Pacific League MVP Yu Darvish re-signed with the Nippon Ham Fighters on Wednesday for ¥330 million, up ¥60 million from 2009.
At 23, Darvish became the youngest player in Japanese baseball history to reach the ¥300 million mark. He is also the highest-paid pitcher in the PL now.
"I was going to sign regardless of whether I got a pay raise or a pay cut. I'm glad I was given high marks," Darvish said.
"I don't care much about money. I only think about pitching well for the team. I'm more interested in what kind of contracts (the Seibu Lions' Hideaki) Wakui and (the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles' Masahiro) Tanaka will get, rather than my own," Darvish continued.
Darvish shrugged off an index finger injury to win Game 2 of the Japan Series with six effective innings.
The finger, later found to have been fractured, has healed almost completely.