San Diego Padres news: Pitcher lands on most overpaid list, Juan Soto power streak, Padres as spoiler?

Is Yu Darvish overpaid in 2023? How long can Juan Soto's power streak last? Are the San Diego Padres focused on playing spoiler in September? Let's look at these questions and more in today's Padres news and notes roundup.

San Diego Padres: Yu Darvish lands on overpaid list

In a recent article on our sister site, Call to the Pen, Bill Felber dove into the numbers to reveal the 25 most overpaid MLB players this season. One member of the Padres, starting pitcher Yu Darvish, landed on the list at number 22.

Felber devised the list on the basis of, "each player’s salary, his WAR and the average salary and WAR of all MLB players at the position he plays." Using this, the 37-year-old Darvish was pegged after a season where he has a 4.56 ERA in 24 starts.

Felber writes, "It all translates to an insignificant +0.2 WAR in a starter class where the average is more than five times that. Add in Darvish’s salary, which at $25 million is seventh highest among 128 qualified starters, and it’s easy to see why he is overpaid.

"And the overpayment is substantial. Based on both his personal WAR and the average salaries and WARs for the pitching group, Darvish has ‘earned’ just $1.93 million to date. That means he is overpaid to the tune of $23.070 million."

You can read more about Darvish and the other 24 players on the list here.

Juan Soto powering the San Diego Padres

In Sunday's win over San Francisco, Soto belted his third home run in three games, connecting in the bottom of the first to give the Padres a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Heading into Sunday's game where the Padres hit two home runs that accounted for three of their four runs on the day, 44.2 percent of San Diego's runs scored this year had been via the long ball, the fifth-highest percentage of any NL team's runs coming on home runs.

Soto now has 28 homers on the season. He has gone over 30 in a season only once, hitting a career-high 34 in 2019.

San Diego Padres playing spoiler in September?

The Padres may not be able to catch the number of teams ahead of them in the NL Wild Card chase, but they can certainly have an impact on who makes the postseason.

Beginning with Monday's game, the Padres start nine consecutive games against teams with postseason aspirations, with three at home against Philadelphia, then three at Houston before meeting the Dodgers in L.A. for the final three-game set of the season. In the final week of the regular season, San Diego visits San Francisco, the team the Padres just beat in three of four games.

While there may be little San Diego can do about the Dodgers' lead in the NL West or their current firm position as the two seed in the NL postseason, the other teams mentioned above are fighting for their Wild Card lives and posiitons. If the Padres can stay hot, there's little doubt they can influence not only who gets into October, but also who plays who in the postseason.