What the Cubs are seeing in Yu Darvish: ‘Almost a different person’ Yu Darvish sat down at a patio table with a small group of reporters on Friday afternoon, smiling and laughing and confirming that he would like to face the Rangers when the Cubs open the season in Texas. “I want to hit a couple guys,” Darvish said. “(Joey) Gallo and (Rougned) Odor.” Get your popcorn ready: Joey Gallo grew up in Las Vegas, taking hitting lessons from Kris Bryant’s dad, while Major League Baseball once suspended Rougned Odor for punching José Bautista in the face. We’ll let them know. “Thanks,” Darvish said. Darvish is doing interviews in English and firing off one-liners now that he doesn’t have to correct his translator. Manager Joe Maddon has noticed the smirk and the sly sense of humor more often. Teammates can see the sense of purpose as Darvish goes through his routine. So what? If Darvish doesn’t feel comfortable now, then he’s probably never going to fully embrace being a Cub. There’s no pressure in spring training. The adjustment period’s over after signing a six-year, $126 million contract. The franchise’s off-the-field issues shifted the focus away from Darvish at the beginning of camp. Maddon always backs his players in public and rarely criticizes them through the media, defusing potential controversies. Theo Epstein’s front office has poured so many resources into the organization’s pitching infrastructure, investing in analysts, technology and two other starters who will make at least $20 million this year. Beyond Jon Lester and Cole Hamels – who combined have earned four World Series rings and nine All-Star selections – Kyle Hendricks and José Quintana are durable, reliable pitchers who will make sure that Darvish doesn’t have to carry the entire rotation. “The future – nobody knows,” Darvish said. “I don’t want to think about the future. I just want to focus on today.” But there are legitimate reasons to be optimistic and not just write this all off as preseason hype in Arizona. We should take Darvish at his word when he exits a Cactus League game and says something like: “I feel like I’m smiling more than the last seven years.” Or: “That’s the best stuff in my life.” Darvish is a thoughtful, complex person, not a machine programmed to fire pitches and then spit out clichéd answers to the media. This is someone who has contemplated retirement and experienced the disappointment of losing two World Series games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017. Through a translator, Darvish even admitted feeling a sense of relief last August when he got diagnosed with a stress reaction in his right elbow, finally a confirmation that it wasn’t all in his head. “He’s been almost a different person this year,” Maddon said. “We all know him. He knows us better. Definitely the self-confidence level seems to be soaring a bit right now. I just think the familiarity with the whole group matters to him, plus he’s healthy. All those factors are pointing the needle in the right direction right now.” Maddon hasn’t revealed the rest of the team’s pitching plans beyond Lester on Opening Day in Texas. Six months after a Rangers physician did the debridement procedure on his elbow, Darvish cruised through four innings of Friday’s simulated game in Mesa. It started at 1:05 p.m. with roughly 30 people watching at Sloan Park. It was so quiet that you could hear Darvish grunting, David Ross’ chatter from the side and the popping sound of the ball hitting Willson Contreras’ glove. At least two Japanese photographers and a video camera tracked Darvish on a cool, windy afternoon. Darvish allowed one hit to a minor-league lineup and was hugging Contreras in the dugout by 2:10 p.m. “I don’t think he was uncomfortable necessarily last year,” Hendricks said. “But it’s just that process of getting to know everyone. You can definitely tell the difference this year, just the look in his eye, the determination in how he goes about his work. He’s just locked in on what he has to do. Last year, he was trying to figure out the system, trying to figure out a new team. It’s got to be tough for anybody coming into a new environment. “He knows he’s 100 percent entrenched with the team now.” Whether it was fatigue from pitching into November, anxiety after signing a big contract, or a precursor to the health issues that would ruin his first season in Chicago, at this time last year, Darvish said, “I didn’t feel any power in my body.” Darvish didn’t win his first game for the Cubs until May 20 – and didn’t throw another pitch for the team the rest of the season. The Cubs will need more than 40 innings out of Darvish if they’re going to advance to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. For a player of this magnitude, the body language and the interactions matter. Darvish has playfully called Hamels his “almost best friend” after their time together with the Rangers. Hamels understands being a first-round pick and a World Series MVP at the age of 24 and a face of the franchise for the Philadelphia Phillies. But Hamels acknowledged: “I would never know what it’ s like to be a prodigy and have a whole country follow you all the way to another country.” “That’s a lot of pressure, but he’s been able to combat that,” Hamels said. “When you sign that first big contract, that first year – and I was guilty of it myself – you want to prove to the world or prove to the team or the city why you got that contract. And you kind of overdo it. Now that it’s kind of out of the way, you’re going to see (Darvish) put up the good numbers that everybody was kind of expecting.” As Darvish finished another media session with nine Japanese reporters, a Guns N’ Roses song played on the sound system at the complex: “Welcome To The Jungle.” Darvish doesn’t want to look too far ahead, but he already knows what winning at Wrigley Field would sound like. “I don’t want ‘boo’ anymore, I want ‘Yu,’” Darvish said. “I want to show the fans and you guys (in the media) and teammates how good I am.” -- やっ..........！！！！！！止めろペイモンこの野郎～～～～～～っ 地狱でいきなり圣书なんえ 読み上げやがってえ~~~~~~~~~っ！！杀すえおっ！！ --

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