Yu Darvish

Yu Darvish Suggests Opt-Out Unlikely

By Jeff Todd | September 27, 2019 at 8:38pm CDT

Cubs righty Yu Darvish isn’t ready to make anything official, but has given clear indication in recent comments that he has no intentions of opting out of the remaining four years and $81MM left on his contract. That it’s even a question worth asking reflects his remarkable mid-season turnaround.

In recent interviews with Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune and the full slate of Cubs beat reporters (including MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian), Darvish said he’s going to take some time to think things over and discuss it with his agent and family. There’s still a few weeks’ time to think things over. Darvish’s season is over — he won’t take his final start owing to nagging forearm discomfort — and he doesn’t need to make an official decision until after the end of the World Series.

But it doesn’t seem likely that things will change in the interim. Darvish said that he’s “so comfortable” in Chicago and that his family is as well. He credited the organization — particularly skipper Joe Maddon — for patience as he worked through marked early difficulties after signing a big contract.

Truth be told, it’d be tough for Darvish to beat the remaining guarantee he has in hand. He just turned 33, has a worrying injury history, and limped through his first year-and-a-half with the Cubs. But he has been exceptional down the stretch. Over his final 13 starts, Darvish carried a 2.76 ERA with 118 strikeouts and just seven walks.

Darvish says he has never before commanded the baseball as well as he is now. With the results to prove it, the future again looks promising for a key Cubs performer. Darvish, at least, thinks that Chicago is the right place for him to continue his excellent career. “This organization is perfect for me,” he says.

Cubs Injury Updates: Baez, Darvish, Kimbrel

By Jeff Todd | September 6, 2019 at 9:27pm CDT

Cubs skipper Joe Maddon provided updates on an important trio of players today, with MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian among those covering the news. (Links to his Twitter account unless otherwise noted.)

Star infielder Javier Baez is going to undergo an MRI on his thumb tomorrow. There’s still no cause for alarm, but it’s certainly suboptimal to hear that he’s not recovering promptly after getting three games off. Initial x-rays came back negative, but the club is obviously interested in making sure there isn’t some other injury lurking in the digit. Deep as the Cubbies are in position players, Baez — who owns a .281/.316/.532 slash line with 29 home runs on the year — is all but irreplaceable. Baez certainly won’t be in the lineup until Sunday, at the earliest. The organization’s hope is that it won’t be long thereafter before he’s ready to return. Obviously, a significant injury would be devastating at this time of year.
Issues in or near the elbow are always a red flag for a pitcher, so it was at least somewhat worrisome to learn that righty Yu Darvish has experienced forearm tightness of late. But it seem he isn’t terribly concerned about it, having already managed things since early July — and thrived over that same span. The veteran says he won’t need to miss any further action after being skipped in his last scheduled start. He’ll pitch tomorrow. Maddon said Darvish looked great in his latest pen session and is “ready to roll,” as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune tweets.
Speaking of ailments in the elbow region, the Cubs were holding their breath when closer Craig Kimbrel went in for an MRI. He says that the results were quite promising and that he hopes to be ready to return when first eligible on Thursday. That said, the veteran hurler hasn’t yet resumed throwing after spending some time on ice to let his inflammation subside. As he acknowledged, the precise course of action will depend upon how it goes once he does get back on the bump.

NL Central Notes: Jeffress, Kela, Baez, Darvish, Suarez, Reds

By Mark Polishuk | September 1, 2019 at 11:01pm CDT

The Brewers released Jeremy Jeffress today, but before parting ways with the former All-Star, Milwaukee tried shopping the reliever within the NL Central. The Athletic’s Robert Murray reported back in July that the Brewers and Pirates were discussing a trade that involved Keone Kela, and Murray reports today that a Jeffress-for-Kela swap was floated between the division rivals, though “talks never gained traction.”

