At 12:50 p.m. Monday, Yu Darvish posted a selfie to his Twitter account. In the background was his locker in the Texas Rangers’ clubhouse. The clear implication was that Darvish was still under contract to the Rangers. Ten minutes later, he was not.
The Dodgers acquired Darvish, a four-time All-Star, for a package of three prospects headlined by Triple-A second baseman Willie Calhoun.
In separate deals the Dodgers also acquired two left-handed relievers, Tony Watson from the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tony Cingrani from the Cincinnati Reds, without subtracting a player from their major league roster.
Darvish, 30, is a free agent at the end of this season. He is 6-9 with a 4.01 earned-run average this year, his sixth since jumping to the major leagues from Japan. Darvish is 52-39 with a 3.42 ERA in his career with Texas. He missed all of 2015 recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Darvish immediately provides the Dodgers with a right-handed complement to Clayton Kershaw, which has been missing since Zack Greinke left as a free agent after the 2015 season. In exchange, the Dodgers sent three minor leaguers — Calhoun, infielder Brendon Davis and A.J. Alexy — to the Rangers, who had heavy interest in several of the Dodgers’ top prospects.
In the end, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was able to hold onto the consensus best pitcher (Walker Buehler) and best hitter (outfielder Alex Verdugo) in the Dodgers’ system. The Rangers had scouted both in the last week.
Watson, 32, was 5-3 with a 3.66 ERA in 47 appearances out of the Pirates bullpen. He has 25 saves the last two seasons but will slot into a set-up role in Los Angeles. The Dodgers sent minor league infielder Oneil Cruz and pitcher Angel German to Pittsburgh to complete the trade.
Cingrani, 28, had a 5.40 ERA in 25 appearances out of the Reds bullpen. Cincinnati received outfielder Scott Van Slyke and minor league catcher Hendrik Clementina. He is also a free agent at the end of the season.
The day began with one left-handed reliever leaving the board when the Toronto Blue Jays traded Francisco Liriano to the Houston Astros. Liriano was a member of the Blue Jays’ rotation, where he had a 5.88 ERA in 18 starts. His extreme splits — left-handers had a .615 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) against him, righties .880 — made him a better fit as a specialized reliever on the Astros’ deep pitching staff.
Just before noon, multiple reports indicated that a coveted starting pitcher had been traded. The Oakland A’s sent right-hander Sonny Gray to the New York Yankees for three minor league prospects. Gray, who is under team control for three more seasons, had a 3.43 ERA in 16 starts.
Some of the biggest names stayed put. The San Diego Padres held onto left-handed reliever Brad Hand. Zach Britton remained a Baltimore Oriole, and Justin Verlander remained a Detroit Tiger.