SAN DIEGO -- Padres right-hander Yu Darvish was placed on the restricted list Wednesday as the team finalized its 26-man roster ahead of Thursday’s season opener against the Tigers at Petco Park.
The 39-year-old Darvish is currently recovering from right elbow surgery which will force him to miss the 2026 season. He has three years remaining on his contract, though it remains unclear whether he will attempt a full-fledged comeback from that surgery.
For now at least, Darvish is not set to retire. According to general manager A.J. Preller, Darvish's preference is to rehab the injury on his own time, away from the team, and reassess his options at a later date, likely after the season.
Players on the restricted list remain under contractual control of the big league club they play for. But they are no longer with the club, and they are no longer mandated to receive compensation. The reasons players can be placed on the restricted list are numerous and subject to MLB’s approval.
Darvish could've remained with the team and rehabbed his injury while collecting his full salary for the season and, presumably, landing on the 60-day IL. But Preller said it was Darvish's preference to spend more time away from the team and with his family while rehabbing the injury himself.
"For us, it was just having everybody on the same page," Preller said. "This is what Yu Darvish is thinking. This is what the team is thinking. This is the proper place to put him. I think we checked all those boxes."
Essentially, Darvish is no longer with the Padres (though he still has his usual corner locker in the Petco Park clubhouse). His absence freed up a 40-man roster spot -- which the Padres used to add Ty France and Walker Buehler to their roster. (They entered the week with 39 places filled on their 40-man roster.)
It also might free up some significant payroll space, with Darvish slated to make $15 million in 2026. But Preller noted that the move would not change the Padres' player-acquisition process. They'd been expecting a result similar to this one for most of the winter.
"This is something we've been planning for and working toward throughout the whole offseason," Preller said. "It's not a surprise. I think, ultimately, it's just figuring out exactly what he wanted to do and what list was the right list to put him on."
Darvish also agreed to be placed on the restricted list in 2024, while he dealt with what the team described as “a personal matter involving his family.” Darvish stepped away from the team for a few months and was reinstated toward the end of the season.
The circumstances are obviously different this time around, with Darvish set to miss the season anyway due to elbow surgery. He underwent UCL repair with an internal brace procedure on his right elbow in October. In January, after a report that he would retire, Darvish took to social media to refute the report.
"I will not be announcing my retirement yet," Darvish posted. "Right now, I am fully focused on my rehab for my elbow, and if I get to a point where I can throw again, I will start from scratch again to compete. If once I get to that point I feel I can’t do that, I will announce my retirement."
Darvish, who spent the World Baseball Classic with Team Japan but briefly checked in at Padres camp this spring, does not appear to have reached that point. But whenever that time comes, he’ll be heralded as one of the best pitchers of his generation. Across 13 seasons with the Rangers, Dodgers, Cubs and Padres, he has gone 115-93 with a 3.65 ERA and 2,075 strikeouts. His 208 combined victories between MLB and Japan’s NPB are the most all-time.
It remains wholly unclear if Darvish will pitch again in the big leagues. Preller made a point to note that Wednesday's announcement changes nothing on that front.
"He's not saying that he's retiring," Preller said. "That's not where we're at. But for him, he's going to see how he comes back. He's coming back from a major surgery, a second surgery on the elbow. So I think he's realistic about where that leaves him. But Yu Darvish is a very special person, a very special player. He's very unique. The situation is unique."