Yu-Darvish to the Padres is all but official

Late Sunday evening, ESPN’s MLB insider Jeff Passan reported that the Padres are on the verge of completing their third big-time move over the past 48 hours. Per Passan, the deal is “on the verge of happening” and will involve seven players total.

San Diego would land Darvish and catcher Victor Caratini, a 27-year old switch hitter who hit .241 with a lone home run in 44 games this past season. He’ll add some depth at catcher following the team moving Francisco Mejia in the trade for Blake Snell over the weekend.

In return, the Padres would send pitcher Zach Davies along with four other young prospects. Those players are outfielder Owen Caissie, shortstop Reggie Preciado, outfielder Ismael Mena, and shortstop Yeison Santana.

Davies was arguably the Padres’ best pitcher in 2020 behind Dinelson Lamet. He finished the year with a 7-4 record across 12 starts. His ERA of 2.73 was 10th-best in the majors, but the Friars trading it for Darvish’s fourth-best ERA of 2.01, which was one place better than Lamet’s. Both Darvish and Lamet also recorded exactly 93 strikeouts in 2020, tying them for the seventh-best mark in that category.