“The way my rehab is going now, I am focused on getting right, not on coming back,” he said late last month. “Right now I’m not really thinking too much about the future. Just knowing the way I think, I’m sure I will one day want to throw again. All I’ve thought about in my life is baseball.”
Darvish missed half of the 2024 season due to elbow issues and a personal matter but came back to pitch exceptionally well in the playoffs. When he and Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller spoke after that season, it was with the understanding that Darvish would likely need elbow surgery at some point. Darvish said he made it clear at that time he was considering “getting rid of” his contract.
“As far as leaving lots of money,” Darvish said in a recent interview, “I look at it as that was never mine to begin with, especially considering the money I haven’t physically earned yet.”