It’s far too soon to label Chicago Cubs starter Yu Darvish and his six-year, $126 million contract a bust. The first year? Yes – it absolutely falls into that category. But you can’t judge a book by the first chapter, the same as you cannot issue a judgment on a six-year deal after just eight starts.
Theo Epstein brought Darvish in last winter, hoping to inject a high-end, younger starter into a rotation headlined by aging, albeit still effective Jon Lester. Instead, he got an oft-injured, inconsistent arm who failed to take the mound after mid-May.