While the Bucs were (and possibly still are) open to moving Kela in trade negotiations, the controversial right-hander isn’t necessarily a totally expendable piece for the Pirates, whereas Jeffress was clearly no longer in Milwaukee’s plans, as GM David Stearns indicated today to Murray and other reporters. While Stearns left the door open for a potential reunion with Jeffress down the road, the reliever was hampered by a lack of trust in his splitter and a loss of velocity, possibly due to a heavy workload in 2018 or a shoulder injury that sidelined him for most of Spring Training. “I think his arsenal changed this year. That’s something that’s been well documented, not only with the fastball velocity but with the loss of a pitch that had become extremely important in his repertoire,” Stearns said. “When you lose a pitch, you have to become a different pitcher and it’s certainly possible that Jeremy can become a different pitcher and be effective. We just didn’t see it consistently enough to count on him at any point this year.”

Here’s more from around the NL Central…

The Cubs received a twin dose of injury scares on Sunday when Yu Darvish was scratched from his start due to right forearm tightness. In that same game, Javier Baez suffered a sore neck and a jammed left thumb after sliding into Orlando Arcia’s knee during a third-inning steal of second base. Baez stayed in the game before being removed in the seventh, and while he may miss a game or two, x-rays were negative on his hand and the shortstop expects to be fine. Darvish’s injury is more ominous, particularly since the righty has been dealing with the issue for his last five outings, as pitching coach Tommy Hottovy and manager Joe Maddon told reporters (including MLB.com’s Russell Dorsey). Despite the late scratch, Maddon thinks Darvish will be ready to make his next turn in the rotation. Needless to say, the Cubs can’t afford to lose any key contributors given the tight status of both the NL Central and NL wild card races.
Eugenio Suarez left the Reds’ 5-3 win over the Cardinals tonight after being hit on the left hand during a fifth inning plate appearance. Suarez will be evaluated tomorrow after the swelling subsides. The third baseman has continued to be an offensive force for the Reds (.261/.342/.546 with 40 home runs in 568 plate appearances) despite a worrying spike in swing-and-miss, as Suarez has a league-high 161 strikeouts.
The Reds’ pitching has gone from a major weakness in 2018 to a strength in 2019, and while some new acquisitions like Sonny Gray and (the since-traded) Tanner Roark played a part in that improvement, Cincinnati’s biggest addition might have been pitching coach Derek Johnson. C. Trent Rosecrans and Eno Sarris of The Athletic (subscription required) break down how several of the Reds’ arms have changed their tactics from last season now that they’re under Johnson’s tutelage.

Previewing 2019-20’s Opt-Out Clause Decisions

By Steve Adams | April 12, 2019 at 7:26pm CDT

Some few contracts include provisions giving the player control over one or more seasons by affording the chance to opt out of the remainder of the deal. Take the bird in hand or see how many you can net from the free-agent bush? Market changes have impacted the math for some players, but the open market still has riches to offer. We don’t know how things will look for any given player at season’s end, but here’s how it’s shaping up at the outset of the 2019 campaign:

Elvis Andrus, SS, Rangers: Three years, $43MM: The 2016-17 version of Andrus — and the one we saw through the season’s first two weeks in 2018 — looked every bit like a player who would exercise the first of two opt-out clauses in his contract (which came at the end of the 2018 season). From Opening Day 2016 through April 11 last year, Andrus posted a terrific .301/.352/.459 batting line with 30 homers, 78 doubles, 11 triples and 49 steals through 1318 plate appearances. Paired with his glovework at shortstop, he looked very capable of topping the remaining four years and $58MM on his contract. Unfortunately, he suffered an elbow fracture, missed two months, and returned to hit only .245/.289/.347 in his final 367 plate appearances. An offseason of rest looks to have done him some good, as he’s hitting .380/.392/.500 through 51 PAs. Unlike several players on this list, there’s an actual chance that Andrus could test the open market, though free agency hasn’t been kind to players on the wrong side of 30 in recent years.

