just the two, and the work they do covering the Texas Rangers and the team’s farm system is fantastic.  This book is a collection of Newberg’s work over the previous year, as he follows the Rangers with the passion of a fan and the mind of an analyst.  This isn’t a dispassionate breakdown, although his MLB.com work – also included here – tends to lean a bit more towards the neutral.  In the collected Newberg Reports, you get great information about 17-year-olds you’ve never heard of playing in Instructional League . . . and the visceral excitement that comes from watching your team’s future stars as baseball embryos.  For someone who has never shied away from invoking the language and the emotions of a fan in his own work, Newberg’s heart-on-sleeve writing is what makes the Newberg Report work.

There’s original material as well, including an exhaustive ranking of the top 72 prospects in the Rangers’ system and an in-depth look at the team’s challenges in assembling its 40-man roster.  Angels, Mariners and Athletics fans may not get quite the kick out of the book that others do, but believe me, the bound edition of the Newberg Report is not just for fans of the Texas Rangers.

By the way, so much good new stuff at Scott’s website.  You should give it some of your time.

Florida signed utility infielder-outfielder German Duran to a minor league deal.  Righthander Michael Schlact signed with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the independent Atlantic League.

How would Rangers history have changed if Pudge Rodriguez hadn’t walked into Doug Melvin’s office on July 31, 1997, and prevented the deal that would have sent him to the Yankees for rookie catcher Jorge Posada and Class A righthander Tony Armas Jr. (and possibly Class AA lefthander Eric Milton) hours later?

That’s what I thought about when I saw clips of Posada’s retirement presser yesterday.  That, and he and Jorge Fabregas both look like Victor Rojas.

Hopefully I’ll feel better whenever Roy Oswalt chooses between Texas and St. Louis, and I can weigh in with a little more energy, and substance.  I’m not sure yet whether I want this supposed competition to turn out differently from the World Series, but I do feel pretty sure that if the Rangers are hoping to land the righthander, it’s likely part of a bigger plan that’s laid out on a whiteboard that none of us can see and perhaps that none of us have fully visualized.

For an entire month as the Rangers and Yu Darvish’s representatives danced behind closed doors, this felt like a slam dunk, and truth be told, the only real elation I felt when the announcement was made at 3:56 p.m. yesterday was because it was over, and we could move on.  It felt more like the final out of a comfortable, methodical (and lengthy) 7-2 victory than December 19’s extra-inning walkoff grand slam.

I listened to the Daniels-Ryan-Nomura-Tellem press conference, I watched MLB Network as they roundtabled the impact on the Texas pitching staff, I sorted through hundreds of emails and tweets.  But the moment that the reality of this thing sunk in was when, late last night, I updated the 40-man roster by typing, in between the words “Jake Brigham” and “Miguel De Los Santos,” the words “Yu Darvish.”

Oh, man, that was cool.

The Mavericks brought Detlef Schrempf and Uwe Blab into the NBA in 1985, and the Sixers drafted Christian Welp a couple years after that.  Though all three played collegiately in the States, the two seven-footers in particular gave life to a stigma that the German game didn’t translate well.  But Dallas was unfazed when, nine years after Blab and Welp were already out of the league, it engineered a 1998 draft day trade for the ninth player selected, German seven-footer Dirk Nowitzki.

Just because Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideo Nomo were disappointments, and Hideki Irabu and Kei Igawa were worse, doesn’t mean Darvish is destined to follow suit.  Someone’s got to be the best, and just as Nowitzki broke the stereotype in the NBA, Texas believes Darvish can be that guy, too.

It’s a comparison, Darvish to Nowitzki, that Arn Tellem made during yesterday afternoon’s press conference, as the agent whose NBA clientele may be more impressive than his MLB stable told the media that he hopes Darvish can be to the Rangers what Nowitzki has been to the Mavs, not so much as a player who breaks the mold but instead one who can help lead a franchise to its first title.

I’m not going to take the time to reissue my thoughts on Darvish as a Ranger – you can go back and read them here and here if you’re so inclined – but I’ll say this: The Rangers have earned a lot of trust on the scouting front the last few years, and they’ve been on hand for just about every game Darvish has pitched (and done mind-blowing amounts of off-the-field homework) the last couple years.

