Padres in trade talks for Darvish, deal is reportedly almost done
Credit: AP Photo
The San Diego Padres are reportedly not done improving the team for 2021 after acquiring 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell from the Tampa Bay Rays Sunday night.
It is being reported that the Padres are “deep into talks” about acquiring the ace of the Chicago Cubs, Yu Darvish.
Even after landing Blake Snell, the Padres are deep into talks to acquire Yu Darvish from the Cubs, sources tell @PJ_Mooney, @sahadevsharma and me. If the deal is completed, multiple players would head to Chicago.
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) December 28, 2020
In the shortened 2020 season, Darvish put up the best year of his prolific career. He finished in second place for the National League Cy Young award with a 2.01 ERA and .961 WHIP in 76 innings. This low WHIP comes courtesy of a career-low 4.7% walk rate and 1.66 BB/9.
His success in 2020 is no outlier. Darvish built on his success from the last half of 2019 when he recorded a 2.76 ERA with a .808 WHIP in his last 81 ⅔ innings. This stretch seemingly got him over his “woes” from the 2017 postseason through the first half of 2019.
The strikeout is more common than ever, and Darvish stands out from the rest. His career strikeout rate of 11.9 k/9 is the best in MLB history. On a season-by-season basis, he only topped the league once, which came back in 2013. However, his consistently high strikeout rate always puts him near the top of the league.
Darvish is known for his very diverse pitch arsenal. He throws a cutter, a four-seam fastball, a slider, a 12-6 curveball, and a changeup/split-fingered fastball. This arsenal makes him one of the hardest pitchers to prepare for and face as a hitter.
It remains unclear what a potential deal would include from the Padres.
Three years are remaining on Darvish’s contract, which will average just above $19 million per year. Given Darvish’s track record, this is a team-friendly contract.
If the Padres do acquire Darvish, they will have two bonafide aces in Snell and Darvish. If Dinelson Lamet returns healthily in 2021 and performs similar to 2020, the best rotation in baseball might be in San Diego.
Dominic is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Journalism. He also is the producer and co-host of the “Padres EVT Podcast.”
This is getting crazy. Just when you thought Preller may have had some commonsense.
On one hand, I appreciate the aggressiveness, however, this is reminiscent of Preller’s debacle in 2015. It seems other teams are taking advantage of this, at least with the Cubs. The main similarity here, though, is the Padres are not only doing a favor to the Cubs by taking Darvish off their hands (his high salary), he will soon crater, as did Kemp. They, too, are selling high (on an abbreviated season), as the Rays did with Snell (although he has more value).
Snell is very good, but let’s also admit the alarming signs that go with him. Per Bleacher Report, Snell has “averaged only 5.1 innings per start for his career, and he has logged at least seven innings only 13 times out of his 108 total outings.”
I hope it all works out, but this could easily turn into 2015 (albeit with a previously existing solid level of talent this time around).
The amount of moves, and headline moves, is reminiscent of 2015, but this team has many more building blocks then the 2014 team had. Just go back and compare the two teams, they are not comparable in the slightest. Until we see what is going back to the Cubs, it is hard to judge this deal.
And for what it is worth, I think deGrom and Scherzer could pitch for the Rays and they wouldn’t get out of the 5th inning, that is just the way they play things. (I’m kidding) With Snell getting out from under that “can’t pitch to a lineup a 3rd time” umbrella, we will see what he really has in the tank.
And to be honest, if these moves help bring a World Series title to San Diego, will any fan really care who got traded for these two top of the rotation arms?