The Los Angeles Dodgers sent shockwaves through the league with its acquisition of Yu Darvish from the Texas Rangers at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
The club, in search of another ace to pair with Clayton Kershaw at the top of the rotation, had been prominently linked to Darvish in previous weeks. Though, it wasn’t certain if the Rangers would seriously entertain the prospect of trading him, given that they were still in contention for a Wild Card berth at the time.
Nevertheless, Texas made the tough decision in sending Darvish to Los Angeles for a trio of prospects. News of the deal broke roughly 15 minutes after the 1:00 p.m. PT deadline had expired.
Via Mike Piellucci of Sports Illustrated, Darvish made it known to the Rangers that he had the Dodgers at the top of his wish list in the event of a trade:
“He was telling me, ‘I’m happy to stay, but if I get traded, I want it to be to the Dodgers,’ ” Wolfe recalls. “That was the one place he really wanted to be.”
Prior to the blockbuster, Darvish was in the midst of his worst statistical season since entering the Majors in 2012. Over 137 innings with the Rangers, he posted career-worsts in ERA (4.01), FIP (3.99) and strikeouts per nine (9.7).
In 49.2 innings with the Dodgers, Darvish posted a 3.44 ERA, 3.38 FIP and 1.15 WHIP with 61 strikeouts to 13 walks. He allowed just one run over his final 19.1 innings of the regular season and carried that hot streak into the playoffs.
Darvish yielded two runs in a pair of starts against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs in the National League Division and Championship Series, respectively. He earned wins in both contests before faltering in the World Series.
Against the Houston Astros, Darvish logged just 3.1 innings over two starts and allowed nine earned runs without recording a strikeout. He was tabbed with losses in Games 3 and 7, as the Astros went on to capture their first championship in franchise history.
With a relatively weak free agent market for starting pitchers, Darvish is slated to sign one of the most lucrative contracts this offseason. While he has made it known that he hopes to re-sign with Los Angeles, the Dodgers have historically opted against dishing out long-term contracts to pitchers on the wrong side of 30, and they may have some competition in the Minnesota Twins.
