So I was thinking I probably do a bad job of telling people why Yu's k/9 is such a big deal. But when i was headed to wendy's for some lunch I had a good comparison come to mind. Cubs fans loved Kerry Wood til his arm fell apart. He was an absurd K machine. His best years as a starter in terms of k/9 were 12.58/4.59 as a rookie 11.35/4.27 in 2003, 11.20/4.75 in 2001 and his only other year above 10 k/9 was the 10 start 2005 where he was 10.50/3.55. In all his career k/bb per 9 rate was 10.32/4.34. Darvish has 3 seasons over 11 k/9 and his walk rate is almost a full walk per 9 lower which is huge.
Another way to look at this is since he came to the majors in 2012 he is now #1 behind only the passed Jose Fernandez in terms of K/9. Scherzer is #2 at 10.91, Sale is #3 at 10.55, Robbie Ray is #4 at 10.51, Salazar is #5 at 10.51, Strasburg is #6 at 10.47, Syndergaard is #7 at 10.31, Kershaw is #8 at 10.15 and McCullers is #9 at 10.15 as the only guys over 10 k/9. Darvish is literally the only player in baseball at 11 k/9 and the cubs got him on what is basically a #2-3 starter deal.
