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Padres announce Yu Darvish's long-awaited return to active roster

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Friars On Base

New York Mets v San Diego Padres / Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/GettyImages

Once Yu Darvish rejoined the San Diego Padres after a long stay on the injury and restricted lists, fans have been eager to see him back on the mound. Even with guys like Joe Musgrove and Dylan Cease pitching very well, Darvish seems to be one of the players that makes up the heart of the Padres' roster, and getting him back gives them much-needed depth for the stretch run.

The only question is how long it would take for Darvish to get ramped back up. Darvish has been out since early June and, despite what fans think, it takes time to get back in game shape especially at his age and for how long he was out.

However, it appears as though good news will be arriving soon for Padres fans as manager Mike Shildt revealed that, barring the unforeseen, Darvish will start for the Padres on Wednesday.

Padres' plan is for Yu Darvish to return and start on Wednesday

There are some important caveats here. One, it is probably worth being cautiously optimistic regarding Darvish's return. Again, the guy has been out for three months and had some injury concerns before his absence became more of a personal one, so San Diego isn't going to take any chances if he doesn't feel right. Also, it feels likely that Darvish's first start back might be shorter than normal as he gets re-acclimated.

However, getting Darvish back should be yet another boost to this already formidable Padres roster. They already just activated Fernando Tatis Jr. from the IL on Monday. With Darvish's return, the Padres will basically be at full strength for the first time since early April. Given that guys like Michael King have started to show signs of fatigue lately, a (hopefully) healthy Darvish in the rotation is a big deal.

The trick here is that Darvish has to actually be productive upon his return and we won't know what he looks like until he faces MLB hitters. His extensive track record in the bigs should at least have fans feeling optimistic he can get get himself ready by the postseason.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.