If they believe in the player – like Don Welke doing a double-take when he saw an 18-year-old Neftali Feliz throwing easy gas for the Gulf Coast League Braves, or A.J. Preller squinting his eyes and seeing a pitcher in Dominican Summer League A’s outfielder Alexi Ogando, and there are dozens of other examples – then I’m fully comfortable with the organization’s assessment that Yu Darvish is worth the dollars and the years and responsibility that it’s investing in him.

Kevin Goldstein believes Darvish tops out as a Number Two, “with [an] outside shot at [being a] One,” and I trust Goldstein’s assessments, too.  But they’re largely based on what big league scouts share with him, and maybe there are lots of scouts underestimating what Darvish could be, just as the vast majority of scouts who turned reports in on Jurickson Profar recommended to their bosses to chase him as a pitcher.

Not that Darvish as a Two would be all that bad a thing.

Maybe the Rangers, whose exhaustive efforts on Darvish went far beyond sitting behind the plate with a radar gun (as Jon Daniels put it) and included developing a relationship with the player and his family to the point at which Darvish hoped they would win the negotiating rights, did enough work on Darvish that they have as reliable a feel for how his game will translate in the States as they would with an All-American college outfielder raking with an aluminum bat or a first-round high school talent pitching against teams without so much as a community college prospect.

Then again, we’re talking about a $108 million investment in Darvish’s case, including that $51,703,411.00 check that the Rangers will write to the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters within the week.  It’s an amazing step-out by ownership, an awesome display of determination to win and trust in the recommendations of the franchise’s baseball people, starting in the Pacific Rim with Jim Colborn and Joe Furukawa and moving up the chain of command to Preller and Josh Boyd, and Welke and Daniels, and others from the organization who killed it to get to know this player, between the lines and away from the ballpark.

I’d bet on them, too.

The contract isn’t exactly a six-year, $60 million deal, as originally reported.  There’s apparently $56 million guaranteed (none of it deferred), with incentives that can kick in at least another $4-10 million (depending on which reports are accurate), and the deal gives Darvish a conditional right to opt out after five years, though the terms of the condition weren’t specified.  According to a couple reports, the righthander must place high enough in the Cy Young Award voting in certain unspecified seasons to void the final season and take free agency after the fifth year; other reports refer to a “series of demanding performance clauses” that would trigger the opt-out provision.

Regardless, from the club’s perspective, tack the posting fee onto the guaranteed portion of the contract and Darvish becomes, as ESPN’s Buster Olney points out, “the most expensive right-handed pitcher in baseball history.”  The only pitchers who cost more to sign were lefthanders C.C. Sabathia ($161 million), Johan Santana ($137.5 million), Barry Zito ($126 million), Mike Hampton ($121 million), and Cliff Lee ($120 million).

Interestingly – but maybe not coincidentally? – Darvish and Japanese actress Saeko (who were married on 11-11 in 2007) submitted formal divorce papers (by mutual consent) to the ward office in Tokyo yesterday and announced it publicly.  The couple had reportedly been discussing a split for 14 months, finally formalizing it on Wednesday.

A divorce and a marriage the same day, and now Darvish will board a plane and arrive in the Metroplex tomorrow.  On some level, here comes the circus.

Meanwhile, the story line, inevitably, turns to the Prince Fielder issue, and consequently to Josh Hamilton.

But I’m not interested in focusing on any of that, at least not at the moment.  Five weeks from today Yu Darvish is going to emerge from the clubhouse at 15754 North Bullard Avenue in Surprise, in a Rangers uniform with an “11” on the back and a cap with a “T” on the front, stretching alongside Feliz and Ogando and Derek Holland, as Daniels and Preller and Nolan Ryan and the Maddux brothers look on, with swarms of cameramen and massive expectations hovering over everything Darvish does, and I’m pretty damn fired up about that.

In the meantime, the only player that the Rangers have under contract for the 2017 season will be introduced tomorrow evening to the local media and, thus, to the rest of us.  The process to get to this point was tedious and, ultimately, maybe even a little anticlimactic, but now you get the sense that the monotony is over, and if the Rangers are right about this, something very, very special could be on the verge of unfolding, right in our backyard.

