Report: Brewers make Darvish contract offer

The mystery team in the Yu Darvish sweepstakes has been revealed.

A contract offer to the right-hander has reportedly been made by the Milwaukee Brewers, a source confirmed to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

Darvish hinted on his Twitter account earlier this month that the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, and Houston Astros were all interested in him, along with a sixth team.

Since then, Darvish's market may have shrunken. The Astros traded for Gerrit Cole, eliminating their need for another starter. The Yankees extended Darvish an offer that was rejected, and are now believed to be out the running as it would be difficult to sign him while remaining under the luxury-tax threshold. And Rangers general manager Jon Daniels has met with Darvish for dinner but suggested earlier this week that it would be highly unlikely his club signs any of the remaining top free agents.

The Brewers are coming off a surprising 86-76 campaign that saw them miss the second wild-card spot by a single game. Their success led many to expect they would be a player in the free-agent market this winter. The club made some minor moves in December, signing starters Jhoulys Chacin and Yovani Gallardo, but with Jimmy Nelson recovering from shoulder surgery and just $69.5 million committed to the 2018 payroll, per Cots Baseball Contracts, there's some financial flexibility to land a player like Darvish.