Less than 24 hours after acquiring 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell from the Tampa Bay Rays, the San Diego Padres have added yet another starting pitcher.
The Padres have acquired Yu Darvish from the Chicago Cubs along with his personal catcher Victor Caratini in exchange for starting pitcher Zach Davies and four prospects - outfielders Owen Caissie and Ismael Mena and shortstops Reggie Preciado and Yeison Santana.
Darvish finished runner up in NL Cy Young balloting in the COVID shortened 2020 season. In a dozen starts, Darvish went 8-3 with a 2.01 ERA striking out 93 batters in only 76 innings pitched.
The Japanese born hurler signed a six year contract worth $126 million with the Cubs prior to the 2018 season. It is unclear how much the Cubs will pay Darvish to pitch in San Diego the next three seasons. Darvish, 34, has pitched in MLB since 2012 after seven seasons with the Nippon Hamfighters. He has been injury prone missing the entire 2015 season due to Tommy John surgery while a member of the Texas Rangers and then missing a significant portion of his inaugural season with the Cubs in 2018 with injuries to his elbow and triceps.
Despite Darvish's injury history and Snell's inconsistency, the Friars are putting the World Series champion Dodgers on notice in the NL West. Darvish, of course, was part of the Dodgers rotation when they won the NL pennant in 2017.
As for the Cubs, it will be interesting to see if the Darvish deal is the beginning of a fire sale. Will Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo follow?
We don't know the answer to that but we do know that Snell will follow Darvish in the Padres starting rotation in 2021.
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