Padres’ Yu Darvish Shut Down Due to Bone Spur, Could Miss Final Month of Season
There’s a chance Yu Darvish has already thrown his final pitch of the 2023 season as the right-hander recovers from a bone spur in his right elbow.
The San Diego Padres hurler, who landed on the 15-day IL on August 28th, could miss the remainder of this season after test results revealed bone growth within his pitching arm. As a result, he’s received a cortisone injection and will be shut down temporarily from baseball activities.
But given the 37-year-old’s history – which includes Tommy John surgery in 2015 and a stress reaction that cost him most of the ‘18 season – this is likely a best-case scenario. His elbow may require an off-season procedure, albeit a minor one, to remove the spur or trim it down.
“There’s some relief in a sense that there’s nothing going on with the ligament,” Darvish said via team interpreter Shingo Horie ahead of Thursday’s contest versus the San Francisco Giants.
Darvish began experiencing right elbow inflammation during his previous start last Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers, where he surrendered five runs on six hits and one walk across four innings. Then, a few days later, he flew to Texas to meet with Dr. Keith Meister after hitting the IL.
The Padres still haven’t identified the cause of the 6-foot-5 hurler’s bone spur, though he’s been pitching through elbow discomfort for much of the summer. An illness – that sidelined him for a few weeks in June – may be related to his current ailment as he resumed throwing despite not being 100 percent healthy.
Nevertheless, there should be additional clarity regarding Darvish’s prognosis once his cortisone shot has enough time to take effect.
“The cortisone shot, hopefully, alleviates the inflammation. He’ll be down three-to-five days, and we’ll see where we go from there,” Padres skipper Bob Melvin said.
With San Diego 8.5 games out of a playoff spot heading into Friday’s slate, the club’s performance in the short term could ultimately dictate whether or not Darvish returns in 2023. If they continue sliding, the five-time All-Star might turn his focus to being ready for next season.
The latter probably makes the most sense at this point of the year. At the same time, however, the Japanese star feels it’s his duty to push for a late-season comeback if the opportunity presents itself.
“It’s my job to go out there,” Darvish said. “I’m being paid to go out there and pitch. I feel like it may be disrespectful, in a way, if I don’t try to come back up. At the end of the day, if I can’t come back, that’s that. But we’ll see how it goes.”
In addition to Darvish, the Padres could also be without fellow right-hander Joe Musgrove for the rest of this season as he recovers from inflammation in his right shoulder capsule. That would leave Blake Snell – a free agent this winter – to anchor the team’s remaining staff.
Barring a last-minute miracle, the 2023 campaign appears all but lost for the Padres, who’ll finish alongside the New York Mets as the sport’s biggest disappointments.
If Darvish doesn’t throw another pitch this season, the veteran righty will conclude his third season in San Diego with a 4.56 ERA and 4.03 FIP over 24 starts. He’s punched out 141 batters in 136.1 innings, posting a 24.6 percent strikeout rate.
The two-time Cy Young Award finalist agreed to a six-year, $108-million contract extension that runs through 2028 before arriving for spring training last February.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: D. Benjamin Miller. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.