“And when you have a guy that signs an enormous contract and he’s sitting down, and you walk in the training room, and he’s got two trainers working on him, you go into the video room and you have a guy looking at video … he should be in Arizona somewhere getting treated. But don’t get in the way of 25 players going after one mission: to win a ball game.”
He went on to question Darvish’s commitment when struggling Cubs starter Tyler Chatwood was brought up.
“He gets beat down but gets back up,” Rodriguez said of Chatwood, who has a league-leading 85 walks in 94 innings. “He takes a punch and gets back up. And you’ll never see players complain or whine about a guy like that. They actually back him. So this is an issue that, if you’re Cubs Nation, you have to watch the Yu Darvish development because it’s not good inside that clubhouse right now.”
After signing a six-year, $126 million deal with the Cubs, the 31-year-old Darvish has been a disappointment. He is 1-3 with a 4.95 ERA in eight starts and has been on the disabled list twice. The latest stint has kept him out with triceps tendinitis since the end of May.
Still, Cubs manager Joe Maddon refuted the notion that Darvish has become a distraction or is a source of clubhouse resentment.
“I totally disagree with that,” Maddon said when told of Rodriguez’s comments after Sunday’s game. “Everyone knows what’s going on. We know there is an injury there. We support his recovery. Everybody in there knows and everyone in the coaches’ room knows also, throughout the organization. It’s unfortunate that it was relayed that way, but it’s not true.”
Darvish’s agent, Joel Wolfe, took it a step further.
“I think it was classless and bordered on unprofessional to take a little nugget of somewhat exaggerated information from one person that maybe he had history with and turning that into a spokesman for the entire team,” Wolfe told The Athletic.
“Joe Maddon cleared that up afterward. [A-Rod’s] attacking a player who is injured and on the disabled list, which is difficult for any player, especially one who has a big contract and is in his first year [with a new team]. Imagine how difficult it is for Darvish. But then also attacking him for staying with the team?
“During A-Rod’s absurd comments, the video shows that Darvish was right there on the top step in the dugout cheering on his teammates, which is what you want from somebody like that. He wasn’t hiding out in Mesa at the spring-training complex or back home like A-Rod was when he was suspended.”
Darvish has slowly started to throw again as he works his way back from this latest setback. With uncertainty surrounding his status, though, the Cubs went out and traded for left-hander Cole Hamels. He’ll make his Cubs debut Wednesday, with Chatwood heading to the bullpen.
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