The Cubs are unsure if injured right-hander Yu Darvish will return before next month’s All-Star break, manager Joe Maddon told Patrick Mooney of The Athletic and other reporters Sunday. Darvish has been on the shelf for two weeks with right tricep tendinitis, and even though he doesn’t have any structural damage, he’ll end up sitting out nearly two months (if not even more time) if he doesn’t come back prior to the July 17 All-Star Game. Of course, in an ideal world for Darvish and the Cubs, he’d be representing the team in the Midsummer Classic after landing a six-year, $126MM guarantee in free agency over the winter. Instead, not only has Darvish endured multiple DL stints (one for the flu), but the 31-year-old has posted a career-worst 4.95 ERA/4.80 FIP over 40 innings when he has taken the mound.
Here’s more from the NL…
- The Pirates activated righty Ivan Nova from the disabled list and optioned fellow righty Nick Kingham to Triple-A prior to Sunday’s game. Nova returned after a finger injury shelved him for two weeks. His presence is unfortunate for Kingham, who continued his strong rookie season Saturday with 6 1/3 innings of two-run ball in a loss to the Cubs. Overall, the 26-year-old Kingham has pitched to a 3.82 ERA with 35 strikeouts against seven walks in 35 1/3 innings (six starts).
- Additionally, the Pirates optioned utility player Adam Frazier to make room for the addition of catcher Jacob Stallings from Triple-A. It’s a somewhat surprising demotion for Frazier, who offered league-average offensive production (.283/.347/.402) over 614 plate appearances from 2016-17 while seeing action at several positions. Frazier’s defensive versatility has continued this year, as he has lined up at second base and all three outfield spots, but his batting line has fallen to .237/.318/.356 in 152 PAs.
- More on the Pirates, who promoted veteran infielder Jung Ho Kang from Single-A to Triple-A on Sunday, Liz Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. It’s an important development for Kang, who was a quality regular with the Bucs from 2015-16 but hasn’t played in the majors since then because of off-field problems. Kang racked up his his third DUI in his homeland of South Korea during the 2016-17 offseason, and he’s still on the restricted list as a result. Unsurprisingly, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said in April that Kang is likely down to “his last chance with us.”
- The Marlins have removed Stan Meek as their vice president of scouting, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. Meek was a confidant of previous owner Jeffrey Loria, having worked under him in Montreal before following him to Florida in 2002. The Marlins’ Meek-led drafts were “disastrous” in recent years, Passan observes, though Jon Heyman of FanRag points out that he did have some hits during his tenure in Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Fernandez, Christian Yelich and J.T. Realmuto. Given that Meek is signed through next season, he could stay in the organization in a different role, Heyman writes.
Darvish is another terrible FA signing by “Wunderkind” Theo Epstein. Did he even watch last year’s World Series?
Yes, how dare he compare a season’s worth of work to like 5 bad innings.
Darvish was a fairly predictable bad signing. As was Heyward.
heyward was overpaid sure. but to say everyone saw this drastic of a decline in batting is people lying to themselves. people knew he wasnt paid for his batting at the time. theo even went on to say “this isnt 1980 anymore. we pay people for their defense, baserunning, and leadership.” i would say he has been standout on each of those 3 qualities. sure, i would like to see a higher batting average, but to say he is a terrible signing is a little extreme. who was it again who called a players only meeting heading into that rain delay in game 7? id say thats a great way to reward a big contract.
Hard to be a team leader when the numbers are consistently not there—never have been.
One pep talk, $200 million. Yeah, really worth it. You’d think you hadn’t won a WS for 100 years. Now Theo uses Benjamins to light cigars. No longer the wonder kid. And Madden sucks as a manager. Both have big egos. It will be the demise of the Cubs, mark my word.
Devan, the Heyward contract was a head scratcher for everyone who follows baseball (not just a “fan”). It made no sense for the Cubs to sign him, let alone for that kind of money. Jorge Soler (who they gave up on because he was a “below average” OF, is a superior offensive player to Heyward for a fraction of the cost. The Torres trade for Chapman was another questionable move by the Cubs, but I digress. The Cubs will be forced to sell their assets and rebuild again in three or so due to Epstein’s poor trades and FA acquisitions.
No, it wasn’t a head scratcher for everyone who follows baseball. Don’t speak for others if you’re going to speak incorrectly. And certainly don’t re-write history to suit today’s narrative.
It wasn’t a “headscratcher” at all. The guy was a beast at the plate for Atlanta and St. Louis. And his defense is second-to-none.
