Yu Darvish Says He Met with Cubs Amid Twins Rumors

Free-agent starting pitcher Yu Darvish confirmed he met with the Chicago Cubs on Monday:

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times provided the translation to the tweet, noting Darvish said he met with the Cubs and didn't use an interpreter for the 3.5-hour meeting in an effort to improve his English.

Darvish's meeting comes on the same day Minnesota Twins general manager Thad Levine and manager Paul Molitor confirmed the team was interested in signing Darvish, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com.

Bollinger noted Levine was the assistant general manager for the Texas Rangers when Darvish signed with the American League West team in 2012, so the Cubs are fighting against familiarity if it comes down to those two.

That Chicago is pursuing one of the premier free-agent pitchers this offseason is no surprise given its situation. Jake Arrieta and John Lackey are both free agents and made up 40 percent of the team's starting rotation the last two seasons, so replacement arms are necessary.

The team already missed out on Shohei Ohtani—who signed with the Los Angeles Angels—but Darvish would represent a significant addition as it looks to defend its National League Central title in 2018.

Darvish is a four-time All-Star and helped the Los Angeles Dodgers reach the World Series (and beat the Cubs in the National League Championship Series) in 2017. He finished with a 3.86 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 209 strikeouts in 186.2 combined innings for the Dodgers and Rangers in 2017.

He has posted a sub-4.00 ERA every year of his major league career and finished with more than 200 strikeouts in three of his five seasons.

A rotation featuring Darvish, Jon Lester, Jose Quintana and Kyle Hendricks would cement the Cubs as part of the short list of World Series contenders, especially with an offense featuring the likes of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Willson Contreras.