The Padres announced Wednesday that they’ve placed righty Yu Darvish on the 15-day injured list due to a tightness in his neck and recalled right-handed reliever Logan Gillaspie from Triple-A El Paso in his place. Darvish’s IL placement is retroactive to April 15.
Darvish had been slated to take the ball for San Diego on Saturday but will now be sidelined until at least April 30. The team hasn’t provided further details on the injury or given a timetable for the length of his expected absence. The Friars also haven’t listed a replacement starter for Saturday yet, though they have an off-day tomorrow which could allow them to move everyone else up a day for the time being without starting someone on short rest.
In five starts this season, the veteran Darvish has pitched 23 2/3 innings and notched a 4.18 ERA. He’s sitting on an uncharacteristically low strikeout rate (21.9%) and high walk rate (9.9%). Darvish’s most recent start against the Dodgers, wherein he yielded three runs and fanned just two in five innings, saw his average fastball drop more than a mile per hour relative to his season debut.
With Darvish shelved for a yet-to-be-determined period of time, the Padres will lean even more heavily on the trio of Joe Musgrove, Dylan Cease and Michael King. Twenty-seven-year-old knuckleballer Matt Waldron has pitched well through three starts but comes with minimal track record in the big leagues. Other rotation options on the 40-man roster include righties Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez in addition to lefties Jackson Wolf and Jay Groome. Brito is already on the big league roster in a long-relief capacity. Groome has yet to pitch more than two innings in a Triple-A appearance this season. Both Wolf and Vasquez have been hit quite hard in their first looks of the ’24 season in El Paso.
The 37-year-old Darvish is in the second season of a six-year, $108MM contract that runs through his age-41 season. That deal, which promised Darvish five years and an additional $90MM on top of the final $18MM he was owed under his prior contract, was engineered in many ways as a means of tamping down his luxury tax hit. The $90MM in new money was closer to what one might’ve expected for a then-36-year-old Darvish over a three-year term. He’d finished eighth in Cy Young balloting a season prior, rattling off 194 2/3 innings of 3.10 ERA ball. The Padres instead stretched what looked like three-year money out over an additional five years, weighing down the annual value and lessening the contract’s luxury hit in the process.
Padres fans crying today. Darvish is 37. not sure why they thought signing him long term was a good idea even at just $18 million AAV. .
Crying…naw.
Pretty much. Did you see #padrestwitter? They are having a conniption. Padres will be just fine. He will miss 3 starts and be back.
Twitter is where all the turds hang out, pay them no mind.
@Gwynning
I thought we were supposed to call it ‘X’?
It seems Darvish has missed a lot of time since signing that huge contract.
@avenger. Since the contract extension he’s made 29 starts and missed just 4 starts (last September).
A cesspool by any name is still a cesspool, Yorkie
or he’ll be back in 3 starts, try to prove he’s better and injure himself again.
What percentage of Padres fans would you say are active on twitter? They might not be representative…
Crying over what? A neck strain?? Please, it’s not his shoulder, arm or knee who cares.
New ace Dylan Cease easing the blow of losing a declining Darvish. He only cost the Padres kids. He is getting paid roughly $8 million per the next 2 years.
At the time, Musgrove was the only long-term fixture in the rotation beyond 2023. A bit of an outlier, but Walker got 4/$72M that offseason; SP prices were through the roof. IIRC, Yu’s agent was looking for 3/$60~70M, so Padres countered with extra years and dollars to tamp down on the CBT hit. It’s not my favorite extension by any means, it’s a bit like Cronenworth’s where the player is good but the dollar and years seem a bit extreme for the production, but it’s certainly not Bogaerts-tier.
As long as Darvish makes 25 starts in 2024-2026 the extension will be fine. Yu is a no 3 SP at this point in his career. The last 2 years of the contract I wouldn’t be surprised to see Darvish in the bullpen. But as you said, they knocked the CBT tax hit by signing Darvish for $18M/yr instead of $25M/yr. by adding on the extra 3 years. As far as actual dollars, the extension is front loaded. Darvish will only be making $15M. in 2025 & 2026.
Yeah, all good points, and I think you were right that the agent’s ask/initial offer was 3/$75M.. I’m pretty sure I read it here, but I’m struggling to find the source. I’m hoping for something more along the lines of 500 IP of <4 SIERA, but that's probably on the optimistic end. I do think if he stays relatively healthy, his repetoire ages well.
@outinleftfield. Misplaced. Padre fans didn’t sign him to a long term deal, we had nothing to do with it
Meant the team. Should have broken that into two paragraphs.
