Deja Yu?
Sorry.
For the second time this season, Yu Darvish will kick off a minor league rehab stint with a start in South Bend for the Cubs’ Low-A affiliate there (Muskat). Last time out, he went four innings but was missing some velocity, didn’t feel quite right (or there was some confusion in the translation), threw a bullpen and definitely didn’t feel right, was shut down, was diagnosed with an impingement in his elbow, got a cortisone shot, and had to start his rehab all over again.
Let’s hope things go very differently this time around.
If Sunday does go well for Darvish, it’s conceivable he could return to the big league Cubs after perhaps just one more minor league start. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, as September still seems far more likely. But with Mike Montgomery hitting the disabled list, if Darvish were able to return a little sooner than expected, obviously that would now be something of a double blessing.