As we all know, you can’t always believe what you see or hear. That being said, listeners of Sunday morning’s The Front Office on MLB Network Radio with show hosts and former MLB general managers Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette were undoubtedly shocked when the pair both projected that former Dodgers rental and now free agent right-hander Yu Darvish will probably get offers in the 7-year / $140 million range.

Shocked indeed.

“There is no way [New York Yankees general manager Brian] Cashman can’t make a deal for Darvish happen, even for seven years and $140 million,” said Bowden emphatically. “And knowing how Cashman operates, I think Darvish ends up with the Yankees.”

Although the less-excitable Duquette wouldn’t go quite that far out on a limb as to where the 31-year-old Darvish might land, he agreed wholeheartedly that a 7-year / $140 million deal is very realistic.

“When you look at what [Giants right-hander Johnny] Cueto got and the what Zack Greinke got from the Diamondbacks and what [Clayton] Kershaw got from the Dodgers, there is no way that Darvish doesn’t get a seven-year deal and more money than Cueto got … and that was two years ago,” said Duquette.

A 7-year / $140 million contract equates to an average annual value (AAV) of $20 million. And even though the Dodgers would remain under the $197 million luxury tax threshold for 2018 even if they were to take on such a contract (albeit not by much), are Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi really willing to do that when they have several young (and financially controllable) starting pitchers on the cusp of breaking into the big leagues this season? Possibly, but probably not.

It’s hard to imagine that 23-year-old Lexington, Kentucky native and Dodgers 2015 first-round draft pick Walker Buehler will not be in the starting rotation on Opening Day 2018. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

And then there’s the fans.

For as good as Darvish was in the past – both in Japan and during his five seasons with the Texas Rangers – and regardless of how well the Habikino, Japan native might do in the future, it’s probably safe to say that there isn’t a Dodger fan on the planet who will ever forget Darvish’s epic fail in game-7 of the 2017 World Series, when he not only allowed five runs (four earned) on three hits (including a two-run home run to Astros outfielder George Springer with two outs in the top of the second inning), but also because it was later discovered that he had tipped his pitches. And even though the Dodgers managed only one run in that fateful seventh and world-championship-deciding game, Darvish will forever be remembered as the guy who blew it – even for as unfair as this may be.

Try as they may, it will be difficult for Dodger fans to get over Darvish’s disastrous start in Game-7 of the 2017 World Series … if ever. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Perhaps the biggest thing that both Jims – Bowden and Duquette – emphatically agreed upon and one that you can absolutely positively take to the bank is that the ice cold, and then cold, and then cool and now warming hot stove will, as Bowden put it, be “boiling hot” by this time next week.

Stay tuned…