Even after agreeing to a five-player exchange on Sunday for 2018 American League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, the San Diego Padres remains interested in getting additional rotation help. Rival executives who spoke to CBS Sports on Monday said the Fathers remained interested in adding the right-handed Yu Darvish from the Chicago Cubs.
Darvish, 34, is coming out of a season in which he posted the best ERA + (221) and the best strikes-to-walk ratio (6.64) of his career, albeit in just 12 matches. Darvish’s performance was such that it earned him a second place in the National League’s Cy Young Award vote, behind then-powerful Trevor Bauer of the Cincinnati Reds. (Bauer is now a free agent.) In three seasons with the Cubs, Darvish compiled an ERA of 3.60 (121 ERA +) with a streak ratio of 4.08.
It is unclear which players the Fathers would be willing to part with to make a deal. Darvish’s commercial value decreases due to his age and his contract, as he is three years old and has an additional $ 59 million remaining. It is also unknown whether the Cubs would be willing to withhold part of Darvish’s salary in exchange for a higher package. San Diego negotiated four possibilities to get Snell.
In addition to the addition of Snell by the Fathers and his interest in Darvish, San Diego is reportedly the leader in the race for striker Ha-Seong Kim, according to Joel Sherman from New York Post. The Fathers’ desire to have more regular pitchers stems in part from the news earlier this winter that Mike Clevinger would miss the entire 2021 season after undergoing Tommy John’s surgery. Clevinger was San Diego’s biggest addition to the 2020 trade deadline.
If the Fathers concluded a deal for Darvish, they could enter the 2022 season with a rotation between him, Snell and Clevinger.