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Column: Yu Darvish looks back fondly on his stay in Chicago after a 3-1 loss to the Cubs

paul sullivan, chicago tribune
·5 min read

As Yu Darvish struggled through an injury-ridden first season in Chicago in the summer of 2018, ESPN analyst Alex Rodriguez called him a “distraction” for rehabbing with the Cubs instead of working out at the team’s facility in Arizona.

One of the first players to spring to Darvish’s defense was first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who pointed out that he and his teammates welcomed having Darvish around.

“Yu comes in every day, he does his work,” Rizzo said. “And it’s unfortunate. It’s tough when you’re hurt. People question you a lot.”

Darvish turned things around the following year and became a fan favorite. That’s why the Cubs’ decision to deal him to the San Diego Padres over the winter, shedding his salary and adding prospects, caused so much anguish and anger.

On Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park, Darvish paid Rizzo back for his unconditional support during the Cubs’ 3-1 win over the Padres, using his old friend’s walk-up music as he came to the plate.

“I used that song because it was Rizzo that kind of took care of me when things weren’t really working my way in Chicago,” Darvish said through an interpreter during a postgame teleconference. “So it was a way to say thank you to him.”

Darvish was in control throughout the afternoon, making only one mistake: a fourth-inning solo home run by Joc Pederson. He wound up throwing seven innings, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out eight, but still got the loss.

Cubs starter Jake Arrieta got back on track with five strong innings, allowing one run on five hits, and three Cubs relievers combined for four shutout innings, with Craig Kimbrel notching his 15th save.

The Cubs took their second series against the Padres and finished the West Coast trip with a 3-4 record. They’ll get a day off Thursday before the “re-opener” Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals, the first game with 100% capacity at Wrigley Field since the final home game of 2019.

If Major League Baseball could bottle Wednesday’s game and sell it, it wouldn’t have to worry so much about the next generation of fans tuning out the sport. Whether they were borrowing walk-up music or imitating home run celebrations, it seemed like a bunch of kids playing in the local park.

When Pederson homered off Darvish to tie the score at 1, he replicated Fernando Tatis Jr.’s home run stutter-step as he approached third base, just as he did last weekend in San Francisco.

“I’ve seen Tatis and he has a lot of homers,” Pederson said. “He’s done it and he’s having a lot of fun out there. He has some of the most swag in the game. Our team’s just having fun. It kind of just happened, the thing in San Francisco, (so) keep it going.”

Rizzo wound up bringing home the go-ahead run in the seventh, even as Darvish induced a double-play grounder. Darvish won the battle. Rizzo won the war.

When Rizzo heard the news of the Darvish deal in December, was he ticked off?

“We want to win, right?” he diplomatically replied during an interview last week. “Trading away a frontline ace is always tough. You want one of the best players on your side all the time. But that’s what this game is. I don’t control who is on the team or not on the team. That’s not my job.

“I’m not really one to dissect what we do off the field. But when we’re on the field, all you can do is try and get the best out of them.”

All four of the young prospects the Padres included in the package for Darvish — shortstops Yeison Santana and Reginald Preciado and outfielders Owen Caissie and Ismael Mena — are in extended spring training in Mesa, Ariz., awaiting their next assignment. Santana played briefly at low Class A Myrtle Beach this year but was sent back to Arizona.

It may be years before we find out which ones will be major-leaguers, while Darvish should continue to dominate. In the meantime, the Cubs need starting pitching if they hope to contend, and they could be either buyers or sellers at the trade deadline.

“I think it could go either way, to be honest,” starter Kyle Hendricks said before Wednesday’s game. “It’s a tough situation. We’re excited where we are in the standings and the way we’re winning and playing. That just shows you we can get the job done with what we have in the clubhouse.

“We’re real confident in that group that we have. It’s like any other year, if we don’t pay too much attention to the outside noise. If we end up adding, we’re going to invite that guy in like family. If we don’t, we have so much trust in every guy that’s come up, the way he has contributed and produced, it’s been so unexpected.”

Hendricks and Darvish became close friends, and he said he FaceTimed with Darvish and catcher Victor Caratini after the trade to tell them he was “going to miss them (and) how much I loved playing with them.”

“But that’s baseball,” Hendricks said. “That’s how it is. It’s just one thing after another. I’ve been around a little bit now. Nothing really does surprise you.”

Darvish’s stay on the North Side saw him struggle at the outset and become nearly untouchable by the end of 2020. He retains fond memories of those three years and paid tribute to Chicago one more time Wednesday.

“Looking back, I had some ups and downs in Chicago,” he said. “Good times and bad times, in retrospect. But what I find is that the fans, the organization and even the media members there, I had a tremendous amount of support (from) to get through my years there.

“There is a sense of gratefulness. The warm-up music I had playing was music I used in Chicago. It kind of takes you back to that time.”

If the Cubs see Darvish again this year, it would be in the playoffs in October.

Baseball can only hope to be that lucky.