Yu Darvish was back at Petco Park earlier this week, and from a distance he looked like a pitcher who still has work left to do, not a man ready to walk away. He was throwing in the outfield, part of his Tommy John rehab, and the sight alone was enough to stir up questions the Padres still can’t answer.
The biggest one: will he pitch again?
Padres manager Craig Stammen said on a recent appearance on the Ben and Woods show on 97.3-FM in San Diego that Darvish still hasn’t made up his mind. According to Stammen, the veteran right-hander is moving through rehab on his own schedule and keeping his next step to himself.
"He's been doing the normal Tommy John rehab - some of it at Petco, some of it not at Petco," Stammen said. "We see him here and there.
He's on his own timeline. He still doesn't know if he really wants to come back, wants to retire, what his next role is within the organization.
We're kind of letting him have his space and do his thing, and right now he's throwing bullpens.
"It's a reason for excitement to see him throwing that way, but it doesn't really change anything that's happened throughout the year. The ball's in his court, and he'll decide what he wants to do when he wants to do it."
That uncertainty hangs over a contract that still has two years left on it. Darvish is owed $14 million in each of the next two seasons under the six-year, $108 million extension he signed in February 2023. But unless he gets healthy enough to return to the mound, that money isn’t likely to come into play for the Padres.
Since March, Darvish has been on the restricted list rather than the injured list, which effectively means he has forfeited his 2026 salary. The move has given San Diego some room to maneuver as it tries to strengthen its starting rotation without him, but it also leaves the club in a strange holding pattern while Darvish sorts out whether he wants to keep pitching.
Before the elbow issue shut him down, Darvish went 5-5 with a 5.38 ERA last season, his 13th in MLB. He made only 15 starts.
The deeper numbers weren’t much prettier than the surface line, which raises the obvious question for San Diego: if the surgery fixed the elbow, does that mean Darvish can still be effective? And if age was the bigger issue, what kind of pitcher would he be if he returns at all?
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