Padres star tired of being little brother to Dodgers in free agency pursuits
Yu Darvish is unsettled about his Japanese compatriots favoring the Los Angeles Dodgers over his San Diego Padres after getting posted.
Eva Geitheim of San Diego Padres on Sports Illustrated relayed a recent exchange that Darvish had with Yuri Karasawa on the Baseball Bar-B-Cast podcast and accentuated how his displeasure over top prospects seeking to play for the Dodgers could be counteracted by this year’s main draw, Roki Sasaki’ affinity for the 38-year-old:
“Karasawa made it clear that the Padres should not be counted out of the race. Karasawa cited that Darvish and Sasaki have a very close relationship, and that Darvish acts as almost a second pitching coach to him,” Geitheim wrote.
Karasawa did note that many among the Japanese media do believe that Sasaki will join the Dodgers, but called Los Angeles and San Diego the “obvious” choices.
There are currently 11 Japanese players in the MLB. Notable top Japanese prospects to cross the waters into the Majors of late have been Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2024), Shota Imanaga (2024), Yuki Matsui (2024), and Kodai Senga (2023). Of that talent pool, Yamamoto chose to play for the Dodgers and Matsui for Darvish’s Padres.
Nevertheless, Darvish does not want Sasaki to make it two consecutive elite talents to make the move to L.A. Sasaki is projected to be a future ace in the big leagues. His career 2.02 ERA, 0.883 WHIP and three complete games pitched in Nippon Professional Baseball proves that.
Thus, it may be that the 23-year-old joins the Padres and links up with his cherished countryman Darvish. Albeit, the Dodgers have the baseball world in the palm of their hand and will be tough for any free agent to turn down.
