"Japanese star righthander Yu Darvish will be made available to major league teams via the posting system. But the Red Sox seem lukewarm to the idea of bidding for him.

The 6-foot-5-inch Darvish was 18-6 with a 1.44 earned run average for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of the Pacific League last season. He had 276 strikeouts.

The Blue Jays and Rangers are expected to be serious bidders for Darvish, with the Yankees always a possibility. But Sox general manager Ben Cherington does not seem enthused.

"I'm not sure the timing this offseason puts us in a position to be the most aggressive team,'' said Cherington. "But he's a good pitcher and we have a lot of respect for him. We'll certainly discuss it and figure out if a [bid] makes sense."