Cubs sign Yu Darvish to 6-year/$126 million contract

[Da Coach]

The Cubs lost Jake Arrieta from last year's team, so rumors persisted that despite siging a bunch of free agent pitchers this offseason, they were still looking to sign one of the top free agent starters.
Today thay signed Yu Darvish, who pitched nearly all of his MLB career with the Texas Rangers, but was traded to the Dodgers late last season. He did not have a very good World Series against the Houston Astros. He was a pretyy reliable starter from 2012-2014, then missed the entire 2015 season with a torn UCL< and required Tommy John surgery. He has not quite regained his elite status since that injury year.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-cubs-yu-darvish-20180210-story.html

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/darviyu01.shtml

[tornado]

..He did not have a very good World Series against the Houston Astros...

Darvish did pitch pretty well down the stretch of the regular season, giving up only 2 runs in his final 3 starts in Sept., then also in his first two games in the post-season, going 2-0, giving up only 2 runs.
But he clearly could not handle the Houston lineup and got hit hard by them.
It will be interesting to see how Arrieta does with his next team - he is holding out for a long term deal, but so far nobody wants to offer him one....so he might have to settle for a short term deal. He was a "rock star" in Chicago and very well loved....and he might find that fans can be pretty fickle and hostile elsewhere.

[Da Coach]

Most major league teams dislike Arrieta's agent, Scott Boras. His initial demands paid out in a nicely prepared booklet sent to all 30 major league teams suggested he was seeking a 7-year contract with a value of $200 million or more. He will be 32 in a month, and no MLB team is going to go for a 7-year deal with that kind of money. Then Boras hinted that 6-years and ~$160 million might get Arrieta, but still no team was interested in that many years. The Cubs reportedly were willing to offer 4-years and $110 million, but Arrieta and Boras were not willing to listen.
So now it seems probable Arrieta will not get much more than the 5-year/$126 million deal Darvish got.

[bigjimmy]

It's been speculated that since the Cubs weren't making a big push for Arrieta that maybe they know something that was preventing them from making a big commitment. For almost a 2 year period he pitched as good as anybody every has and he certainly was one of the reasons why the Cubs won it all in 2016 so, as a die hard Cubs fan, I'll always appreciate what he did. I can see him end up in Washington because they have a lot of Boras clients on the roster or possible in Philadelphia as they have been rumored to be offering him the most years and money. Hopefully he doesn't go down I-55 or up I-94 to play for either of those teams.

[tornado]

A funny Kris Bryant video

http://www.tmz.com/2018/03/27/kris-bryant-undercover-pizza-guy-baseball-prank-red-bull/

[tornado]

nice start for the Cubs, homers by Rizzo & Happ and Cubs up 4-1 in the 2nd inning...and now the Cubs threatening again with bases loaded in the 3rd

amazing to watch as the shots of the fans in Miami show that at least 2/3 of the fans there are wearing Cubs apparell!!

...edit- bummer - the intentional walk works and a double play ends the inning

btw- Kyle Schwarber needs to play DH on some team...he has made two bad, awkward plays already costing multiple runs

[tornado]

Yu Darvish still working on a comeback for this season - https://www.bleachernation.com/2018/...ng-at-90-feet/

but two other comeback notes of interest...

Cardinals' Rick Ankiel attempting a comeback at age 39- https://www.pantagraph.com/sports/ba...8ef5969bd.html

https://www.bradenton.com/sports/mlb/article216225020.html

Former Cardinals' Matt Holliday - http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/2...or-league-deal

[tornado]

further problems with Yu Darvish, and he will be shut down for the remainder of the season

[tornado]

who'da thunk it?
many thought Darvish would be the Cubs staff ace...

and yet his season numbers:
8 games, 1-3, ERA 4.95 - disappointing

Instead the real ace seems to be a late season addition - a supposedly washed-up 34 year old Cole Hamels whose numbers are:
5 games, 4-0 (Cubs have won all five games he pitched), ERA 0.79

[tornado]

unrelated to the Cubs - but the Dodgers just made a weird trade...

they sent Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp (two starting outfielders) plus Alex Wood (one of their best pitchers) to Cincy..
for four players that likely you have never heard of - Homer Bailey, Kyle Farmer and 2 minor leaguers - Jeter Downs & Josiah Gray....
Apparently the main goal was to unload salary & big contracts then have room to sign someone new - but whoa - wouldn't you think they'd try to trade for someone decent?

[Da Coach]

They are reportedly interested in pursuing Bryce Harper, and needed to unload a lot of salary. Puig has been an expensive disappointment since his rookie year, and Kemp played well last year, but he is 34 and his skills are likely to decline, plus he has a massive salary of almost $22 million. Along with Wood's salary, this trade frees up almost $40 million in payroll. However, they take on Homer Bailey's bloated contract. He is by far the most overpaid player in the Major Leagues. He is due to earn $23 million in 2019, and was 1-14 last year and he's had and ERA of over 6 each of the last 3 seasons!

[tornado]

their plan is to immediately cut Homer Bailey loose - so there's some way via the salary cap rules that if he never plays for you then his salary is only partially countable under the cap -
...so they are literally willing to buy him out for that $22 million (his contract expires at the end of 2019 and then they won't pick up the options) just to complete the deal with Cincy
who are also desperate to unload Bailey.
Homer Bailey's agent needs to be given the lifetime best-agent award for locking him in to a $105 Million deal back in 2014 when he had barely a .500 W-L ...