A Japanese baseball legend is thinking about hanging up his cleats.
San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish is contemplating retirement, though no decision has been made, agent Joel Wolfe told Dennis Lin of The Athletic on Saturday.
Wolfe’s comment came after a report in the San Diego Tribune that Darvish had already told the team he plans to retire.
“Yu has not made a final decision yet. This is a complicated matter we are still working through,” Wolfe said.
In a statement released on social media, Darvish said that he is “leaning towards voiding the contract,” but that there is “still a lot that has to be talked over with the Padres so the finer details are yet to be decided.”
“Right now, I am fully focused on my rehab for my elbow, and if I get to a point where I can throw again, I will start from scratch again to compete,” Darvish added. “If once I get to that point I feel I can’t do that, I will announce my retirement.”
Darvish, 39, has three years and $43 million remaining on his deal.
He is set to miss the entire 2026 season after undergoing UCL reconstruction surgery in November, and said after that he intended to be “working hard” on his rehab.
Darvish previously had Tommy John surgery in March 2015 and returned to a major league mound in May 2016.
If this is indeed it for Darvish, he’d finish his career with a 3.65 ERA over 297 starts with the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and Padres. He led the AL in strikeouts in 2013 with 277 and paced the NL in wins in 2020 with eight in the COVID-shortened season.
The five-time all-star went 5-5 with a 5.38 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in 15 starts for the Padres last season after missing the first three months due to elbow inflammation. Darvish started a decisive Game 3 of San Diego’s wild-card series against the Chicago Cubs, but he took the loss after allowing two runs on four hits and failing to record an out in the second inning.
He has completed three seasons of a $108 million, six-year contract he agreed to in February 2023 with the Padres, who acquired him before the 2021 season.
His injury is a blow to a Padres rotation that was already in flux after San Diego made the playoffs for the fourth time in six seasons, but failed to advance. Right-hander Dylan Cease fled for the Toronto Blue Jays, though right-hander Michael King re-upped on a three-year, $75 million deal.
The Padres also have proven starters in Nick Pivetta, Randy Vasquez and Joe Musgrove, who is scheduled to return next year from Tommy John surgery. San Diego also acquired JP Sears in the deadline trade that also brought vaunted reliever Mason Miller, a starter earlier in his career.
–with files from The Associated Press
