SAN DIEGO -- Yu Darvish’s return to the Padres’ rotation has taken longer than all parties would’ve hoped for -- but it hasn’t stalled.
Darvish threw several pitches off the bullpen mound on Saturday, setting him up for a formal bullpen session this week in San Francisco, he said. The veteran right-hander has been sidelined since Spring Training due to right elbow inflammation. He made one rehab start with Triple-A El Paso in mid-May, but he didn’t recover well from it and hasn’t appeared in a game since.
This upcoming bullpen session would mark Darvish’s first since that rehab start -- unless you count Saturday’s, which Darvish estimated to be only six or seven pitches off the actual mound. A day later, he said he recovered well from the throwing session.
“I’m just excited; I feel good,” Darvish said. “[It] just sucks when I get hurt, can’t throw the ball. So now it’s good. I’m happy.”
Darvish said he anticipates that bullpen session to take place on Tuesday. From there, the next steps are unclear -- and are largely contingent on how he feels. He had built up to 51 pitches during that rehab start. But that was nearly three weeks ago.
The Padres have maintained that once Darvish is fully ready to build up, his progression won’t be a long one. Initially, they’d hoped for only one or two rehab starts before he rejoined the rotation.
The Padres could clearly use Darvish at this point on the calendar. San Diego is already without right-hander Michael King, who is on the IL with a pinched nerve in his right shoulder area. Following Sunday’s 6-4 victory over the Pirates, King spoke for the first time since he sustained that injury, noting the uncertain nature of his own timeline.
“I don’t know if there is an understanding [of a timeline],” said King, who has only been able to play light catch since he was scratched from his start last weekend and subsequently placed on the IL. “Dr. [Bryan] Leak with us has said that he has seen a lot of progress in me, so he doesn’t expect it to be very long. He said he’s seen some guys take a couple days, some guys take a couple months. I think that I’m more on the former on that, just because of the progress I’ve had.”
With King and Darvish out, the Padres currently have only four healthy starters on their roster amid a stretch of 26 games in 27 days, with four crucial series looming against division rivals. They’ll need to promote someone for Tuesday’s start against the Giants.
That said, the Padres aren’t about to rush Darvish back to the rotation. They’ve long understood the value in having him healthy for the stretch run. At 38, Darvish was never expected to make a full contingent of starts this season. Since signing his six-year contract extension, he has made 20 per year.
Darvish likely won’t hit that number for the Padres this season. But if he’s as productive as he was last September and October, they’ll be just fine with it.