Former Padres All-Star Believes Yu Darvish’s Injury is Worse Than Team is Letting On

Yu Darvish has spent the entire regular season on the injured list with inflammation in his right elbow. The veteran has no set timetable to return after experiencing tightness in his first and only rehab start with Triple-A El Paso earlier this month.

It's the second straight season in which Darvish's timetable to return from an injury has been complicated by an unexpected development. Last year, his return from a groin strain was stalled by a family matter.

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Darvish played catch this week, and told Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune that his elbow was "getting better every day."

Former Padres closer Heath Bell, for one, is skeptical.

Yu Darvish felt elbow tightness after his rehab start two weeks ago and returned to San Diego.

He played catch Monday, but he has no timetable to return.@HeathBell21's read on the situation?

"There's something more going on."

FULL EPISODE: https://t.co/IFaiVlP1Bp pic.twitter.com/zL2sSErwgZ
— Kyle Glaser (@KyleAGlaser) May 30, 2025

In a new segment with Kyle Glaser on Friars Territory, the three-time All-Star expressed pessimism about Darvish's return from his latest injury.

"When you hear a pitcher has soreness after a rehab start and there's no set date to return," Glaser asked, "what does that mean to you?"

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"Somebody's lying to me," Bell deadpanned. "That's basically what it comes down to."

Bell pointed out that Darvish made two Cactus League starts for the Padres in spring training before he was shut down because of the injury. Then, after beginning the season on the injured list, he was cleared to begin a rehab assignment only to be shut down again.

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"Huh?" Bell said. "There's something going on that maybe nobody wants to tell us. Maybe there's a slight tear that nobody wants to talk about. ... I don't know."

Inflammation in the elbow can be both a symptom and a cause of an injury. If it's a symptom of something more serious going on in Darvish's elbow, neither he nor any team personnel have confirmed as much publicly.

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But, as Bell went on to say, it's not the only suspicious injury to a Padres pitcher this month.

"(Michael) King slept on (his shoulder) wrong — there was something going on," Bell said. "You don't go on an injury (list) because you slept on something wrong. You kind of maybe miss a start, or whatnot, because your neck tightened up or your back tightened up. You get a chiropractor, boom, you're back in fine. Get the trainers to work on you.

"Either the trainers aren't paying attention and they're not preventing injuries, or everybody's just lying to the press."

For more Padres news, head over to Padres on SI.