“Padres fans are crying today.
Darvish is 37. Not sure why the FO and owner thought signing him long term was a good idea even at $18 million AAV. ”
There. That better?
BTW, have you seen Twitter this morning? Padres fans are crying about this. Lots and lots and lots of tears judging from their tweets.
It helps to clarify the “they” yep.
I haven’t heard the crying, and given that the injury appears minor, I’m not sure why there’s great concern. In fact compared to most teams this year the Pads are quite healthy.
Im only crying over the complete disappearance of X. Bogaerts as a hitter.
Makes ya wonder about what we fans aren’t being told about Bogaerts health, i.e. recurring wrist injury. Is it bothering him again? When was his last cortisone shot? How soon can he have the next one?
Last year, he was back to his historical producing self after the mid-year shot. Bogaerts is one contract that gave me heartburn at the time the Pads did it, and after hearing about his long term wrist issues, had me popping antacids.
We’ll see what happens.
He’s letting his right elbow swing to far toward the plate while initially moving into his swing which in turn causes the left shoulder to drop slightly and the right wrist to turn over the bat too soon. End result is grounders and strike outs or when barreled his power is sapped by right hand being out of sequence. I’m guessing he’s fully aware of the mechanics but correcting it is another thing. And sure the wrist problem that has besieged his career could be influencing the mechanics.
X doesn’t like 2B and learning a new position is affecting his hitting, then they doubled down on the mistakes by moving him to leadoff instead of allowing him to drive in runs in the 3-4-5 slot in the lineup. .
And yes I stayed at a Days Inn last night (seriously)
Im only crying over the complete disappearance of X. Bogaerts as a hitter.
As much as I like Bogaerts I am so glad my Red Sox didn’t give him that fat contract.
X watches a fast ball down the middle and swings at pitches way inside . He’s just lost!
I thought it was Holiday Inn Express. Have i been staying at the wrong place all this time. That explains so much.
Have you seen Twitter? Who isn’t on there crying about something? It’s where you go to cry.
First of many trips to IL over next 5 seasons.
Well…shoot
The signing was understandable. The Padres were thin with rotation prospects in the near future. Signing an SP in the open market would have easily been double what he signed for and for much longer. It was a calculated risk and a bridge for Lesko and Snelling.
Speaking of Snelling…. If any of the top four in the rotation goes down for substantial time at any point this year, and given how hes dominating in minors, it’s plausible we see the new snellzilla
Brew, yes it is plausible. I was pitching that idea before the Cease trade as a “get to June and call up Snelling” idea with our #6-10 options.
That said, today, with Cease / King looking like 1 and 2, moving Joe to 3, Darvish only missing 2-3 starts and back to the 4 spot, Waldron impressing as a 5 – well, I say keep Snelling down and try Bergert, Mazur, Vasquez, Brito – all much older and at least projectable at a 5 spot or higher, first.
25 – Cease/King/Musgrove/Snelling/Darvish – then the Mazur/Bergert/Brito/Vasquez/Waldron group as depth – going to be hard to beat that SP
Rotation and depth.
Yeah, that old 36 year old Darvish on 18 aav at the 5 spot – I’ll take that option every 5 days!
@Longtime. Yeah, I was only suggesting that if one of Cease/King/Darvish/Musgrove go down for a longer IL stint, that they might consider Snellling call up. But I doubt they’ll rush him, and they really shouldn’t.
I don’t think Mazur or Bergert will get called up until later in season, but stranger things have happened.
It will be interesting to see how they handle the Darvish missed starts next 10 days. Vasquez hasn’t looked good in AAA (even when you handicap El Paso-effect), and Brito isn’t extended. Maybe they start Brito, let him try to go 3 inning, then go with RPs, maybe try to get 2 innings or more out of Morejon. Gillaspie is another multiple innings option, so is Cosgrove
Hey did you notice the excellent performance by Weathers recently? figures!
Weathers – yes, I tend to follow all of the ex padres prospects especially since I started going to spring training in 2018 watching them.
He has done well so far and probably was a “rushed” victim – I’m not criticizing because they ran out of arms but, still it is what it is.
Let’s see where he is in 10 starts (can say the same for Waldron, maybe!)
I like the skip the spot due to off day and then go with a 3×3 day myself. They should have the guys to do that on current roster.
Got to be a lack of Vitamin D causing soreness of muscles. In this case, some muscles are kept constantly in action and as a result it can cause tightness. Guy needs a few days off to lay on the beach in San Diego. Padres should also schedule him to pitch more day games.
