Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images
After a season spent nursing through injury and making adjustments, Yu Darvish will not be taking the mound for San Diego in 2026.
Darvish and the Padres announced on Tuesday that the right-hander underwent an internal brace procedure to repair his right UCL on October 29.
Darvish’s procedure also repaired an injury to the right-hander’s flexor tendon. Per the Padres’ PR announcement, the recovery time from such a procedure has a 12-15 month timeline, thus sidelining the right-hander through spring of 2027.
Padres medical update on Yu Darvish: pic.twitter.com/jS3eZ0jE7f
— Padres PR (@PadresPR) November 4, 2025
Darvish, 39, pitched in 15 games in 2025 after going down with elbow inflammation in Spring Training.
He made one rehab start in May before continued soreness in his elbow after his rehab start delayed his return to the big-league roster.
Upon coming back in July, Darvish lowered his arm slot in an effort to diminish any strain on his arm. The results were mixed, as he pitched 72 innings to a 5.38 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. ERA estimators were a lot more bullish on his performance (3.65 xERA, 4.18 xFIP), as he struck out 23% of batters faced against a strong 6.4% walk rate. These numbers were in line with his 2024 performance as well.
With the new development, Darvish will miss the 2026 campaign.
Three seasons remain on the right-hander’s contract, which has him set to make $16 million in 2026, and $15 million from 2027-28 with a $18 million luxury tax hit.
San Diego’s offseason plan will now likely include the search for another mid-rotation starting pitcher, as the rotation now projects to be Nick Pivetta, a returning Joe Musgrove, Randy Vasquez, and JP Sears.
A born and raised San Diegan, Diego Garcia is a lifetime Padres fan and self-proclaimed baseball nerd. Diego wrote about baseball on his own site between 2021-22 before joining the East Village Times team in 2024. He also posts baseball content on his YouTube channel “Stat Nerd Baseball”, creating content around trades, hypotheticals, player analyses, the San Diego Padres, and MLB as a whole.
A 2024 graduate of San Diego State, Diego aims to grow as a writer and content creator in the baseball community.
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