The man, the myth, the mystery: Yu Darvish

Who is Yu Darvish? Maybe the more apt question is who the hell does Yu Darvish think he is? From reading Jeff Passan’s wonderful profile on him over at Yahoo, Darvish seems to be a Japanese hybrid of Michael Jordan, Britney Spears, and Burt Reynolds.

The 21-year old Japanese pitcher, who is expected to have a posting fee of at least $75 million (you may remember Dick-K fetched $51 mil) whenever he decides to play in the majors, seems to be the next big thing in baseball. Last season, at 20, Darvish went 15-5 with a 1.82 ERA.

The Japanese media has already made him into a super celebrity. Just ask Royals manager Trey Hillman, who is apparently is the Raffi of Japan for his Christmas albums.

No word yet on if Darvish can get free soda by hitting the machine or jump over a pool of sharks on water skies, but since his slider goes 91 MPH (roughly four miles per hour faster than Buehrle‘s heater), I’m not sure it matters.

Darvish caused a huge controversy in Japan when the paparazzi photographed him smoking a cigarette when he was 19 (it’s illegal to smoke there until you’re 20). The picture caused him to miss his high school graduation and prompted scientists to do a study on the smoking habits of all baseball players in the Nippon professional league. Of course, Darvish wouldn’t face nearly as much criticism for his smoking habit if he eventually lands here in Chicago, where Mark Grace routinely knocked out a pack of Marlboro Reds in the dugout during games.

The grand finale? Take it away Passan:

Uhhh, I don’t even what to say. Imagine if LeBron or Jimmy Clausen did something like this. At least Passan thinks he’s good looking. What if some of these studs 'peeled' off their clothes before their pro sports careers took off.

Note 1: I'm all over these internets today. Check out Top Ten for sports next great stars (Yu ranks #1), and head to the Sun-Times for thoughts on Lovie Smith's trip for lunch with Darren McFadden.