So that wait is over, and there’s another one to turn our attention to today.

And there will probably be another one after that, but let’s not take our eyes off the ball.

Grab your queso and a day’s supply of your favorite beverage, put the dog in his Rangers Snuggie, and settle in.  It’s Darvish Day, with the final buzzer set to sound at 4:00 Central, eight hours from now.  The month-long game has drawn down to the final possession, with the outcome still on the line.

The game clock is now showing tenths of a second, and we rise to our feet.  Wolf Blitzer has his eye-black on, Dick Clark is bundled up, Prince Fielder is too nervous to touch his vegetarian Grand Slam.

Keep your email and Twitter feed nearby.

Big day.

First, according to multiple reports, Josh Hamilton’s father-in-law, Michael Dean Chadwick, has decided not to serve as Hamilton’s accountability partner this season, due to “family considerations.”

Second, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News predicts that Texas and Yu Darvish will settle on a deal that pays between $10 million and $11 million per season, and that Darvish’s proposal of a five-year term would include a provision preventing Texas from offering him arbitration thereafter.  It’s become a fairly standard provision for veterans coming over from Japan, one that permits them to take free agency at the end of their initial contract rather than remain subject to club control until they’ve amassed six years of service.  Hideki Matsui and Koji Uehara negotiated that provision into their initial big league deals, and I’m sure there are other examples.

Texas would reportedly prefer to commit Darvish to a six-year deal.

One way or another, this will get done by 4:00 Wednesday afternoon.

Trivia answers from the weekend:

SATURDAY

Name the former Rangers big leaguer born in:

Afghanistan                          Jeff Bronkey                         Aruba                     Sidney Ponson

Curacao                                Andruw Jones                      Germany               Craig Lefferts

New Brunswick                    Matt Stairs                            Nicaragua             Vicente Padilla

Nova Scotia                          Rick Lisi                                Virgin Islands       Jerry Browne

Netherlands/Holland          Bert Blyleven, Rikkert Faneyte

Panama                                 Roberto Kelly, Carlos Lee, Einar Diaz, Ruben Rivera, Bruce Chen

Name the two father/son combinations who played in the big leagues with Texas:

Mike Bacsik and Mike Bacsik Jr.

Sandy Alomar and Sandy Alomar Jr.

Name the two brothers and a second cousin (two coaches and a player) who were with Texas in the big leagues:

Jerry, Johnny, and Sam Narron

There is a first name that only four players in big league history have had.  All four played for Texas.

Esteban Loaiza, Esteban German, Esteban Yan, Esteban Beltre

Four current big league managers suited up as players for the Rangers – one with the big league club, two with minor league clubs, one in big league spring training only

Ned Yost, Ron Washington, Ron Roenicke, Mike Scioscia

SUNDAY

Four players have had three different stints with the Rangers (that is, they had time with other organizations in between each Texas stint).  Name them.

Darren Oliver, Kenny Rogers, Ruben Sierra, Bill Haselman

One coach has had four different stints with the Rangers.  Name him.

Jackie Moore

This former Ranger had 24 fingers and toes.

Antonio Alfonseca

Five former Rangers had last names ending in “___owell.”  Name them.

Oddibe McDowell, Roger McDowell, Jay Powell, Roy Howell, Jay Howell

There is one existing big league franchise that the Rangers have never made a trade with.  Name it.

Tampa Bay Rays

At least five former players who played in the big leagues with Texas now work for Scott Boras.  Name them.

Bob Brower, Scott Chiamparino, Calvin Murray, Kurt Stillwell, Don Carman

Two other Boras soldiers were minor leaguers with the Rangers.  Name them.

Spike Lundberg, Jim McNamara

He’s played in more than 1,000 big league games and stolen more than 300 bases and had two different stints in the Rangers’ farm system without ever reaching the big leagues in Texas.  Name him.

Scott Podsednik

Bill Madlock, Vic Harris, Juan Beniquez, Steve Barr, Craig Skok, and John Poloni: What does this list of players represent?

They were the players involved in the three trades Texas made involving Fergie Jenkins