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Whatever was left of Yu Darvish’s already suspect reputation has officially been destroyed.
Earlier today, Sun-Times writer Steve Greenberg released an article that featured current Cubs catcher, and close friend Darvish, Chris Gimenez sharing his thoughts on what may be wrong with the Cubs free-agent pitcher.
Every Cubs fan is well aware of the rocky start Darvish has had with the Cubs in 2018. He’s currently 1-3 with an ERA a shade under five but what is more alarming is the fact that Darvish has more trips to the DL than he does wins.
Darvish first went on the DL in early May with an apparent flu bug. Cubs fans everywhere immediately questioned the legitimacy of the illness since it conveniently fell immediately after he had been rocked in another one of his starts. What it appeared (at least to me) was happening was the Cubs used the flu excuse to possibly work on some mechanical issues and give Darvish a mental break from the Chicago media.
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His most recent trip the DL will probably take up his next two starts and although the MRI results were promising showing no structural damage in his pitching arm, Darvish has other concerns to go along with the tendinitis in his right triceps.
Gimenez spoke with Greenberg and revealed some pretty interesting things that may be plaguing Darvish, and none of them are physical ailments.
“I think he thinks that Chicago hates him for going on the DL a couple of times,” Gimenez said.
Gimenez also shared that Darvish seemed to be upset with some things he read on the glorious website, twitter.com.
“He reads Twitter. He reads all that stuff,” Gimenez said. “We all do. Honestly, I know it upsets him — and rightfully so.”
Ok, so here’s my thing.
If I’m a multi-millionaire athlete that just landed a $126 million dollar contract, I could give two shits about what fans thought about me. Being boo’d and blasted on social media is part of the territory that comes with being a professional athlete and while I’ll never be one, I’d have a simple response for every fan that had a problem with my performance on the field.
Seriously though. For a guy who already has a ‘soft’ label attached to him, whether it’s fair or not, your friend telling the vultures in Chicago media that you think fans hate you and tweets upset you has officially destroyed any reputation you thought you’d create.
Bottom line is this — I’ll stand behind Yu until he leaves the Cubs. I hope he shines in every single one of his starts and can be a big part of what the Cubs want to do this year and in the future. With that said, I also think it’s fair to say that the majority of Cubs fans are highly disappointed in Darvish’s performance thus far and the criticisms from those same fans HAVE to go in one ear and out the other if I’m Darvish.
It also doesn’t help that former Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta appears to be back to his old Cy Young form with his new team.
Good luck to batters facing @JArrieta34.
This is his best ERA (0.39) in a month since Sept./Oct. of his 2015 Cy Young season. pic.twitter.com/xuCTdYcqxL
— MLB Stat of the Day (@MLBStatoftheDay) May 30, 2018
So my advice to Yu is this: toughen up, forget about the idiot fans that blast you every single day, get yourself healthy, enjoy your $126 million bones and for the love of God, pitch the way every Cubs fan knows you can!
