Yu Darvish, whose rehab outing on Monday went well, but whose comments afterwards left us feeling a bit concerned about just how well he was actually feeling, spoke again to the media today after playing catch, but before his next bullpen session tomorrow.
Among the remarks:
"It's still day to day," Darvish said through a translator. "It just depends on how I feel tomorrow and we'll just go from there."
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) June 27, 2018
Darvish says still not sure if he'll make next start for Cubs or another rehab start. Said strength and endurance fine. Said had some tightness in triceps Monday but downplayed it.
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) June 27, 2018
#Cubs Darvish says he'll talk to athletic trainer re next step in process. "Rather than what I want it's more about how my body feels "
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) June 27, 2018
So, then.
If you’re like me, you read that stuff and you get palpitations. Maybe there really is reason for serious concern that he’s just not right yet, and the Cubs are going to slow up his process and now he’ll be out for a few more weeks. Totally possible.
But thinking more about his atypical comments after his rehab outing, and then about the things he said to the L.A. Times about retirement and his anxiety about facing Dodgers fans, I’m wondering if we just have to consider things in a totally different way.
That is to say, I’m getting the idea that Darvish – speaking through his translator – is simply extremely honest. Baseball fans are used to pitchers telling us their arms feel mostly fine when they don’t, or telling us there’s “a little tightness” when the thing is torn to shreds. So we hear a guy talking about feeling tightness in the area he’s rehabbing, or talking about not knowing what he can or cannot do at this point, and it sounds scary as hell. But in reality, it might be a pretty normal feeling at the end of rehab that others don’t frame this way. And he might be simply reiterating what we already know: he may or may not make his next start in the big leagues. It depends on how he feels and what the trainers say. I guess that’s always true, isn’t it?
We’ll see how the bullpen session goes tomorrow. There’s been no indication that he’s being shut down or anything like that, so, again, this might just be a case of normal process and extreme honesty.