Soler would driver in 2 runs and let up 4. The guy was absolutely atrocious in right field. Defense and pitching wins championships, not hitting.
I also have to add….to you people not realize the guy is hitting .273 this year??? He’s been fine, offensively, this year.
Defense is more important than offense?
“guy was a beast at Atlanta & St. Louis”. Average for 6 years .260, 15 HR’s, 60 RBI’s. Yeah, real beast. Worth $20 mil/year with those beastly numbers. Like I said, Theo thought he was hurting the Cards & helping the Cubs. Wrong both ways.
Wrong.
Jason Heyward
2010 AB- 520 BA- .277
2011 AB- 396 BA- .227
(INJURED for good portion of season)
2012 AB- 587 BA- .269
2013 AB- 382 BA- .254
(INJURED – missed rest of season with fractured jaw)
2014 AB- 573 BA- .271
2015 AB- 547 BA- .293
I’m not even going to bring RBI’s into this, since he typically batted 2nd during this time. As a result, RBI chances are diminished.
In all seasons where he’s healthy, he is indeed a beast at the plate. Can’t hold injuries against a guy.
He’s also arguably one of the best defensive players in the league, and that’s primarily the reason why teams sign him.
So a guy is not allowed to make a few mistakes? What team do you root for ? Cause I’m sure their gm has made some bad signings
Jason Heyward:
8yr/$204 Million(including signing bonus)
Yu Darvish:
6yr/$126 Million
All GMs make mistakes but not many make two overpays worth $330 Million within 2 years.
But more importantly that’s a lot of dough that could prevent them from resigning/extending Bryant, Rizzo, Contreras, Hendricks, Baez, Happ, Schwarber, or any other of their strong players
Apparently you don’t understand how profitable the Cubs franchise is…they can afford to keep any of those guys they want to.
I think it’s a little too early to call the Darvish signing horrible. He’s had an injury plagued season, and it’s only the first year of the deal. If not this year when he comes back, I think he’s a definite bet to be a bounce back canadate next year.
also remember how he left boston with cherington having to move those nasty contracts. His trades now can also be questioned as he gave up candelerio for wilson and gave up eloy and cease for quintana. he is quite lucky they won the world series in 7 games because that chapman deal is pretty bad too.
In order to sign all of those guys long term the Cubs will have to go well over the luxury tax threshold and have their hands tied for years to come
@ Robert. Yeah, people who are fans of teams like the Cubs moan about what they believe is an overpay but easily forget teams like the Cubs can easily some salaries of guys that still perform but just not to the level of that contract. Then you come to the fans and media members in cities like Pittsburgh where if the do spend for a large contract and the player does not perform to the level if the signing, it can cripple,the team. Many moan about spending more but forget that teams with the resources like the Cubs can will and do out bid them on any player that they want to.
Horrible signing. But when you have unlimited amount of money you can spend, then so what. He’ll go sign another pitcher this off season
The Rockies once signed Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle in the same offseason for 200 million dollars. The Padres are paying 30 million dollars this season for guys who are out of baseball or playing for other teams. These teams can afford it. I don’t know why Cubs fans really care what a multi-billion dollarr company wastes its money on – they’re still winning games and competitive. Neither of these contracts is crippling the team.
Profitable? There is a luxury tax, burn money, burn!
Happ shouldn’t even be in the major leagues. No concerned with that. The sooner they get rid of him, the better.
Cubs also basically own a printing press. Money is of little concern. The owner (Ricketts) isn’t cheap and is willing to spend to win, even with the luxury tax.
Yes, there are many questionable to bad Theo Epstein deals over the years. Time more people recognize this.
So just like every other front office in the league?
And three World Championships…I believe Theos work speaks for itself. His detractors could only hope to be a shred as competent at their respective “professions” as he is and has been.
Put him on a small market team & see if he is 1/2 as good as Billy Beane. He’s been on 2 wide open payroll teams.
Agreed. It’s mostly all jealousy. Like most things in life, miserable/weak people just seek to criticize and tear people down, due to their own insecurities (or insecurities of their organization they associate themselves with).
Lmao you’re going to base a guys future/contract/view of him off of one series? That’s one awfully small sample size and a terrible way to get to the point you are trying to make.
epstein I did like in Boston, but it was his surrounding himself with knowledgeable talent who did the good work.
As for his FA signings? They were pretty much all mediocre to disastrous. just think back and name the multi year deals he personally gave out via FA.. Drew.. Mediocre. Lackey? mediocre at best. Crawford? Disaster with his boston deals.