For once it’s not elbow soreness, elbow inflammation or forearm tightness!
The starting pitching ranks continue to dwindle. The Cubs made a good decision not spending a ton of money and keeping all their young starters. It’ll pay off in the long run.
Ouch. That will hurt.
Unless he misses just 2 starts. Then it won’t hurt too bad. SP health needs to be managed especially early in season when guys are pitching in colder temps. Might not have been wise for Pads to let King go 109 innings today though.
100 years ago, guys pitched 109 innings twice a day, come’on
I know I know. But King was a reliever last year.
15 days so has to be 3 I thought.
Back-dated a couple days, off days coming… could turn out to be 2 starts. Not a big whoop, even if it’s 3.
Maybe my math is off. Technically IL starts April 15, and he could return April 30. His next scheduled starts are April 18, April 23 and April 29. So he’d have a one or two day set back after the 3rd missed start. You’re more correct on this than I am.
Darvish can start as soon as 15 days are up. The Il stint is backdated to 4/15. Yu could pitch 4/30 if he has no further setbacks making it missing 2 starts with the off days,.
Darvish signing was a calculated risk. At the current cost of ace, TOR pitching today, it was a reasonable risk, at an affordable AAV, but still a risk.
AJ Preller has taken quite a few of these kinda of risks. Even Musgrove’s contract extension, considering his age, was a risk. And Machado, Bogaerts, and other long term contracts for players over age 30, definitely a risk. Some have made AJP look like a “rockstar GM”. Some have been cringe.
After the 1st W.S. appearance (i.e. the Pads don’t even have to win, as long as they put up a fight in the W.S.), all the “cringe” signings will be instantly, and forever forgotten. If otherwise, the Padres will probably have a new G.M. soon. Am I happy at that prospect? Nope, because there’s little guarantee that the next guy they brought in, would be better than Preller. His teams haven’t won yet, or won enough, but there are probably only a half dozen better GM’s in the game, and that’s only measured by their success rates, which aren’t all determined by those other team’s GM’s.
Better the devil ya know, as far as AJP is concerned. Heck, would you take the late Kevin Towers over AJP? I hear people swear that he was the best, but all I recall back in those days, was all the fans clamering for him to be fired. Towers was a good GM, AND a bad GM. Same with AJP.
I guess that I’m just too ignorant a baseball fan, to understand baseball well enough to understand just how “horrible” AJP is. I’m happy he extended Darvish, as well as fearful, doubtful, horrified, and all the rest of those emotions. My honest guess is that Darvish will earn his contract as it was intended (at least 3 productive years out of 5, and keeping his AAV low during those years), maybe a little more, and if he stays in the game, will join the Padres front office or coaching staffs. (Or, he may go back home to Japan after MLB retirement, for opportunities on his own tuff.)
AJ is not horrible, not in the slightest way. I find that some fans just “hate” his moves (trades, signings, Etc.) and that’s ok to a certain degree, but in no way, shape or form is AJ a terrible GM.
Side note and fun fact- AJ has still never taken a player through an Arbitration hearing. He’s a player’s GM, through and through. This provides an excellent culture as a foundation.
it’s new kid on the block syndrome. Padres rattled the traditional big market teams (and their vast numbers of vans) by daring to spend on FA and make bold trades. Who the heil do they think thay are anywayz? !
So a lot of ol’guard resentment, mostly hoping these bold young whippersnappers with their blue eyed little GM fail in what has always been the big boy game.
AJP has done some funky stuff (with a Magic Christian billionaire in his ear), but he’s also quite good at many facets… wouldnt trade him in for very many other GMs.
fans not vans
Trying to picture the Dodgers ownership group driving around in VW vans
Tolerating Hader prioritising his stats for free agency over the team winning might have taken the players GM approach a bit too far. Not sure Joe Musgrove thought that situation was a great cultural foundation.
In saying that, the guy looks to have done a great job under difficult circumstances last off season.
AJ is the man. Padres are relevant thanks in large part to AJ (and ownership – PS is the GOAT San Diego Sports owner).
AJ came in at what, 40 years old? Still a young man. I’m sure he’s learned a lot in his 7 or however many years he’s been in San Diego. The guy knows how to draft and evaluate talent that’s without question. If you put AJ Preller running the Dogs he’d easily have 2-3 ships (not including a Covid trophy) with those resources available up there. I wish they could clone AJ and put him other positions within the organization.
