The Padres and righty Yu Darvish are in agreement on a six-year contract extension worth $108 million, reports MLB.com.
Yu Darvish : Contract extension | Contract | Wife
Yu Darvish is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Darvish has also played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Chicago Cubs and in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
In international play, Darvish pitched in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 World Baseball Classic as a member of the Japanese national team.
Yu Darvish Contract extension
The San Diego Padres and right-hander Yu Darvish are in agreement on a six-year, $108 million contract extension.
The deal starts this season, has a full no-trade clause, and will run through the 2028 season when Darvish is 42 years old.
The average annual value of the contract is $18 million which is less than what Darvish was previously earning-he made $21M per year in his last deal-and this contract will help the Padres, who have the third highest payroll in MLB against the luxury tax.
This will be the third six-year deal of his career — first with the Texas Rangers, then with the Chicago Cubs and now with the Padres.
Darvish led the Padres in wins (16) and strikeouts (197) last season, his second with the Padres after being acquired in a 2020 trade with the Cubs. Overall, he finished 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA. He also was 2-1 in four postseason starts during the Padres’ run to the NL Championship Series.
The five-time All-Star is 95-75 with a 3.50 ERA in 10 major league seasons. He has finished as the Cy Young runner-up two times (2013 and 2020).
The deal is the latest by the free-spending Padres. Darvish heads a rotation that also includes hometown product Joe Musgrove, who signed a $100 million, five-year deal in July. They signed shortstop Xander Bogaerts to a $280 million, 11-year deal in December even though Fernando Tatis Jr. will be eligible to return April 20 from an 80-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. Tatis will move to the outfield.
Yu Darvish contract
Yu Darvish signed a 6 year / $108,000,000 contract with the San Diego Padres, including $108,000,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $18,000,000.
| Contract: | 6 yr(s) / $108,000,000 |
| Signing Bonus | – |
| Average Salary | $18,000,000 |
| Free Agent: | 2029 / UFA |
Feinsand reported the deal is front-loaded, with Darvish set to make $30 million in 2023. At $30 million, Darvish will be tied with Jacob deGrom and Shohei Ohtani for the 16th-highest-paid player in baseball in 2023, according to Spotrac.
According to Spotrac, the $108 million set to head toward Darvish is tied for the 14th-largest active contract with the five-year, $108 million the Mariners signed Luis Castillo to during the offseason.
His average annual value of $21 million is tied with Chris Bassitt for 16th.
Wife
“Yu Darvish’s wife is four-time world wrestling champion Seiko Yamamoto. Dominated in early 2000s before women’s wrestling added to Olympics.” – Nick Zaccardi
Yamamoto won nearly every single wrestling tournament she entered during her career. The daughter of a former Olympic wrestler, Seiko followed in her father’s footsteps, taking up the sport at the age of three. She would go on to become one of the most successful Japanese female wrestlers of all time.
Prior to women’s wrestling being added to the Olympics, Yamamoto dominated the scene, winning the 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 World Wrestling Championships. She has also won two Asian Games tournaments.
By the time women’s wrestling made it to the Summer Olympics, Yamamoto was nearing the end of her career.
She failed to qualify for the 2004 Olympics after losing to Saori Yoshida at the Japan Queen’s Cup. Yoshida went on to win the gold medal. Yamamoto retired from wrestling in 2007.
Following her retirement, Yamamoto began coaching the United States Women’s Freestyle Wrestling Team.
Under her tutelage, one of her wrestlers, Helen Maroulis, won the first Olympic gold medal in wrestling at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The gold medal came a year after Seiko Yamamoto and Yu Darvish tied the knot.