Chicago Cubs: 3 players who must step up after slow start
By Ryan Heckman
Yu Darvish
Are there any other Cubs fans out there who are looking back on the offseason and wishing the Cubs would have done whatever it took to retain Jake Arrieta? It seemed like, for a while, Yu Darvish was there target and they might not have been “all-in” on Arrieta.
Sure, a last-ditch effort to make it happen did indeed take place. But, if I was Theo Epstein I would have made Arrieta my top offseason priority as soon as the season ended in 2017. It sure looks as though the Cubs may have made a mistake signing Darvish.
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Thus far, Darvish leads the Cubs in strikeouts. That’s fantastic. What’s not fantastic is that his ERA of 6.00 is dead last among the rotation. What’s also terrifying is that Darvish doesn’t seem to be a guy who can get out of the fifth inning.
In Darvish’s six starts, he has failed to get out of the fifth inning on four occasions. The other two starts saw him go six innings each. The fifth inning, though, has been atrocious for the sixth-year pro. For some reason, he falls apart and Joe Maddon has to pull him before it gets even uglier. Then, you wear down your bullpen early on — worse, it becomes expected any time Darvish takes the mound.
I don’t care what has to happen for him to get back to at least being a serviceable pitcher. What’s clear is that he’s not the guy Chicago paid for, and that needs to change immediately.