Just How Serious Is Yu Darvish's Injury?

Yesterday, the Chicago Cubs released some devastating news to their fans that the team's big free agent acquisition, Yu Darvish, is officially done for the season. His official 2018 stat line will look like this: 1-3, 2.50, 40 IP -- not exactly what we envisioned. Darvish last pitched three days ago during a rehab assignment in South Bend before leaving after only one inning of work due to pain in his elbow. He received an MRI two days later which revealed a stress-reaction bone bruise at the back of the elbow, along with triceps inflammation diagnosed in May. The results were enough for Cubs brass to pull the plug on Darvish in 2018. Look, I'm no doctor so I will not waste time in this article predicting what I think is wrong with Darvish as it relates to his injury. There are people a lot richer than I am who make good money dealing with all the intricacies of professional athletes injuries so I'll trust their judgement on whatever the outcome is. What I DO know is that if you're one of the jaggoffs who truly believes Darvish is faking an injury or that he's milking it because he can't pitch on the "big stage," please do us all a favor and go play in traffic. With that said, I do think it's fair to talk about the severity of the injury. If you recall, Darvish had Tommy John surgery in 2015 and even though that procedure has improved drastically in the past decade, it's always something that is in the back of your mind when it comes to a different injury in the pitching arm. Luckily for Darvish, the repaired UCL ligament was in tact and "doing well" according to Cubs President of Baseball Operations, Theo Epstein.  Hearing Theo say that the UCL is still in tact is obviously great news for Cubs fans. However, when you look back on this season as it related to Darvish's return to the Cubs, Cubs pitching coach Jim Hickey had a different (and completely wrong) perspective.

I get it. Hickey is NOT a doctor and was probably just answering questions in proper protocol or maybe he's just the most optimistic guy on the face of the Earth. However, you can't help but think about following the history of Hickey's swings and misses on Darvish. It went from a Darvish return before the All-Star break, to late July, to mid-August, and now it's a full return expected in 2019. What is the next step if Hickey is wrong about 2019? Miss all of 2019? Miss all of 2020? Never pitch again? I don't think I'd go as far to say that this injury is the end of Darvish's career but at least one Cubs broadcaster does. https://www.instagram.com/p/BmxDnEBBxfr/?taken-by=chicagocubsnation For the record, I like David Kaplan but I also understand part of his shtick is saying things like this to stir debate. Unless Kaplan knows something we don't (which is entirely possible) I think extended rest for the stress fracture and proper rehab will bring back a rejuvenated Darvish in 2019. I'm probably the most optimistic Cubs fan you'll find but this Darvish injury even has my half-glass full outlook wondering whether or not this injury is more serious than we thought.