The latest Yu Darvish speculation involves the Padres and the words, “salary relief.” It provoked some reactions. So let’s break down what’s true:
1. Yu Darvish is on a team-friendly deal.
$23M is not a whole lot for a reigning Cy Young runner-up.
2. Yu Darvish is still owed a lot of money.
And if getting that off the books makes the Ricketts family feel better, that’s something the Cubs could take as value in a trade (even if it really pisses off the rest of us that this is a factor, and calls to mind whether winning is any part of the goal for the Cubs anymore).
3. Trading Yu Darvish would be an investment, not just a salary dump.
Even if the Cubs viewed “salary relief” as one piece of the return value in the deal, the primary return value would be younger, cheaper, more controllable talent. A shifting of assets from the immediate term to the longer term.
4. A trade is not necessarily likely.
There aren’t a lot of rumors out there. We’ll talk about anything. Don’t make too much out of this.
