One of the concerns for the Padres this off-season was looking ahead to the next off-season. After 2023 they only had a pair of starting pitchers, Joe Musgrove and Nick Martinez, under contract.
So, they figured they might as well keep a perennial Cy Young Award candidate around for a while.
Yu Darvish, a 5-time All-Star who's been the Padres Opening Day starter the last two years, has agreed to a 6-year, $108 million contract extension that will keep him in San Diego through the 2028 season. By the time the deal runs out Darvish will be 42 years old, which is awfully long in the tooth for a starting pitcher.
But, Yu is not your average starting pitcher.
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Renowned for his commitment to fitness (and routine), Darvish has seen his fastball velocity tick UP as he entered the back end of his 30s. The 2022 season was unquestionably his best in a decade. Darvish averaged 6.1 innings per start and struck out 160 more batters than he walked. Then in the playoffs, he got even better, pitching to a 2.88 ERA over four starts against the Mets, Dodgers, and Phillies, three of the most potent offenses in the game.
He was also the fastest pitcher in Major League Baseball history to reach 1,500 career strikeouts and has shown no signs of slowing down. The extension averages $18 million a year, which is a pittance in today's world of baseball economics and actually $3 million less than the AAV on his current contract. The deal should not have any impact on San Diego's ability to lock up another superstar like Juan Soto, Manny Machado, or Shohei Ohtani (but that name is a conversation for a different day).
Darvish will not be with the Padres for much of Spring Training. He's going to Japan to prepare for the upcoming World Baseball Classic and likely won't be done with that tournament until late March.
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Of the Padres' top four starters, only Blake Snell is set to hit free agency after the 2023 season. But, the way the Friars are rolling, it would not be a surprise at all to hear in the next few months that he's getting a new deal, too.