Jake Arrieta, RHP, Phillies: One year, $20MM (unless Phillies exercise two-year, $40MM option for 2021-22): Arrieta’s first season with the Phils was solid, if unremarkable. He tallied 172 2/3 innings and gave the team a 3.96 ERA with fielding-independent metrics that didn’t stray too far from that ERA (4.26 FIP, 4.08 xFIP, 4.29 SIERA). The former Cy Young winner’s velocity is down a couple miles per hour from its peak levels, and while Arrieta showed good control and ground-ball tendencies in 2018, he no longer appears to be a strikeout pitcher. Given that he’ll pitch next season at age 34, it doesn’t seem all that likely that the Phillies will sign up to tack on another pair of $20MM seasons. With a strong 2019 effort, it’s possible that Arrieta positions himself to land a two-year deal with a larger guarantee but lower annual rate (e.g. two years, $30MM), so it’s not out of the question that he’d opt out at season’s end, even if seems unlikely at present.

Yu Darvish, RHP, Cubs: Four years, $81MM: Darvish’s first season in Chicago was an unmitigated disaster, as a series of arm injuries limited him to just 40 innings of work. His velocity isn’t where it was in previous seasons, and in this season’s small sample of three starts, he’s walked more batters than he’s punched out. It’s hard to envision any scenario in which Darvish opts out of his contract; even if he stormed back to ace status and won an NL Cy Young Award, I’m not sure he’d top $81MM as a 33-year-old free agent with a qualifying offer hanging over his head. The Cubs appear stuck with the contract and will need to simply hope for a rebound.

Jason Heyward, OF, Cubs: Four years, $86MM (assuming he makes 550 PAs): Heyward has had a scalding hot start to the season, mashing at a .351/.444/.676 pace. Through 45 plate appearances, he’s already halfway to his home run total from a 2018 season in which he came to he plate 489 times. Even if Heyward’s bat proves to be rejuvenated to its 2015 levels, however, it’s virtually unfathomable that he’d walk away from the remaining $86MM on this contract. His poor results in his first three seasons with the Cubs still loom large enough that a monster year at the dish would be met with a heavy dose of skepticism, and he’ll turn 30 in August.

Kenley Jansen, RHP, Dodgers: Two years, $38MM: After seven seasons as a near-unstoppable force in the Dodgers’ bullpen, Jansen looked mortal in 2018 when he logged a 3.01 ERA (his first time ever topping 3.00) and 10.3 K/9 (his first time south of 13.0). A strong enough rebound campaign could embolden Jansen to seek out a three-year deal at a lower annual salary than the $19MM remaining on his contract; the Rockies gave Wade Davis a total of $52MM for the same three-year age span that Jansen will be entering (32-34). He’s already rejected one qualifying offer in his career, so he wouldn’t be eligible to receive a second one (even though he landed with the same team that winter).

J.D. Martinez, DH/OF, Red Sox: Three years, $62.5MM: The general expectation in the 2017-18 offseason was that Martinez’s 2017 season (.303/.376/.690, 45 home runs) would be a peak year. Instead, he turned in an arguably even more productive 2018 season with the Red Sox, hitting a ridiculous .330/.402/.629 with 43 home runs in 649 PAs — the second-highest total of his career. Martinez is off to another strong start in 2019, and despite a frosty climate for free agents, one can only wonder if he’d be tempted to once again test free agency if he can post a third consecutive season of 40-plus homers with an OPS north of 1.000. One wrinkle to consider is that barring an unexpected midseason trade, Martinez would have a qualifying offer attached to him this time around; that wasn’t true of his last trip through free agency, as he’d been traded from Detroit to Arizona midseason.

Stephen Strasburg, RHP, Nationals: Four years, $100MM: Strasburg is still a strikeout machine who posts big totals in swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates, but his 93.1 mph average fastball in 2019 is well south of last year’s 94.5 mph (to say nothing of his career 95.3). The former No. 1 pick was a big part of the Nats’ rotation in 2018 and should be again this year, but he was more good than great last year (130 innings, 3.74 ERA, 10.8 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 43.6 GB%). Moreover, Darvish and a much younger Patrick Corbin are the only two pitchers who have topped $100MM in guarantees over the past two offseasons. Strasburg would be hit with a qualifying offer if he opted out, and he’d be betting against recent trends as a 31-year-old pitcher looking to cash in on a nine-figure contract. He can ask Dallas Keuchel how well that strategy works.

