Yu Darvish was one of the big fish remaining on the free agent market. Darvish, along with Alex Cobb, Lance Lynn, and Jake Arrieta were among the best name starting pitchers on the market. Today Darvish finally picked a landing spot and has decided to sign with the Chicago Cubs. Theo Epstein has decided to take a chance on Darvish giving up a 6-year deal worth $126 million.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic was the first to report the news:
Again: Darvish to #Cubs, six years, $126M, pending physical, sources tell The Athletic. Chance to get to $150M range through incentives.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 10, 2018
Darvish, 31, now adds to a rotation that already includes Jon Lester, Jose Quintana, Kyle Hendricks, and Tyler Chatwood. With Darvish in the fold, it appears that Arrieta’s time in Chicago is all but over. Darvish’s new deal can land him into the $150 million range over the life of his contract but that appears extremely unlikely. It would involve him winning multiple Cy Young awards. Something he has never done and is already aging into his 30’s. Darvish will also not receive a no-trade clause or opt out within the six-year deal. There are still so many free agents on the block that the players union is taking odd measures to fix things!
Darvish had the 6th best mark in the majors among starting pitchers in terms of strikeouts per nine innings (10.1). Darvish was a 3.8 win player in 2017 but is coming off a horrible postseason. Darvish cost the Dodgers a chance to win the World Series losing two games against the Astros. It may have cost him money this offseason.
Regardless, this deal looks horrible on the surface for the Cubs. The deal will pay Darvish $21 million a year and has been on a downward trajectory the past two years. Darvish pitched to a 4.01 ERA during the first half of the year with Texas. Darvish has also only thrown over 200 innings just once in his career and isn’t a guy who can carry a team in a deep postseason run. Theo Epstein predictability has struck again! He always builds a young core but then finds a way to mess everything up with bad contracts (Jason Heyward).
