Yu

Darvish

Darvish, who turned 40 earlier this month, is working his way back from last year’s elbow surgery. It sounds like he’s going to give it a shot in spring training since he still has two years left on his contract with San Diego. His odds of returning to fantasy relevance are extremely long, but stranger things have happened before.

Darvish had surgery in October to repair his right ulnar collateral ligament with an internal brace and a flexor tendon repair. He posted on his Twitter account that he has started playing catch. Given the timing of his surgery, he is likely out for the entire 2026 season, but it seems as though the 39-year-old has not officially called it a career.

The procedural move theoretically adds some financial flexibility for the Padres since Darvish will not be paid his $15 million salary for 2026. The 39-year-old veteran strikeout artist, who holds a career 3.65 ERA across 297 starts over a 13-year career in the big leagues, has yet to announce his retirement and is currently recovering from an elbow injury. The restricted list is used for players that are unavailable for a variety of reasons, which seems to indicate that Darvish isn’t rehabbing with the Padres, who would retain his contractual rights in the event that he returns. At this point, it seems unlikely that Darvish will be a relevant fantasy contributor in the future.

“Yu has not made a final decision yet. This is a complicated matter we are still working through,” Wolfe told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand in response to a report from Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune that his client had notified the Padres of his intent to retire with three years and $43 million remaining on his contract. The 39-year-old former fantasy ace underwent elbow surgery earlier this offseason and is facing a lengthy rehabilitation process. There could potentially be a resolution on his status at some point in the next few weeks before San Diego kicks off spring training.

Darvish had internal brace and flexor tendon surgery last month and will miss all of 2026. It sure sounded at the time that he intended to come back from it, but it won’t be an easy road at age 39. Darvish is owed $43 million over the next three seasons, though he might walk away if he doesn’t think he can perform.

The 39-year-old Darvish, who underwent Tommy John back in 2015, said he’ll work hard on his rehab, suggesting that he intends to return in 2027. At age 36, he signed a six-year, $108 million deal that runs through 2028, but some have thought that Darvish might walk away from his Padres contract at some point, partly because he’s been fighting elbow issues. Since signing his most recent deal, he’s made 55 starts in three years and gone 20-18 with a 4.41 ERA.

It’s unclear whether Darvish — who has three years left on his contract with San Diego — is contemplating retirement after an injury-plagued regular season. Elbow issues limited him to just 15 starts where he finished the regular season with a calamitous 5.38 ERA and career-worst 23 percent strikeout rate over 72 innings of work. The 39-year-old veteran might require offseason surgery and it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if he decided to call it a career after 14 years in the big leagues since 2012.

The 39-year-old hurler struck out one batter and didn’t allow a base on balls. He allowed a leadoff single in the opening inning but still faced the minimum thanks to Nico Hoerner getting caught stealing second base. Things didn’t go well for him in the second though as Darvish allowed a leadoff single to Kyle Tucker and a double to Seiya Suzuki before plunking Carson Kelly to load the bases. Pete Crow-Armstrong followed with an RBI single that chased Darvish from the game and fortunately for him only one of the three inherited runners scored against the Padres’ bullpen. Darvish still has three years and $46 million remaining on his deal with the Padres.

Taillon draws the starting assignment for Thursday’s winner-take-all showdown at Wrigley Field against former Cubs ace Yu Darvish, who gets the ball for San Diego. The 33-year-old righty posted an encouraging 1.54 ERA across four September starts and will be making just his third career postseason appearance. Meanwhile, Darvish will be making his 14th career postseason start since 2012.

Pivetta has been a bona fide ace for the Padres this season, posting a 2.87 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and 190/50 K/BB ratio in 181 2/3 innings. Cease and Darvish have been less consistent than Pivetta, but they both offer ace upside if they are clicking on any given night.