Injury/Rehab Notes: Kershaw, Jeffress, Nelson, Darvish, Phillies

By Steve Adams | March 19, 2019 at 10:44pm CDT

It’s been a fait accompli for weeks now, but Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts made it official today that Clayton Kershaw will open the season on the injured list (link via Jorge Castillo of the L.A. Times). Kershaw has been slowed by inflammation in his left shoulder for much of the spring and has not been pitching in Cactus League games recently. He’ll face live hitters tomorrow, per Castillo. There’s no indication at present that Kershaw will miss a substantial portion of the upcoming season. Castillo, in fact, notes that Kershaw won’t pitch in the upcoming series of exhibition games against the Angels, beginning on Sunday, because withholding him will allow the Dodgers to back-date his IL placement by the maximum three days (thus creating the possibility of an earlier return). It’s been a month since Kershaw has thrown in a game setting, though, so there’s still some work to be done in terms of getting him back up to speed.

A few more updates on some notable injury situations…

Both Jeremy Jeffress and Jimmy Nelson will open the season on the injured list, Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns confirmed today (Twitter links, with video, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt). The concern regarding each player appears to be relatively mild, as Stearns even emphasized that Jeffress isn’t so much hurt as he is dealing with weakness in his shoulder while trying to build up strength. Stearns declined to place a definitive timeline on either pitcher but indicated that it’s plausible that Jeffress could return to the team before the end of April. Nelson, meanwhile, will jump right into rehab games for Triple-A San Antonio to open the season, and he’ll be further evaluated after his first couple of starts.
Cubs fans braced for bad news when trainers visited Yu Darvish on the mound today and the righty exited the game, however the ailment in question proved to be minor. The Cubs announced that Darvish exited the game with a blister, and Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune tweets that the right-hander doesn’t even expect to miss a start. Darvish cut the blister open while throwing a breaking ball on what proved to be his final pitch of the afternoon.
Phillies right-hander Tommy Hunter and outfield hopeful Roman Quinn are expected to open the 2019 season on the injured list, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki writes. Hunter has been slowed by a flexor strain this spring, while Quinn is sidelined for now due to an oblique strain. Quinn’s placement on the IL buys the Phillies a little bit of time in determining how to sort out their outfield picture. With Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen locked into the corners, the Phillies have four remaining outfielders — Odubel Herrera, Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr and Quinn — with minimal at-bats to go around. That situation is complicated further by the fact that Altherr and Quinn are both out of minor league options. Something will have to give eventually, but until Quinn is up to full strength, the Phillies can continue to keep him and Altherr both in the organization.

NL Notes: Darvish, Beede, McNeil

By Ty Bradley | March 9, 2019 at 4:16pm CDT

The latest from the Senior Circuit…

It’s a big year for Cubs righty Yu Darvish, as The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney explores in an in-depth look at the Japanese star. Darvish “didn’t feel any power in [his] body” last season, easily the nadir in the righty’s decorated seven-year MLB career thus far. The righty’s season-long search for the root of his struggles came to a head in August, when he was ultimately diagnosed with a stress reaction in his right elbow. Limited to just 8 starts last season, Darvish claims to be flinging the “best stuff of his life” in early Cactus League-play, and his coterie of Cub teammates and coaches agree: “He’s been almost a different person this year,” manager Joe Maddon said. “We all know him. He knows us better. Definitely the self-confidence level seems to be soaring a bit right now. I just think the familiarity with the whole group matters to him, plus he’s healthy. All those factors are pointing the needle in the right direction right now.” Peak performances refrains are all too familiar in Spring Training, but a forthright Darvish may just be the weight that tips the scales in favor of Chicago in this season’s brutal NL Central.
Giants righty Tyler Beede, who’s had difficulty harnessing a high-octane arsenal since spurning a huge Toronto offer as a first-round selection in the 2012 draft, may finally be turning the corner, writes Grant Brisbee of The Athletic. The Vanderbilt product, who overhauled his scintillating repertoire at the behest of the old Giants regime, turning himself into a sinker/command guy who sought soft contact, has gone back to his roots: a hard four-seam/overhand curve mix that’s baffled Cactus League hitters thus far. Technology implemented by the new, data-conscious staff under GM Farhan Zaidi (who singled out the righty in an early-spring media chat) appears to have been the catalyst, and the 25-year-old Beede is all ears. Beede’s eventual role remains unclear – there’s talk of him breaking camp with the club as a reliever – but he’s again a name to watch by the bay.
Mets IF/OF Jeff McNeil will split time between third base and left field for the remainder of spring, per manager Mickey Callaway (via the NY Daily News’ Deesha Thosar). McNeil, 27 next month, was a virtual non-prospect before mashing his way to the big leagues in 2018: once there, he impressed further, slashing .329/.381/.471 over 248 late-season plate appearances. Much of McNeil’s big-league time came at second base last season, but the lefty has seen time at seven different positions over a six-year minor league career. Veterans Jed Lowrie and Todd Frazier are still shelf-ridden, with no concrete timetable for a return, so an opening-day spot at the hot corner appears increasingly likely for the feel-good story of last season.

