- Padres acquire RHP Yu Darvish from Cubs in seven-player trade
- Padres’ odds to win 2021 World Series improve to +900
- San Diego made first playoff appearance since 2006 last season
On Sunday night, the San Diego Padres fired one of the first major salvos of the MLB offseason when they acquired lefty Blake Snell in a blockbuster trade from the Tampa Bay Rays. About 24 hours later, they made another huge splash. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Padres are “on the verge” of agreeing to a trade for Chicago Cubs right-hander Yu Darvish.
The Padres are set to nab Darvish from Chicago in a seven-player trade. Utilityman Victor Caratini will also head to Southern California, while the Padres will send Zach Davies and four prospects to the Cubs. The prospects include infielder Reginald Preciado, outfielder Owen Caissie, outfielder Ismael Mena, and shortstop Yeison Santana. The 17-year-old Preciado is one of the highlights of the package heading to the Cubs, as his $1.3 million signing bonus with the Padres was a record for a prospect coming out of Panama.
Padres mood rn pic.twitter.com/1XBRvunJr2
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 29, 2020
The 34-year-old Darvish is coming off of one of his best seasons. He finished second behind the Reds’ Trevor Bauer in National League Cy Young voting after going 8-3 with a 2.01 ERA across 12 regular-season starts. Darvish posted a 31.3 percent strikeout rate alongside a low 4.7 percent walk rate. Darvish dealt with serious control problems in most of his first two seasons with the Cubs before rectifying his high walk numbers in 2020.
Cubs Shedding Payroll
The right-hander began his big league career with the Texas Rangers in 2012 after coming over from Japan. Darvish was an annual Cy Young candidate before a midseason trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017. Darvish struggled in LA, including an implosion in the Dodgers’ loss to the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the World Series that year. However, he was still able to nab a six-year deal worth $126 million with the Cubs the following offseason.
While Chicago was a playoff team in 2020, the Darvish trade signals the team’s desire to shed some salary. Moving Darvish frees up about $59 million worth of salary over the next three years. The move comes just a couple of weeks after the Cubs decided against tendering a contract to slugging outfielder Kyle Schwarber.
Chicago’s rotation has undergone some serious changes already this offseason. The team has now parted ways with Darvish, Jose Quintana, Tyler Chatwood, and Jon Lester. The team reportedly hasn’t decided against re-signing the 37-year-old Lester this winter, but time will tell.
Padres’ Loaded Roster
Caratini was thrown into the trade because he emerged as Darvish’s preferred catcher last season with the Cubs. In San Diego, Darvish will join a rotation that already featured Snell and Dinelson Lamet at the top. Mike Clevinger, who arrived in a blockbuster trade of his own from Cleveland in the middle of last season, will miss all of 2021 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. The right-hander will return to the Padres’ rotation in 2022.
San Diego also has a promising young right-hander in Chris Paddack, who struggled for most of 2020. Before that season, though, he was one of the Padres’ better pitching prospects. San Diego can also fill out the rotation with MacKenzie Gore, a left-hander that has been one of the top prospects in all of baseball over the past few seasons.
The back-to-back moves have improved the Padres’ odds at World Series betting sites considerably. Following the Darvish trade, San Diego now has the third-best odds of any team to win the 2021 Fall Classic at +900. Only the Dodgers (+450) and Yankees (+550) have better chances as of now. San Diego is almost even with Atlanta around +400 to win the National League, with the reigning World Series champion Dodgers (+215) still favored.
The Dodgers have won the National League West title in every season since 2013, but the 2021 Padres may be their stiffest competition yet. San Diego finished second in the division with a record of 37-23 in the abbreviated 2020 season. The Padres were swept in three games by the Dodgers in the NLDS earlier this fall in San Diego’s first postseason appearance since 2006.
In addition to Snell and Darvish, the Padres have also signed highly-rated infielder Ha-Seong Kim out of the KBO. Kim, 25, is expected to slot in at second base with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado entrenched on the left side of the infield.
Taylor Smith
Taylor Smith has been a staff writer with GamblingSites.org since early 2017. Taylor is primarily a sports writer, though he will occasionally dabble in other things like politics and entertainment betting. His primary specialties are writing about the NBA, Major League Baseball, NFL and domestic and international soccer. Fringe sports like golf and horse racing aren’t exactly his cup of tea, bu …
