How the Los Angeles Dodgers will replace each off-season loss
By Jason Reed
Yu Darvish → Walker Buehler
After a long period of waiting to sign with an MLB team, Yu Darvish finally struck a deal with the Chicago Cubs. Prior to the deal, reports were surfacing that Darvish preferred the Los Angeles Dodgers and was waiting for the Dodgers to free up salary cap space. Although there were some easy pieces to move (Yasmani Grandal, Hyun-Jin Ryu), the Dodgers ultimately could not do so.
Darvish latest comments about the Dodgers perhaps signal some hard feelings. According to Josh Frydman of WGN News, Darvish told Dave Roberts, “My main goal is to beat the Dodgers.”
That could be some hard feelings or it quite simply could be a competitive spirit. Regardless, there is a spot to fill with Darvish leaving to Chicago. Realistically, the Dodgers do not even need to fill this spot, they played over half of the season last year without him and had the best record in baseball.
However, there will be a young guy that fills in the right-handed void left behind by Darvish. It may not happen right away, heck, it may not happen until the summer and some of the pitchers start to get banged up.
That pitcher is, of course, the Dodgers’ number one prospect Walker Buehler. Buehler is a flamethrower with a fantastic fastball and a devastating breaking ball. Although he struggled in his September call-up last season, Buehler has all the makings of a second or even first starter in the MLB.
So, Yu Darvish, I wish you all the luck in Chicago. You actually pitched pretty well there in the NLCS. No hard feelings, Yu, but you will forever go down as the guy who lost the Dodgers the 2017 World Series and bounced three months later.
Did we just get Punk’d?