Cubs News: Yu Darvish (almost) retires, Craig Kimbrel finds a new home

The Super Bowl matchup is set. The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will square off in two weeks' time - and, I'll be honest. I can't say I lost too much sleep watching the Rams lose after they knocked the Bears out last weekend at Soldier Field. And, really, what this means to me is there's just one more football game: then it's baseball season.

This year, the lull of spring training will be buoyed by the World Baseball Classic - which will include a number of Chicago Cubs players including, as we learned early Monday, outfielder Seiya Suzuki. The Chicago outfielder missed the 2023 WBC due to an oblique injury, so it's exciting to see him join Team Japan this time around.

Suzuki is coming off his best year as a big-leaguer, a 32-homer, 103-RBI campaign in which he also set a career-high in games played with 151. Staying healthy will be important for him in 2026 as he returns to full-time duties in the outfield after spending a large chunk of last year as the team's primary DH.

Cubs News: 2 former Cubs pitchers make headlines over the weekend

The show must go on. At least, we'll see if it goes on - but there's at least a chance we'll see Craig Kimbrel pitch a 17th MLB season after he signed a minor-league deal with the New York Mets over the weekend.

Kimbrel, who turns 38 in May, is infamous in Cubs lore for his up-and-down run with the team from 2019-2021. Although he returned to form by the final year with the club, his first two seasons were disastrous: 41 appearances, a 6.29 FIP and 1.528 WHIP. Long balls were a major issue and he looked like anything but a potential Hall of Fame closer.

Last year, he turned back the clock late in the year with the Astros, punching out 16 in 11 innings of work, and is three years removed from an All-Star showing with the Phillies. If he cracks the big-league roster in Queens, it'll mark his tenth MLB organization, a list that already includes the Cubs, Braves, Red Sox, Dodgers, Phillies, Orioles, Padres, White Sox and Astros.

One of Kimbrel's former Cubs teammates, Yu Darvish, was front-and-center this weekend, as well, after he had to put out a statement shutting down a report from Padres beat writer Kevin Acee saying the right-hander had decided to retire. Retirement remains a very real possibility for Darvish, who turns 40 in August, as he continues recovering from having an internal brace procedure on his right elbow.

Darvish, like Kimbrel, started his Cubs career on the wrong foot, making only eight starts before hitting the IL with a season-ending injury. But with time, he settled in, and wound up finishing as the NL Cy Young runner-up in the shortened 2020 season - only for Chicago to move him to San Diego in a salary dump that winter.

That trade netted Owen Caissie, who was flipped to Miami this winter in the Edward Cabrera deal, so Darvish's impact on the organization will still be felt in 2026 - more than five years after he threw his last pitch for the team. If this does, indeed, wind up being the end of the line, it'll wrap up a career that spans more than two decades, dating back to his early years pitching in Japan.

We wish him all the best in whatever decision he decides is best for himself and his family.