Yu Darvish Signs with Chicago Cubs
Free agent RHP Yu Darvish has agreed to sign a six-year, $126 million deal with the Chicago Cubs. The Japanese born pitcher enjoyed his third trip to the postseason last year after the Texas Rangers traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers for prospects Willie Calhoun, A.J. Alexy and Brendon Davis. Darvish who was formally 0-2 in the postseason with Texas helped lead the Dodgers to the World Series with two dominant wins in the the NLDS and NLCS. The Dodgers would later fall to the Houston Astros in game 7 of the World Series following Darvish's brief and disappointing performance.
After the Cubs came up short of another World Series championship, they decided to go after top-tier free agent Yu Darvish. The Dodgers, Twins, Rangers and Brewers were also in the mix. Former Cy Young, Jake Arrieta is a free agent and is said to be seeking a large contract. The Cubs formally inked Darvish to the six-year, $126 million deal this weekend which includes incentives for winning Cy Young ($2 million) and $1 million for placing between 2nd-5th in the Cy Young competition. The Cubs also threw in a player opt-out clause after 2019. Yu Darvish will effectively replace Arrieta in the Cubs rotation.
The Cubs now have a threatening starting lineup that features Hendricks, Darvish, Lester, and Quintana. In addition, they still have most of their 2016 championship lineup featuring Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Kris Bryant with the hope and expectation of bringing in OF Bryce Harper. This certainly makes the Cubs a formidable team in the MLB for the next couple years.