It takes a lot more than a GM to win championships.
I will also commend AJ for running limp wrist Bob Melvin out of town. What an abomination. Guy was stealing Peter Seidler’s money last season.
Love me some Jerry Dipoto in the American League and love me some AJP in the National. Here’s to my vision of a Padres vs Mariners World Series here shortly!!
Yu hurt.
If Darvish can get Roki to sign his contract is well worth it.
Matsui sees Yu as a god
Cue all the Preller haters crawling out from underneath their small rocks.
Freaking April not even 20% of the season and you got dumb dumbs like outinleftfield over blowing things and people in mid season end is near form. Like take a chill pill.
Even if Darvish misses the entire season they have options and depth which they haven’t in years.
One change I’d make is releasing Tyler wade. Bring back Pauley can’t be any worse than Wade.
There’s a reason why the Padres win totally has been revised to about 90 wins. This is a solid team with a good manager.
Todays loss was painful, all the same RISP issues again, wasting game of the year by King. They would be in 1st place tie (thanks to CJ Abrams) coming home….
FWIW, Padres had some unbelievably fortunate sequencing/batted ball outcomes on Monday and Tuesday. Today was a correction; it happens. The only unforgivable PA was X in the top of the 8. More than anything, I’m just happy to see King show out because I have a feeling he’s gonna be the best pitcher on the staff if he stays healthy.
I’m going to oversimplify a little but, if that is the King we get for 2 years (and cheap); and Cease for 2 years (extra cheap), even if the other guys are just depth/BP pieces, I’m good with both Soto trades – what we gave up to get him, the chance of success we had for 1.5 seasons, and what we have for the 24/25 seasons in King/Cease.
Abrams should be solid for 10 years but SS has been ok since the trade and with a potential move of Merrill to SS if Kim leaves (or X back until DeVries), that loss of Abrams can be absorbed.
A couple of X factors in the minors both in Wash and SD for “wait and see”.
Definitely still wait and see. Wood call up is weeks away so we might not wait too long there.
I think Abrams, Wood, and Gore will hurt for a while, but you gotta give to get. I was too down on Abrams’ bat considering his age; he looks phenomenal in the early going, although the glove still stinks at SS (2B? LF?), and he’s at the age when defense should be a strong suit. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt this time. Including Abrams at the time is probably akin to what the Dodgers are feeling with Busch (and the Rays with Cronenworth), but it’s ultimately a good problem to have.
Soto produced during his time here, and King/Cease/Brito/Vasquez/Higashioka for Soto/Grisham/Zavala/Wilson/Iriarte seems fair value so far.
@straightup. Yeah, the 2nd Soto trade looks better than the first one in terms of the balance of value. But I’m at a point (finally?) where I’m letting go on evaluating the trades. All that really matters was the intent at the time of the trades anyway and I get why AJ did the first Soto deal, I think we get too caught up in evaluating ultimate winners/losers. I’m more into baseball more than I am GMing baseball.
I went out of my way to attend a few minors games just to see Wood and Abrams, back in the day, and I’ll continue to root them on (except when they’re playing the Pads). Abrams in April looks like really confident at the plate, with about 10 lbs of added muscle. He just won two games against LA so I’m grateful!
At the end of the day, seeing the farm produce value consistently is what I’m most happy for. No team will win every trade, but if the pipeline is solid, you’re going to have more opportunities to create value.
And then, is he Aaron Judge or Kyle Blanks or even Giancarlo Stanton as an in between those 2 guys!
Straight – the Gore being a solid 4 when he was long projected to be the next Kershaw makes it not a big deal to me. A lot of 4’s out there.
Brew, you nailed it. That is why I have never bashed the Nola trade. At the time, Padres needed a catcher with a bat for the push and he was the best available (per reports) and was hitting well.
In hindsight, no it didn’t turn out well – no question there. But at the time, it was for an addressing a need.
I’d France doesn’t rebound – 3 years of decline, it is getting better though!
I don’t mean to suggest I wish any ex prospect bad times because I don’t but he has not held up well.
I’d take him back for DH/1b duties for 2025 if we need to move Cro to 2b.
No reason to rush Pauley just because he “can’t be any worse than Wade.”
Wade is a vet who is what he is. Pauley is a young prospect that hasn’t been like the Jackson trio commanding a call up. Let him build confidence and develop instead of dropping him in the fire with mlb pressure just because as a fan, you would be just as happy with him batting .214.
Agreed. Pauley is also working through a glitch in his swing now and needs a little more time in minors.
Next man up.