SAN DIEGO – When the final pieces fell on December 29 on a seven-player trailer that Yu Darvish and Victor Caratini sent to San Diego, it was an emphatic statement from Padres general manager AJ Preller.
He got all the left bait Blake Snell – earlier that day. But Preller was not done. He wanted more high-level talent for his rotation, and he wanted depth behind the bar. That’s why Preller is sending five players to the Cubs for Darvish and Caratini in a deal that has sent shock waves throughout the sport.
At the time, the Padres probably only envisioned the nights.
Darvish dominated over six overs, allowing just one run on three hits when the Padres beat the Giants 3-1 on Tuesday night at Petco Park – also a major win, with San Diego losing in succession and an injury to Fernando. Tatis Jr. Caratini, Darvish’s favorite teammate, held back the effort with ease, as Darvish mixed eight different stands to knock out seven giants before being removed after 89 spots.
Then – and perhaps the Padres were not proposing this part – Caratini won the match with his bat.
San Diego’s latest catcher raised a bilingual home run just inside the dirty pole on the right field, placing the Padres at the top with two. He steps with his left foot on the home plate and pulls back into first base, where he makes sure Darvish watches.
“Every time he makes a ride home, he comes with me with that grin,” Darvish joked afterwards. “I do not really like it. … But it was good for the team, so I think that makes it OK. ”
This is the playful nature of the friendship that Darvish and Caratini built during their years working together in Chicago. That has not changed since they arrived in San Diego.
Asked about Darvish’s two 100 mph lineouts as a hitter on Tuesday night, Caratini (with the straight straight faces) said: ‘I learned a lot because he’s a really bad hitter. A really bad hits. ”
Jabs and barbs aside, Darvish and Caratini click clearly. Caratini started stopping 28 consecutive Darvish matches, and he mastered the signs for all 11 Darvish stands. They combined a 2.87 era as a battery, and Caratini was behind the court last season when Darvish made a serious onslaught on the National League Cy Young Award and finished second.
“They’re both on the same page and they both have a lot of trust in each other,” said manager Jayce Tingler. “They understand their game plan and think together.”
Caratini also attributed his work at Darvish for making him a more rounded catcher.
“Being behind the board for the past few years has helped me a lot,” Caratini said. ‘I need to know how his stands move. I need to know how each one moves. I need to know how he’s going to throw it.
‘Each of the stands is good enough to get someone out. So if he wants to throw it differently to different people, I have to do it on top of that. It was a great experience for me, and it really helped me. ”
Tuesday was something of a declarative victory for the Padres. No, they do not have Tatis, and no, they do not know if they will get him back. (Although they received positive news on Tuesday afternoon with the message that he is not on his way to surgery.) It is still arguably one of the sport’s most talented rosters – even without its most electrifying presence.
In 2019, when the Padres Tatis lost for the season due to a back ailment, they scrambled and lost 29 of 44 to finish the season in last place in the NL West. Right-back Wil Myers quickly offered a reminder on Tuesday:
“This is not the 2019 team,” he said. “This is the 2021 team that is very good.”
At the end of December – with two blockbusters within a few hours – Preller made absolutely sure of that.