Cubs News: Getting to know the guys coming back in the Yu Darvish trade

Zach Davies will join the team he has the most career starts against, the Cubs.

In all these Darvish-Padres rumors, it was reported the Cubs were trying to bring in one or two MLB-ready studs along with prospects from San Diego. Instead, Zach Davies is the lone player with big league experience coming to Chicago, so depending on your definition of “stud” he may, or may not be that guy.

Cubs fans will remember Davies from his five seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers where he pitched against Chicago in 19 career games. Last season, the soft-tosser posted a 2.73 ERA with a 1.067 WHIP in 12 starts.

Davies is going to be far from the hard-thrower that Darvish was for the Cubs. The right-hander is more of a Kyle Hendricks-type of a pitcher, mixing his soft offspeed pitches with a deceptive low high-80s cut fastball that will look low-90s at times.

After the trade, the Cubs 2021 starting rotation will likely consist of some form of the following players:

• RHP Kyle Hendricks
• RHP Zach Davies
• RHP Alec Mills
• RHP Adbert Alzolay
• RHP Tyson Miller

Whether or not Hoyer and the Cubs plan on bringing in another arm while some of those pitchers continue to develop remains to be seen.

The good news is Davies is certainly no scrub, holding a career 2.5 K/BB ratio and lots of familiarity with the NL Central Division. He’s only 27 years old so there is still some room to grow and he gets to learn a lot to learn from his new teammate, “The Professor”.

The downside here? Davies is passing through arbitration one last time this winter and is due to hit free agency at the conclusion of the 2021 campaign. So the one big league-ready piece Chicago netted in the deal could walk after one year.