NL Central Notes: O’Neill, Brewers, Cubs

By Steve Adams | March 4, 2019 at 11:03am CDT

As things currently stand, slugging outfielder Tyler O’Neill is expected to make the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. The Cards “have reserved a spot for him as a spare outfielder, for now,” Goold writes, noting that poor health in the shoulder of Marcell Ozuna and/or continued struggles for Dexter Fowler could eventually thrust him into a larger role. And with Ozuna set to hit free agency at season’s end, a more natural path to everyday at-bats for the 23-year-old O’Neill isn’t hard to see. As Goold highlights in chatting with hitting coach Jeff Albert, O’Neill has worked diligently to improve his contact skills as he seeks a more well-rounded offensive profile. O’Neill slugged 35 homers between Triple-A and the Majors last season but punched out in a quarter of his plate appearances in Triple-A and more than 40 percent of his 142 PAs in the Majors.

Central Injury Notes: Darvish, Gray, Duffy, Dunning

By Jeff Todd and Steve Adams | February 26, 2019 at 7:23pm CDT

Though he was clearly carrying plenty of rust, Cubs righty Yu Darvish nevertheless turned in a rather promising first spring outing today, as MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian writes. Darvish says he felt great and the radar guns reflected it. While he struggled a bit to stay in the zone, that’s a secondary concern at this point given the major health ailments that ruined his 2018 season. With $101MM still owed to Darvish over the next five years, the Cubs have to be encouraged to see him feeling strong, though he still has a ways to go to reestablish himself as a front-line starter.

More health notes from the central divisions …

Reds right-hander Sonny Gray, who was scratched from his spring debut due to some elbow stiffness, is expected to throw a bullpen session Thursday, writes MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The team’s most notable offseason addition to the rotation, Gray will also throw from flat ground at a distance of 120 feet today, per the Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Fay (Twitter link). Manager David Bell told Feinsand that Gray was initially concerned about the elbow discomfort but is in vastly better spirits and has felt improvement each day since being scratched. For the time being, it seems, the Reds have decreasing reason to be concerned about Gray’s status.
The Royals are “backing off” from using Danny Duffy for the time being, manager Ned Yost tells reporters (Twitter links via Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star). The southpaw experienced tightness in his shoulder and had difficulty getting loose for his latest side session, though he eventually completed that session. Duffy feels it’s a minor issue and some standard-issue early spring stiffness. The Royals are already down a rotation candidate with righty Trevor Oaks perhaps headed for hip surgery, and subtracting arguably their most talented starter from the mix would be a considerably more damaging blow. Duffy, 30, struggled through a down season in 2018 but was Kansas City’s best arm in 2016-17 when he worked to a 3.64 ERA with 8.8 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 in 326 innings.
There was some ominous news out of White Sox camp, as Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com tweets that pitching prospect Dane Dunning is due for a closer medical look after experiencing forearm discomfort. The talented young righty has shown quite well ever since he cracked the professional ranks and entered the 2018 campaign as a consensus top-100 prospect leaguewide. Unfortunately, he missed half of the 2018 season owing to an elbow sprain. The hope was that Dunning would be able to pick up where he left off this spring.

