Yu Darvish 'leaning towards' voiding Padres contract
Sorting through the BS on the Darvish "retirement", a not-sexy Super Bowl matchup, Clippers are fueled by silly social media jokes, Las Cuatro Milpas is back from the dead, and more!
Good morning, y’all. I didn’t write about the Yu Darvish news over the weekend because I was worried about, well, what happened.
Kevin Acee and the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Yu Darvish was retiring. I still have their email from the announcement:
At the time, I wondered openly on Bluesky (the only decent social media site left) about what led to this….
Yu Darvish is heading into a season in which he will get paid his normal salary ($15 million) to rehab from elbow surgery. That’s it! It would be a crazy time for him to walk away from the deal unless he had made up his mind about retiring, which is something he has said all along he would only do once he had completed rehab and tested the elbow out.
So, of course, then the clarifications came.
The UT’s article changed its headline, and I believe some of the wording in the article itself, to reflect the new reality. It is now titled “Padres pitcher Yu Darvish poised to walk away from his contract”, which…again….why would he do that?
He then took to social media himself to offer some clarity, tweeting in English (rare for him) about the situation:
Sounds like nothing has changed from his side. This is not a retirement. He will decide that once his elbow has been rehabbed and tested out. This is the Padres buying him out of his contract.
Sounds to me like he’s getting pressure from someone at the team, someone who has realized that the team is out of money and still needs more players for the 2026 season, to get some of his money off the books. The only way to do that would be to offer him some sort of buyout from the $43 million he is still owed over the next three years.
This is the type of broke team behavior we used to see from the Padres before Peter Seidler became the owner of the organization. It appears to be back now.
And Kevin Acee needs to be criticized here from publishing a breaking news story from the team’s perspective that was immediately rejected by Darvish and Darvish’s manager. To not even check with them shows you who that article was for.
Onto the links.
San Diego Padres
Padres great Randy Jones celebrated for his ‘spirit,’ ability to make everyone ‘feel special’ - San Diego Union-Tribune
Randy Jones was well known for working rapidly on the mound for the Padres, most notably against the Philadelphia Phillies and Jim Kaat in a 1977 game that took just 89 minutes to complete.
So Jones would have appreciated the brisk pace Saturday at Petco Park for the pitcher’s celebration of life, which clocked in at 77 minutes.
“We could spend hours reminiscing about stories of his life, his time in baseball, his charity work, his years within the Padres organization,” son-in-law Greg Fox said on behalf of the Jones family. “But I can hear him right now saying, ‘C’mon, Meat, get this over with.’ ”
Pressure Is Building With Manny Machado Set for Massive Raise In 2027 - Sports Illustrated
As part of the restructured deal, his salary will rise from $25 million in 2026 to nearly $40 million per year for the remainder of the contract. Machado has consistently performed in line with his salary, but a $15 million annual increase will bring larger expectations going forward.
With more money set to hit the books next season, it would be reasonable to expect the Padres to take advantage of their final year of relative flexibility with short-term additions. Instead, this offseason has gone in the opposite direction.
Padres Sign Samad Taylor To Minors Contract - MLB Trade Rumors
Taylor has less than a year of big-league service time and is out of minor-league options. For the Padres, there’s no harm in keeping him in Triple-A as a depth piece. The club has Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, and Jake Cronenworth entrenched at three infield spots. Newcomer Sung Mun Song is slated for time around the infield and potentially the outfield, though he could start the year on the injured list following an oblique injury. An infielder by trade, Taylor spent 1,136 innings in the outfield in the minors from 2023-25 and profiles as a utility depth piece.
NFL Playoffs
How the Patriots, Seahawks won NFL conference title games - ESPN
Sam Darnold finally came through. Regardless of what happens in the Super Bowl, Darnold has officially completed the rewrite of his career and gone from disappointing draft pick and journeyman to a meaningful part of a great team. And now, after definitively conquering a Rams team that seemed to have carved out a home in Darnold’s head, he’s one win away from a Super Bowl title nobody could have expected.
SDSU Aztecs / UCSD Tritons / USD Toreros
San Diego State wins at UNLV to bounce back from first Mountain West Conference loss - Sports Illustrated
The San Diego State Aztecs made their final regular-season appearance at Thomas & Mack Center a winning one.
Miles Byrd scored 23 points on near-perfect shooting and the Aztecs beat the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels 82-71 on Saturday to remain atop the Mountain West Conference standings.
Toreros Out-Shot Saturday Night in the Slim Gym - USD Toreros
Stark contrasts in shooting splits proved a big difference in an 85-73 loss to Santa Clara on Saturday night inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The WCC's second-place Broncos, now 8-1 in conference play, shot lights out from start to finish, 63.5% from the field to San Diego's mere 39.4%. A game after hitting a program-best 15 3-pointers, the Toreros made a season-low just three in 23 attempts against Santa Clara.
Tritons Hand Irvine First Conference Loss - UCSD Tritons
UC San Diego women's basketball defeated UC Irvine, 68-66, on Saturday afternoon in Bren Events Center. The Tritons (13-6, 8-1 Big West) snapped a 16-game win streak for the Anteaters (17-3, 8-1 Big West) to remain tied for first place in the Big West. The game featured five ties and six lead changes, with UC San Diego capitalizing on 24 points off turnovers to secure the win.
