Yu Darvish foots bill for steak and lobster dinner for minor league teams
Yu Darvish currently is on a rehab assignment in an effort to recover from right-triceps tendinitis that has kept him on the shelf since mid-to-late May.
While down in the minors, the Chicago Cubs pitcher made a nice gesture by footing the bill for a steak and lobster dinner for not only the South Bend Cubs — Chicago’s Class A outfit — but also the team’s opponent, the West Michigan Whitecaps.
Class act Darvish bought Ruth’s Chris steak and lobster spread for both his South Bend teammates and West Michigan.
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) June 25, 2018
It is commonplace for multi-millionaire big-leaguers to share the wealth with their less-well-compensated minor-league teammates while down in the farm system. So, Darvish is simply following tradition here. But that does not take away from the generosity of the gesture, especially given Darvish treated the team’s opponent as well to a nice dinner spread.
Meanwhile, Darvish’s time on the mound on Monday was encouraging but yielded mixed results. Darvish threw 57 pitches — 41 for strikes — with five strikeouts and no walks while allowing one run.
“I was going for four innings, and I was able to pitch through five,” Darvish said through an interpreter, via the Chicago Sun-Times. “So I’ll give myself a 12 out of 10.”
Yu Darvish said he still does not feel 100 percent in triceps area . He will duscuss his next course of action after flying to LA tomorrow .
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) June 26, 2018
‘‘I want to come back as soon as possible and help out the team,’’ Darvish said. ‘‘I obviously want the team to win. Then again, my body has to feel right and healthy. So in that sense, there’s nothing I can do right now.’’
Suffice to say, given Darvish’s comments, his minor-league teammates — not to mention possibly an upcoming opponent — might be treated to another nice dinner given the pitcher may not be quite ready for his major-league return.