SAN DIEGO — Yu Darvish spent part of Friday morning helping students from a local elementary school shop for holiday gifts. At the same time, yet another team in the increasingly treacherous National League was delivering a present to its fans.
Kyle Tucker is headed to the Chicago Cubs, meaning he’ll soon join Juan Soto, Blake Snell and Willy Adames as star ballplayers who could make life more difficult for the San Diego Padres. Darvish’ current club left the Winter Meetings after adding only a Rule 5 pitcher who has not competed above Single A. So far this offseason, the Padres have done little to keep up with the ongoing NL arms race.
Speaking amid all of it, Darvish confirmed his desire to play with Roki Sasaki, the Japanese phenom coveted by all 30 major-league franchises.
“I think it’s a good thing if he were to come to San Diego,” Darvish said through interpreter Shingo Horie, the pitcher’s first public comments since Sasaki was posted. “Just for myself personally, if it does happen, yeah, it’s a great thing for me as well. But we’ll see how things shake out.”
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani, center, Yu Darvish, right, and Roki Sasaki, left, posing for a team picture in 2023. (Shuji Kajiyama / Associated Press)
The Chiba Lotte Marines posted Sasaki this week, opening a 45-day window that could prove critical in determining the course of this Padres offseason. Sasaki has until Jan. 23 at 2 p.m. PT to reach a particularly affordable minor-league deal with a fortunate suitor. Given the Padres’ financial constraints, no other free agent appears as necessary to their future.
And, for San Diego, no recruiter looms as large as Darvish. Perhaps the most accomplished Japanese-born pitcher in big-league history, Darvish said he first met Sasaki in training camp ahead of the 2023 World Baseball Classic. The two men subsequently helped Samurai Japan to the tournament title and they have grown close. Though multiple team officials have said Darvish is “all in” on the club’s planned efforts to convince Sasaki, he seemed to downplay his potential influence.
“I don’t think there’s much that I can do,” Darvish said after helping first- and second-graders navigate the aisles of a San Diego Walmart as part of the Padres’ Holiday Giving Tour. “He knows what he wants, he’ll make his decision, and I’m sure there’s going to be a couple of meetings coming up for him. And that will give him an opportunity to see what organizations are like. I’m sure he’s going to make his decision, and we’ll all be respectful of that.”
Still, Darvish intends to be involved. He watched from afar last offseason as the Padres slashed payroll and the Los Angeles Dodgers signed two other WBC teammates, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, for a combined $1.025 billion. Now the Dodgers, amid a push to “paint Japan blue,” are widely considered the favorites for Sasaki.
The Padres are widely considered a close second.
Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe, said Tuesday that he and Sasaki hoped to begin meeting with clubs next week, likely in Southern California. Wolfe, who also represents Darvish and Yamamoto, added that Sasaki would return to Japan for the holidays before a potential round of in-person visits with teams in their respective cities.
“If there is an opportunity or if I am asked to join a meeting, I’m here in San Diego throughout the offseason,” Darvish said. “So if there is a time or if they want me to come join a meeting, then, yeah, I’ll be happy to do that.”
Darvish described Sasaki, 23, as “a very good person” and “very hungry to learn.”
“We were able to spend a lot of time together during that time in the WBC,” Darvish said. “We would watch a lot of games together. We got to communicate and talk a lot together. I’ve had very good conversations with him.”
While Darvish and Padres reliever Yuki Matsui know Sasaki personally, president of baseball operations A.J. Preller will oversee the Padres’ recruiting party. Preller has spent extensive time in Japan, dating back to before he helped the Texas Rangers sign Darvish in 2012. In 2017, the executive memorized several minutes’ worth of Japanese and recited it to Ohtani in hopes of persuading him to sign with San Diego.
Preller, though, suggested that he would not reattempt that tactic with Sasaki.
“We have a lot of Japanese-speaking staff and (we have) Darvish and Yuki,” Preller said this week. “But yeah, I’ll leave it to the professionals to do the translating.”
Topics of discussion could include the 2024 National League Division Series. In October, the Padres took the Dodgers to the brink before going scoreless for 24 consecutive innings and falling to the eventual World Series champions.
“Obviously, it was a very disappointing way to end the season,” Darvish said. “But I think we put up a good fight against a good team. I think we were able to show them who we were. So hopefully, come next season, we can break through that and kind of break through that team to then put us in a better spot and hopefully the World Series.”
From now until at least mid-January, Darvish and Sasaki will be two of the most relevant figures in that quest.
(Top photo of Yu Darvish: Adam Hunger/Getty Images)
