Chicago Cubs sign Yu Darvish
By Jason Evans
The Chicago Cubs dove back into the free agent market by adding Yu Darvish as there finally appears to be some movement in the free agent market.
Well, we finally have a big free agent signing and a contract of over $100 million. The Chicago Cubs added Tyler Chatwood to the rotation and Steve Cishek to the bullpen. Now, they’ve added a big free agent fish in starter Yu Darvish.
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
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Darvish is heading into his age 31 season (he’ll turn 32 in August). With the Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas Rangers last year, he made the All-Star team. He went 10-12 with a 3.86 ERA. He struck out 206 batters in 189 innings. Darvish went 2-0 in the NL playoffs for the Dodgers, but what everyone remembers is his two starts in the World Series vs the Houston Astros, including Game seven, where he gave up nine runs in just 3.1 innings.
The Cubs had a ton of competition for his services.
twins and brewers are believed to have made five-year, $100M-plus offers for darvish. dodgers are believed to have been willing to go to six, too. #cubs
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 10, 2018
Darvish, unlike Jake Arrieta who we took a look at earlier today, actually showed an increase in velocity, albeit with a worse ERA and FIP and a slightly lower K rate that 2016.
The Cubs rotation of Darvish, Chatwood, Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and Jose Quintana gives the club one of the best rotations in the game today. They clearly believed more in Darvish moving forward than Arreita. The Cubs won’t lose a draft choice for signing Darvish since he was traded during the year, and can get one once Arrieta signs, which will help them replenish their farm system.
Chicago will have some future payroll concerns in terms of the luxury tax threshold. After this season, only Justin Wilson is a free agent, while Kyle Schwarber and Javier Baez will enter arbitration for the first time.
Next: Interview with Yankees reliever Chad Green
Flags fly forever though and if the addition of Darvish can help the Cubs win their second title in three years, it’ll be worth it.
The gap between the Chicago Cubs and the rest of the NL Central just got that much bigger.