Yu don’t say: Pokes fun at Tanaka pact

TAMPA — Is Yu Darvish green with envy over the green the Yankees dished out for Masahiro Tanaka?

Darvish joked with reporters in Arizona on Tuesday that the Yankees overpaid for Tanaka, who received $99 million more in guaranteed money than Darvish did when he came from Japan to the majors two years ago.

Tanaka received a seven-year, $155 million deal from the Bombers, while Darvish inked a six-year, $56 million pact before the 2012 season.

The disparity is largely due to a massive change in the posting system. Texas shelled out $51.7 million to the Nippon Ham Fighters for the rights to Darvish, while the Yankees paid $20 million — the new maximum posting fee — to the Rakuten Golden Eagles, enabling them to pony up significantly more cash to get Tanaka signed.

“I don’t know the details of the posting system, but I think the Yankees gave him a little bit too much,” a laughing Darvish said through a translator.

The Rangers pitcher, who finished second in AL Cy Young voting last year, also said that the success he, Hiroki Kuroda and Hisashi Iwakuma have had in recent years impacted “how the scouts and teams evaluated Tanaka.”

Darvish thought it was clear that he was joking about Tanaka’s contract, but the pitcher later issued a statement through the Rangers to clarify the situation.

“I am sorry if anyone took my comment seriously about Masahiro Tanaka at the press conference today,” Darvish said. “I assumed by the reaction in the room that everyone knew I was joking.”

Tanaka was l ong gone from Steinbrenner Field by the time Darvish made his comments out west.

Earlier in the day, Tanaka threw his third bullpen session since arriving i n Tampa last week, working for the first time with catcher John Ryan Murphy. The two chatted with Joe Girardi with the help of Tanaka’s interpreter after the session, discussing signs to use for Tanaka’s six pitches.

“Masahiro told me it was probably the best of the three bullpens he had thrown,” Murphy said. “The fastball command for me was really good inside and outside. I think his ability to forget a poor pitch and repeat a better pitch the next pitch was really impressive also.”

The young catcher was also excited by what he saw from Tanaka’s trademark splitter.

“He only threw maybe five or six, but he threw a few that were really good and sharp and hard and downward breaking,” Murphy said. “And then he threw a couple for strikes. He did it all today, honestly. All the hype, obviously, with him coming over here, it was a neat experience. It was fun.”