‘It was kind of eerily similar': Epstein sees similarities between Darvish and Lester's debuts with Cubs

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It has been well-documented how Yu Darvish's Cubs career is off to a sluggish start. For Cubs president Theo Epstein, though, Darvish's first month with the Cubs has been "typical."

“Yu Darvish has had a very typical first month for a free agent," Epstein said in an interview on 670 The Score. "Some guys hit the ground running and win everybody over, but that’s pretty rare."

Darvish, 31, is 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA in six starts this season. The 31-year-old right-hander has pitched less-than five innings in four of those starts, lasting just six innings in his other two.

While Darvish's struggles should not be pushed aside, he is not the first Cub in recent memory to struggle after joining the team. In fact, Jon Lester's Cubs tenure also got off to a rocky start back in 2015.

Lester went 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA in four starts in April 2015, with opponents hitting a whopping .322 against him. Like Darvish, he pitched no more than exactly six innings in a start (twice), lasting 4 1/3 in his first with the Cubs and 5 1/3 in his third.

Epstein pointed this fact out when discussing Darvish's struggles to-date.

"Look no farther than Jon Lester’s first month in a Cubs uniform," he said. "It was kind of eerily similar [to Darvish's], the one difference being that Jon’s stuff was actually down a little bit that month and Yu’s stuff is still strong.

"It’s just trying to put it all together and have him get really comfortable and have everyone else be comfortable understanding what he does well and how to put him into a position to succeed."

Epstein is right in the sense that both Lester and Darvish struggled in their first months in a Cubs uniform. However, the difference between the two is that Lester turned it on in his fifth and sixth starts, wheras Darvish has been more up-and-down.

Fifth start:

  Lester Darvish
IP 7 6
H 3 3
R/ER 0/0 1/0
BB 1 2
K 4 8
Decision W ND

Sixth start:

  Lester Darvish
IP 7 4 1/3
H 7 7
R/ER 4/1 6/5
BB 2 3
K 6 8
Decision W L

Note: Lester gave up one home run in his sixth start, while Darvish surrendered three.

Essentially, Lester's Cubs tenure started trending upward in his fifth and sixth starts. Darvish took a step forward in his fifth start, only to take a step back in his sixth start. 

Although Darvish has struggled, Epstein said he does not have any long-term concerns.

"It’s a process, I think we’re getting there," he said. "Obviously we would have liked to see better results early, but it doesn’t always happen that way.

"I think as long as he’s healthy, which he is, and continuing to try to get after it to win games for this club, which he is, and as long as the people in that clubhouse still buy into him 100 percent, which they do, then I don’t have any long term concerns."

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