NL Notes: Reds, Anibal, Nats, Tulo, Darvish

By Steve Adams | December 19, 2018 at 8:59pm CDT

The Reds were keen on retaining Matt Harvey entering the offseason and held talks with him right up until he agreed to join the Angels on a one-year deal yesterday, Cincinnati GM Nick Krall tells Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter links). However, the Reds simply weren’t comfortable matching the $11MM guarantee promised by the Halos. That said, Krall made clear that the Reds still hope to add another starting pitcher, be it via free agency or trade, and the GM also added that his club is pursuing another outfielder and some bullpen help. “We need to improve this club, and we know that,” said Krall, whose largest offseason move to date has been acquiring Tanner Roark. While the durable Roark certainly helps to shore up the back of the Reds’ rotation, there’s still plenty of question marks in the mix of in-house rotation options.

A few notes from around the National League on a quiet Wednesday evening…

The Nationals have had “ongoing conversations” with Anibal Sanchez’s agent, Gene Mato, since the Winter Meetings, tweets Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. That said, there are still multiple teams interested in Sanchez, who enjoyed a career renaissance with the Braves in 2018, as he pitched to a 2.83 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 45 percent ground-ball rate. There’s no shortage of skeptics with regard to Sanchez’s resurgence, though the substantial increase in his usage of a cut-fastball and the fact that he allowed less hard contact than any qualified pitcher in baseball last season (per Statcast) should pique the interest of some clubs. Mato told MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes last week that teams interested in Sanchez “realize it wasn’t luck” that fueled his 2018 rebound.
Robert Murray of The Athletic writes that the Brewers sent three representatives to watch Troy Tulowitzki’s audition for MLB clubs yesterday (subscription required). Murray spoke to multiple scouts in attendance who had positive things to say about how Tulo looked on that given day, though obviously the primary question isn’t whether the 34-year-old is healthy right now, but whether he’ll be able to hold up over the course of a full season. The Brewers could utilize Tulowitzki at either third base or second base, with Travis Shaw manning the other spot. Given Shaw’s experience (and proficiency) at the hot corner, second base would be Tulowitzki’s likeliest position in Milwaukee. There were at least 11 other clubs on hand at yesterday’s showcase, however, so Milwaukee is but one of many possible landing spots for the former Rockies star. Any team that signs Tulowitzki would only owe him the league minimum of $555K in 2019.
Cubs right-hander Yu Darvish went through his second day of a throwing program as he works his way back from an arthroscopic debridement procedure in his right elbow (Instagram link). The Chicago organization said at the time Darvish’s surgery was announced that the right-hander is expected to be ready for Spring Training 2019, and the fact that he’s throwing in mid-December is an encouraging sign in that regard. Injuries limited Darvish to just 40 innings with the Cubs in a disappointing first season with the team. The six-year, $126MM contract for Darvish looks all the more problematic for the Cubs in light of reports that the team has extremely limited financial resources at its disposal this offseason. The fact that the Cubs spent a combined $186MM on Darvish, Tyler Chatwood and Brandon Morrow last winter, then acquired the second season of Brandon Kintlzer’s contract at the deadline this summer, only to now be handcuffed by payroll issues is undoubtedly a bitter pill for Cubs fans to swallow.

AL West Notes: Felix, Lowrie, Cahill, Skaggs, Calhoun, Listach

By Jeff Todd | September 13, 2018 at 7:25pm CDT

Mariners fans in particular will want to read up on the club’s faded ace, Felix Hernandez, in this piece from Scott Miller of Bleacher Report. The veteran hurler has taken his downfall hard, but he’s still working to rediscover the magic that once made him one of the game’s very best pitchers. Of course, his lost fastball velocity means the odds are long; it’s still in full retreat despite the fact that Hernandez says his “body feels good” after dealing with injuries over the past two seasons. It’s a well-conceived and well-paced story — at once deep and, refreshingly, not unnecessarily lengthy — with some notable observations from current and former M’s personnel and others close to Hernandez.

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