*Photo from The Athletic*
The San Diego Padres are going all the way in. The Padres have acquired ace RHP Yu Darvish and C Victor Caratini from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for RHP Zach Davies, and prospects Owen Caissie, Reginald Preciado, Yeison Santana, and Ismael Mena. This massive 7 player trade has not been confirmed by either team.
Darvish had a fantastic season in 2020, winding up in second place in the NL Cy Young voting. Darvish posted a 8-3 record with a 2.01 ERA, striking out 93 hitters and throwing 76 innings in 12 starts for the Cubs in 2020. In his 8 major league seasons, Darvish has a 71-56 record, with a 3.47 ERA, throwing 1,127 innings in 182 career starts. Darvish has spent his career with the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers in addition to the Cubs.
Davies turned in a solid season for the Padres in 2020, his only season with the team. Davies had a 7-4 record with a 2.73 ERA, throwing 69 1/3 innings and striking out 63 hitters in 12 starts for the Padres. In his 6 major league seasons, Davies has a 50-36 record with a 3.79 ERA, throwing 683 2/3 innings in his career. Prior to being traded to the Padres, Davies spent 5 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Padres and GM AJ Preller managed to pull off this trade without giving up a single top 10 prospect in their system. Preciado, a shortstop, is ranked 11th in the Padres system. Caissie, who is an outfielder, is ranked 13th, Mena, who is also an outfielder, is 15th overall, followed by the shortstop Santana at 16th overall.
Despite this move, the Padres aren't just going all in for this season, as Darvish is under team control through the 2023 season, which gives the Padres extra years to use Darvish's talent to hopefully lead them to a world series. Caratini, who is also going to the Padres, has become Darvish's personal catcher, and the Padres were looking for catching help, so it makes sense that Caratini was added as well.
The Darvish trade caps off a wild 24 hours for Preller and crew in San Diego. Besides the trade for Darvish, the Padres also traded for Rays ace Blake Snell, and signed Korean IF Ha-Seong Kim. The Padres rotation for 2021 now features Darvish, Snell, Dinelson Lamet, Chris Paddack, and a host of options for the 5th spot, namely Adrian Morejon, Ryan Weathers, and Mackenzie Gore. The Padres will also get Mike Clevinger back from Tommy John surgery in 2022, making their rotation even better.
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