When the Texas Rangers paid $108 million in December for pitcher Yu Darvish, it was a reminder that some teams are still willing to spend heavily for the best players from Japan.

But it hardly figures to be a harbinger of big deals to come. Aside from a handful of stars like Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui, many of the 57 Japanese-born players who have played in the major leagues have underwhelmed, been overpaid or both. High-priced failures like Hideki Irabu, Kei Igawa and Kaz Matsui have made teams gun-shy about spending heavily on Japanese players.

Even so, American teams are still scouring Japan for middle relievers, infielders with sure hands and situational hitters who are by and large well trained, hard-working and, critically, willing to work for more modest salaries than their predecessors.

That is a big reason Kevin Towers, the Diamondbacks’ general manager, and Derrick Hall, the team’s president, are traveling to Japan early this month. In the off-season, they signed Takashi Saito, a 42-year-old journeyman reliever, to a one-year, $1.75 million deal.