The Rangers have until 5PM today to sign Yu Darvish

Today is the deadline for the Rangers to reach a deal with Yu Darvish. The sides have until 5pm Eastern. These things tend to go to the wire, and all along it is has been expected that a deal would be done. This is fun though. T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com:

The word this morning is the Rangers optimism has waned a bit. The two sides negotiated late into the night and there are definitely still some differences that have cooled the Rangers optimism.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this comes out at the same time more Prince Fielder chatter circulates and all while a deadline looms. If you’re the Rangers you want to try to put a little doubt in Darvish’s mind. To make him think that, hey, maybe a deal won’t get done.

I’d be more pessimistic if I heard a report sourced to Darvish’s camp about the Rangers being jerks or something. That’s the stuff of busted negotiations. Vague “maybe it won’t happen” chatter from the team sounds like posturing to me.