Padres get blindsided by Yu Darvish injury news, promote struggling pitcher

Despite coming off an offseason to forget, the San Diego Padres have done quite well for themselves in 2024. They currently sport an 11-9 record and sit in second place in the NL West thanks to some strong play from Dylan Cease, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill, and others along the way. Given how bleak things looked coming into the year, it's hard to complain about that.

If the Padres are going to keep this pace up, they're simply going to have to get a good campaign out of Yu Darvish, though.

The veteran starter had a bit of a down 2023 season, and while his 4.18 ERA in his first five starts 2024 isn't exactly bad, he has seen his strikeout rate trend downward and he hasn't lived up to his usual lofty standards overall.

Making matters worse, it now looks like Darvish will be out for a while as the Padres announced he's headed for the injured list with a neck injury.

Padres News: Yu Darvish placed on IL with neck injury, Logan Gillaspie recalled

Darvish being down for any amount of time is obviously bad news no matter how his season has started, especially with Joe Musgrove looking uneven so far. He's a core member of the Padres' roster and, given the shortage of arms the Padres was already experiencing, losing him is a big deal.

The extent of Darvish's neck injury is not yet known and these sorts of injuries can range from a pulled muscle that can resolve itself quickly to a more serious issue that requires lengthy downtime. Given that Darvish hasn't looked like himself this season, one hopes that some rest will end up doing him some good.

Taking Darvish's spot on the roster temporarily is reliever Logan Gillaspie, who has not pitched well in the minors so far in 2024 (9.00 ERA in five appearances at Triple-A). That said, he's already on the 40-man roster, which makes the move relatively painless, and San Diego will likely make another move in the week once they suss out their options to take Darvish's turn in the rotation this weekend.

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