MLB Trade Rumors: Signing Yu Darvish Would Be a Wise Move for the Chicago Cubs

Cubs have reportedly shown interest in signing the 31-year-old righty

By John Paul Sunico, Christian Post Contributor Monday, December 18, 2017

The last time baseball fans saw Yu Darvish pitch, they watched as he struggled to get the Houston Astros out in the biggest game he ever pitched, and that came on the heels of a pretty bad outing in Game 3 of that same World Series.

Unfair as it may be, those two rough outings have led some fans to believe that Darvish is not clutch and that he may be unable to get the job done at the sport's biggest stage.

Those two outings may also be affecting his current foray into free agency, as the 31-year-old remains unsigned despite having a case for being the best starting pitcher currently available.

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Things may be changing soon, however, as a recent report is hinting that one contender has expressed interest in signing Darvish.

According to a report from Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago, the Chicago Cubs have shown interest in inking Darvish to a deal.

Now before Cubs fans get all nervous about the prospect of having Darvish start an important postseason game, his track record suggests that those two terrible outings in the World Series were just ill-timed as opposed to being symptoms of being unable to perform in the games that matter the most.

Remember that during that same postseason run, Darvish had good outings against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Division Series and against the Cubs during the National League Championship Series.

Furthermore, in a recent report, Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated also passed along some information shared by an Astros player who mentioned that Darvish was tipping his pitches during that series.

Poor timing and tipping pitches may seem like convenient excuses for a pitcher performing poorly during the World Series, but then again, Darvish lacking a so-called "clutch" gene is not a good explanation either.

There is a very real chance that teams around the league are hesitating to sign one of the game's best starting pitchers due in part to his perceived inability to come through in the clutch. If that is the case, then the Cubs should take advantage, ink Darvish to a deal as soon as they can and watch him again mystify hitters with his wide array of pitches as soon as the 2018 season gets underway.

More news about the latest MLB rumors should be made available soon.