Late Monday, the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs reached a deal to send RHP Yu Darvish and C Victor Caratini to the Padres in exchange for Zach Davies, Reginald Preciado, Owen Caissie, Yeison Santana, and Ismael Mena.
Darvish, who signed a six-year, $126 million deal in 2018, had a 3.60 ERA, 1.106 WHIP with 15 wins verses 14 losses in Chicago. In 2020, Darvish finished second to Trevor Bauer in the NL Cy Young race.
Caratini has been Darvish’s personal catcher, and the two have built a strong relationship together. Darvish and Caratini clicked when they, and Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy came to the conclusion that it was best to allow Yu to be Yu on the mound. The biggest change was, allowing him to control his tempo.
From that point, Darvish has been one of, if not the most dominant starter in the National League, owning a 2.40 ERA, 2.54 FIP, 2.59 xFIP, 12.04 K/9, and had 211 Ks in 159 2/3 IP.
Davies has been a decent MLB pitcher. Carries an ERA under 4.00, is reliable enough to eat 150+ innings every year, and owns a 2.6 BB/9. He isn’t going to win a Cy Young, or even get a vote, but he will eat innings and provide the seemingly broke Cubs some salary relief.
Owen Caissie is the Padres 13th rated prospect. He’s a young dude (18) and has some growing and seasoning to do. His bat translates as a huge power lefty bat. Sitting at 6-4, Caissie seems to be a high-ceiling player. His height and bat remind me of an Adam Dunn-like player. His power isn’t as big as Dunn’s is, and he likely has better bat-to-ball skills, but he appears to be a corner-OF guy that will mash.
Reginald Preciado, a 17-year-old SS will also be in the mix. He is the team’s #11 prospect and is another player with a 6-4 frame, but this time a switch-hitter. He was rated as the 22nd highest international free agent in 2020, and cost the Padres $1.3 million in bonus pool money. He has a ton of skills that the Padres had hoped would develop, and very likely will. One reason to be in on this kid, although very young, he has a very high baseball-IQ.
Yeison Santana is another young shortstop that needs some time to develop. Per his scouting report, offensively, Santana has put up good numbers as an 18-year-old against older competition; he swings with authority and battles to stay alive with two strikes.
Ismael Mena is the 15th rated prospect in the Padres system. An outfielder with comps to Gregory Polanco. One thing I liked reading about him is, while no prospect is guaranteed, his athleticism and defensive abilities alone make him safer than your typical international signee. He is a 6-3 lefty/lefty that scouts drool over. A five-tool like player, with a 70 run tool, and high power probability. Scouts already boast about his strong command of the strikezone, something that you don’t often see from a powerful, young, Dominican bat. The bad, they don’t expect him to sniff the bigs until at least 2024.
