Cubs Sign Yu Darvish; Blue Jays Sign Jesse Litsch?

Shug McSween Feb 10, 2018

Now, now, before you go pre-order that new Litsch jersey, we were only kidding, and we hope you realized this before you opened the link.

Sources: The Chicago Cubs have reportedly agreed to a six-year, $126 million contract with free-agent starter Yu Darvish, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reports. The deal includes incentives that can boost the total value to $150 million, per Rosenthal.

Darvish, 31, split last season between the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers, working his way to a 118 ERA+ and 3.60 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Though his stock slipped with a pair of bad performances in the World Series, he nonetheless managed to make his fourth career All-Star Game appearance. For his career, he has a career 126 ERA+ in 832 innings.

Darvish is known for his deep arsenal, led by a mid-90s fastball and a slider. He also throws a sinker, a curveball, a cutter, a splitter/changeup,and — in the past, anyway — an even slower curveball. Darvish has the highest strikeout rate (11.04 per nine) in major-league history among starting pitchers with more than 800 innings — Randy Johnson and Chris Sale check in at second and third.

With John Lackey likely headed for retirement and Jake Arrieta hitting free agency, the Cubs entered the offseason needing to fill two rotation spots. It was always possible that Mike Montgomery would be an internal option, but he’s probably a better fit as the swingman, being the injury-fill-in starter and long reliever. 

Tyler Chatwood was signed early in the offseason to a three-year, $38 million to fill one of the spots. Darvish takes the other. 

The Cubs now have four starters (Darvish along with Jon LesterKyle Hendricks and Jose Quintana) who have performed as frontline pitchers recently along with Chatwood in the rotation and Montgomery as a quality fallback option. 

The fallout here includes Arrieta, Alex Cobb and Lance Lynn. We know the Brewersand Twins were in on Darvish, so their sights could be shifted to at least one of those three names. The Phillies are another team that could get involved on any of the three. 

For a while, it seemed like the Darvish market was a holdup for Cobb and Lynn, so perhaps there’s some trickle down and those two sign somewhere relatively soon. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training this week, so the timing is right. 

For now, the Cubs get a win here, both in bolstering their rotation but also in keeping Darvish from the Brewers. 

Wouldn’t it be cool to cheer for a team who spent money like fun coupons?

And, next year they are signing Bryce Harper. Don’t think so, well food for thought, his dog’s name is Wrigley and Kris Bryant is his best friend and they have both been on record saying they will eventually play together.

As for the Blue Jays, it just always seems to be such a far-fetched dream for them to shock the baseball world and sign someone to a huge contract.  We know there are many different ways to build a championship club, but regardless of which you choose, signing one of the best pitchers in baseball certainly fucking helps the cause.

Here’s to hoping Donaldson gets his extension soon, the one Jon Heyman keeps referring to, and let’s hope some of these mediocre pickups build on their reasonable potential and break out in the Dome.

For now, we admire the other teams who spend money, use their resources, and attract top talent.

Where is Jesse Litsch, anyone know?

Shug McSween

Shug McSween is a veteran here at DeanBlundell.com and has been contributing since day one. A sports nut with a sophisticated opinion, expect McSween to cover any and everything he's passionate about. When he's not busy writing and editing for our crew, McSween likes to get away via fairways and greens. He also contributes to The Hockey Writers, NHLTradeRumors.me and BballRumors.com

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