Padres roster review: Yu Darvish

Sizing up the Padres’ 40-man roster heading into the 2022 season: Yu Darvish was an All-Star in his first season in San Diego, but injuries played a role in a poor second half

By Jeff Sanders

Jan. 28, 2022 5 AM PT

YU DARVISH

Position(s): Right-handed pitcher
2022 opening day age: 35
Bats / Throws: Right / Right
Height / Weight: 6-foot-5 / 214 pounds
How acquired: Via trade with Chicago Cubs in December 2020
Contract status: Will earn $20 million in 2022 and $19 million in 2023, the final leg of the six-year, $126 million deal signed with the Cubs
Key 2021 stats: 8-11, 4.22 ERA, 199 strikeouts, 44 walks, 1.09 WHIP, .222 opponent average, 166 1/3 IP (30 starts)

STAT TO NOTE

6.65 — Darvish’s ERA after the All-Star break, up from 2.44 in the first half. July was especially rough for Darvish as he went 0-4 with a 7.36 ERA, the worst calendar month of his nine-year career.

Down — The Padres dipped deep into their farm system (2020 second-rounder Owen Caissie, international signees Reginald Preciado, Ismael Mena and Yeison Santana and big-leaguer Zach Davies) to wrestle Darvish away from the payroll-dumping Cubs following a big rebound for the Japanese import. In 2020, Darvish led the majors with eight wins, posted a 2.01 ERA, an NL-best 2.23 FIP and a 6.64 career-best 6.64 strikeout-to-walk ratio en route to finishing second in NL Cy Young voting behind Trevor Bauer. Even with the arrival of former AL Cy Young-winner Blake Snell, it was not a surprise Darvish was anointed San Diego’s opening day starter and he picked up where he left off, posting a 2.44 ERA and limiting opposing batters to a .194/.257/.342 batting line over his first 16 starts. The Padres went 13-3 in those games and Darvish was selected to his fifth All-Star Game before the wheels fell off (see stat to note). One obvious explanation was his health as Darvish hit the injured list three times over the final three months of the season: once for left hip inflammation (July 9-19), once for his lower back (Aug. 13-26) and again for his hip (Sept. 30 through the end of the season). Over that stretch, Darvish saw his opponent slugging percentage jump from .342 over the first three months of the season to .536 as he yielded 18 of his 28 homers from July through the end of the season. It should also be noted that Darvish’s decline seemed to coincide with the league’s crackdown on foreign substances boosting spin rates, but Darvish’s year-end RPMs were largely identical to his 2020 numbers. His four-seamer, for instance, was down marginally from 2,595 in 2020 to 2,513, still good for ranking in the 99^th percentile. It was a difficult pitch to hit, too, as opponents managed a .153 average off the pitch. The cutter, however, was a major problem as Darvish’s go-to pitch — with an RPM of 2,774 compared to 2,779 in 2020 — yielded a .624 slugging percentage, up from .398 in 2020. That said, for all of Darvish’s second-half struggles, his strikeout rate (10.77 per nine innings) was still the highest among qualifying pitchers in franchise history and his 4.65 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranked third behind Kevin Brown (5.24 in 1998) and David Wells (5.05 in 2004).

2022 OUTLOOK

As the season came to a close with Darvish on the injured list, he was intent on finding out exactly what was going on with his bothersome hip. If that’s ironed out, the Padres have every reason to believe he can approach his first-half numbers in 2022.