As to trades he made? The biggest (Beckett) was done while he wasn’t even the GM over money squabbles for several weeks., tho Epstein was a pretty shrewd trader for the most part,
It’s the FA signs that generally for him have/had turned sour for the most part which couldn’t be said of his predecessor dan duquette who had a penchant for hitting HR’s with his and still does, tho still not on the level of the manny Ramirez deal.
Yu will be fine. Jon Lester battled through injuries last year and is back to pitching like his 2016 self. I don’t believe in the “mental toughness” garbage narrative
Yeah I totally agree. there’s a long history of good players who struggled their first year with a new team.
Lester didn’t miss a game last year….
What’s that supposed to mean? It’s better to play through injuries, even when it’s a detriment to the team? remember everyone, next week we’ll have bring-your-flu to work day
lol!!!! how many times has YU hit 200 innings? Yu will be just fine? lol!!
200 innings pitchers are going the way of the Dinosaur, buddy. Need a better benchmark.
Not disagreeing, though.
Theo was fired for a reason in Boston. He also hasn’t had one big F/A signing that’s paid off other then Lester. He has had far more misses then hits between Boston and Cubs. The Red Sox moved on from him and really don’t seem to miss him. I will take the GM in Houston and Cashman over Theo ten out of ten times.
Boston: Hey Cubs, take this bum Epstein whom we fired. Also, we want compensation because we have no clue what it means to fire someone
That’s because you’re clueless.
He didn’t get fired, genius.
All you Cub fans so easily forget the years of putrid play to draft high & fortunately draft well. That pool of talent set the table for Theo the Great to them stroke his ego & try to look like the big winner every year. Heyward is a total toilet flush; hurt the rival Cards & look like a genius! Uh, no. Homework on Heyward would show as he aged he got worse. The Cards would be laughing if they hadn’t done nearly the same with Fowler. Now Darvish & lose Arrieta. A new level of stupidly for Epstein. One WS is it, probably for another 100 years.
Meanwhile the Cubs are 1/2 game out from the best record in the NL. Theo sucks.
I am not a Theo or a Cubs fan but I’d say you can find a dozen bad signings by every club (thought out their history).
Yeah easy to point out the bad ones and ignore the good ones lol
I don’t know which was worse , Hayward or Fowler. They both suck !
This is a different, more generic, view but say Darvish’s contract becomes one where he’s not healthy enough to be productive anymore, it’s still a $126MM guarantee. One of the bright things about MLB compared to the NFL where an injured player would only receive a fraction of that amount. If only the good ole boys in the league could better market the positives of their sport, perhaps baseball wouldnt be such a dying sport.
How long will it take for the Pirates to trade Nova if he has a few more outings like today?
Are they trying to tell Frazier something by this move?
Where will Kang play if he plays well in AAA and when will he be brought up?
Who leaves when he is brought up?
Jordy… he gets moved to a bench bat and they DFA Sean Rodriguez or David Freese. Frazier was only dropped because he has the options left on the bench. They weren’t going to send down a bullpen arm when who knows when they’ll have to get into there with the team facing the Cubs and facing the red hot Arizona team next.
They may be able to get something for Freese as he is a good player to have as a sub in a pennant race.
Hurdle will cry losing Rodriguez and he has been a good utility man for the most part since 2015 but his release is inevitable.I think Bostick deserves a chance as his replacement.
I had hoped Arizona would continue their swoon for a couple more weeks but no such luck.
I hope they keep Neverauskas if he pitches well and get rid of Feliz as he may be able to reject a minor league assignment.
Do they trade Nova?
Freese is only good defensively right now he is only good for hitting into double plays and striking out. Rodriguez hasn’t been all that sturdy with defense this season. I don’t see value in either of them Neverauskas is in triple A
Triple A and isn’t helping the club being down there. They can’t release Feliz because he was a part of the Cole trade would be useless to release him so they should just use him in a lesser role and deal him at the deadline unless he can figure his issue out with searage
Let me get this straight, signing Hayward; blah, blah, blah. Manager and GM with an ego blah, blah, blah. The demise through bad FA signings….THEY WON THE WORLD SERIES, WORTH IT. You do, what you’ve got to do, to win the World Series, mission accomplished.
The only people that hate on Theo are bitter St. Louis, Milwaukee, and White Sux fans.
I never liked this signing. Heyward, no one saw coming, but this one is a head scratcher. I hope they keep him on the shelf for a long period of time because Montgomery is pitching pretty well so far.