Odds & Ends
#EatTheTweet: Clippers thump Nets, win 15th out of last 18 - Russo Writes
On Dec. 20, a mere hour before the Clippers and Lakers tipped off, as the Clippers languished with a 6-21 record, Robert Flom, who has tirelessly covered the Clippers for years and is presently the managing editor for 213 Hoops, tweeted the following: “If they go 15-3 in any stretch this season [I] will print and eat this tweet.”
Well, Rob, my good friend, get ready to put your tweet where your mouth is since Sunday’s win marked the team’s 15th win in their last 18 games.
“We gotta get him on camera then,” Tyronn Lue joked after being informed of the situation. “Where’s he at? We gotta get him on camera. Tell him to call in.”
The cardboard signs showcasing Flom’s tweet for the world to see were hoisted in the air during the game’s final minutes, serving as a cult-like call to arms that, even when things look their bleakest, fun can be right around the corner.
This is what sports are all about. We often forget that along the way.
Philip Rivers removes himself from Bills coaching consideration: Sources - The Athletic
“Those are all big ‘what ifs,’ but I do think, as humbly as I can say it, that I can coach at this level,” the elder Rivers said at the time. “I know enough about the game, about the guys from a leadership standpoint, camaraderie, all that comes with it.
“I’m looking forward to going back home and getting back with those guys, getting back with my family. Gunner’s senior season is coming up, and we’ve been to back-to-back semifinals, and hopefully we can get over the hump this year. So, I don’t have any of those NFL things on my radar, but certainly nothing that I would shut down before it even became a possibility.”
Chris Finch, Steve Kerr, Steph Curry address unrest in Minnesota in wake of shooting - The Athletic
“People are so angry. There should be an appeal to our better angels to look after one another, and to recognize what’s happening,” Kerr said. “We’re being divided by media for profit, by misinformation. There’s so much out there that is really difficult for all of us to sort of reconcile. And so, in times like these, you have to lean on values and who you are and who you want to be.”
Finch has coached the Timberwolves for 5 1/2 seasons. His connection to the city was underscored by the emotion in his voice.
“I’m more than a resident. This is my home,” Finch said. “I love living here. I love being a part of this community. I’ve been embraced from Day 1. People have been amazing. It’s sad to watch what is happening. On the human level, certainly as somebody who takes great pride in being here, I know a lot of our players feel the same. They all love being here, and it’s just hard to watch what we’re going through.”
Shuttered Las Cuatro Milpas makes plans to reopen in new location - San Diego Union-Tribune
More than a month after the storied Las Cuatro Milpas closed its doors in Barrio Logan, the owners are making plans to relocate their lines-out-the-door restaurant.
In a surprise announcement Thursday on Instagram, the family-owned restaurant said it is “working diligently behind the scenes to relocate and reopen our doors so we can continue doing what we love most: feeding our community with the food and care you know and trust.”
In a phone interview Friday morning, restaurant co-owner Margarita Hernandez confirmed that the family ownership had found a location in Barrio Logan that they hope to fix up soon so they can reopen in about a month. She said she wasn’t certain if the lease papers had been signed yet.
President Trump says he won’t attend Super Bowl, criticizes Bad Bunny and Green Day - The Athletic
President Donald Trump revealed in an interview with the New York Post that he will not be attending Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, Calif.
“It’s just too far away,” Trump said. “I would. I’ve (gotten) great hands (at) the Super Bowl. They like me.”
Bad Bunny and Green Day are both scheduled to perform at the event. They have been vocal critics of Trump and his administration.
“I’m anti-them,” Trump said. “I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.”
Less than three weeks in, it’s plain that Balboa parking fee is backfiring - San Diego Union-Tribune
For months, critics warned the plan would drastically limit visits by the many San Diegans who struggle with the cost of living. It’s already clear that is happening. Using data from January 2025 as a baseline, Balboa Park museums saw a 20% to more than 50% decline in visitors depending on the day and venue.
“If the minimum projected decline of 20% is maintained and applied across all museums, the total annual revenue loss would be a staggering $20-$30 million,” Jessica Hanson York, president of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, wrote in a letter to Gloria and the City Council. The partnership said that unless the fees were rescinded or reduced, they were sure to lead to layoffs and reduced exhibitions.
A blame game has already broken out. Councilmembers Sean Elo-Rivera and Kent Lee — who joined Joe LaCava, Jennifer Campbell, Marni von Wilpert and Henry Foster in a 6-2 vote to approve the fees on Sept. 15 — issued a memo Jan. 6 that decried the “haphazard” way the program was being implemented by Gloria. But even if the rollout was flawless, the fees would still have caused visitors to stay home. It’s possible that the fee program could cost the city so much in lost revenue due to lost visits that it is a net financial negative.
Life Time debuts latest ‘athletic country club’ in San Diego suburb with more on the way - CoStar
Expanding fitness chain Life Time chose the fast-growing San Diego suburb of Chula Vista for its latest complex, part of a larger push by the company based near Minneapolis to increase nationally as retail centers welcome gyms as gathering places.
In competing against several global rivals, the company has a development pipeline for what it describes as resort-style “athletic country clubs” in more California locations and is scouting expansion sites in regions such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, Chicago and New York.
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