[Sport] Surprise: Darvish found out about his trade to Padres via Twitter

[EvKirito]

 

 

Yu Darvish understood that things move fast once A.J. Preller, general manager of the San Diego Padres, begins negotiations. The right-hander did not believe he would be traded for the Chicago Cubs, but he got caught up in Preller's whirlwind.

 

In about 24 hours this week, the Padres landed left-hander Blake Snell in a major deal with Tampa Bay and struck a $ 28 million, four-year deal with Korean slugger Kim Ha-seong - a deal that could be worth 34 million for five seasons in the event that a mutual option is exercised and contains $ 1 million per year performance bonuses. San Diego later acquired Darvish in another relevant deal.

 

Darvish found out about it through social media.

 

"When I woke up that morning and saw that the Snell trade had been accomplished I thought nothing was going to happen," Darvish said during a video conference Thursday. “I didn't expect the Padres to make another move, but I started getting calls an hour later and found out on Twitter, yes.

 

Yu Darvish understood that things move fast once A.J. Preller, general manager of the San Diego Padres, begins negotiations. The right-hander did not believe he would be traded for the Chicago Cubs, but he got caught up in Preller's whirlwind.

 

In about 24 hours this week, the Padres landed left-hander Blake Snell in a major deal with Tampa Bay and struck a $ 28 million, four-year deal with Korean slugger Kim Ha-seong - a deal that could be worth 34 million for five seasons in the event that a mutual option is exercised and contains $ 1 million per year performance bonuses. San Diego later acquired Darvish in another relevant deal.

 

“I wasn't expecting to be traded and obviously this happened in a single day, so I was quite amazed. Not for bad, ”said the 34-year-old Japanese.

 

After running out of starters due to injuries during their first postseason appearance in 14 years, the Padres added two aces in deals that cement them as one of the best teams in the major leagues and offer an interesting matchup for the NL West with the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

 

Darvish was 8-3 with a 2.01 ERA in 12 starts for Chicago during the pandemic-shortened season and finished second in the NL Cy Young Award voting. He has three years and $ 59 million left from a six-year, $ 126 million contract he signed with the Cubs before the 2018 season.

 

Chicago will send San Diego three million dollars in payments of 500,000 on the first day of each month from April to September 2021, absorbing part of Darvish's salary of 22 million. It will have to be paid 19 million in 2022 and 18 million in 2023.

 

The Padres also welcomed Puerto Rican catcher Victor Caratini as part of the trade for right-hander Zach Davies and four young minor leaguers. An ambidextrous at-bat, Caratini was pitting Darvish in Chicago and last season hit .241 with 16 RBIs.