Padres News: Yu Darvish Reveals San Diego Fans Helped Push Him to Sign Extension

San Diego’s ace says fans were a huge reason for his extension

Some big news came out of San Diego on Thursday as Padres ace Yu Darvish signed an extension with the team worth six years, a $108 million extension. 

This will take Darvish into his 42-year-old season, and even though a deal like this may not seem like it will age well, Darvish is coming off one of his better seasons as a pro. 

The righty ace sat down with 97.3 The Fan and iterated that the fans were a huge reason for Yu to sign the extension.

Yu Darvish talks to @SammyLev about the Padres' fan support playing a role in his decision to stay in San Diego, through interpreter Shingo Horie: pic.twitter.com/hMXkQjddZs

— 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) February 10, 2023

The deal will keep Yu in San Diego through the 2028 season. The Japanese pitcher will be getting $90 million with the extension on top of the $18 million he’ll get in 2023.

Darvish had his best season as a Padre in 2022, guiding them to their first NLCS appearance in 24 years, and had a career-high WHIP of 0.95 in 30 starts.

The 36-year-old tied his career-high in wins by going 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 194.2 innings pitched.

It’s fun when your team is winning, and it showed among the Padres faithful. The energy in the playoffs was through the roof at Petco Park, and that was one of the big reasons why the Padres were among the final four.

This puts the Padres rotation in a great position for the coming season and will be one of the best in the big leagues.