Inside The Padres

Yu Darvish Addresses Padres Signing Yuli Gurriel After Racist Incident

Gabe Smallson|
Nov 1, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel (10) at bat against Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yu Darvish (21) in the first inning in game seven of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
Nov 1, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel (10) at bat against Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yu Darvish (21) in the first inning in game seven of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images | Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

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There is a little bit of history between the newest member of the San Diego Padres and veteran pitcher Yu Darvish.

After a frustrating offseason, fans have been rewarded for their patience with the emergence of many key signings since February began.

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A major veteran signing came Monday afternoon when two-time World Series champion Yuli Gurriel agreed to a minor league deal with the team.

The unfortunate history between Darvish and Gurriel occurred in 2017. Gurriel was on the Houston Astros at the time and Darvish was pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

During Game 3 of the World Series, Gurriel was seen making an offensive gesture after hitting a solo home run off Darvish and mouthing an insult in Spanish.

Gurriel pulled back his eyes with his fingers and mouthed the word "chinito" which means "little Chinese boy" in Spanish.

Darvish spoke on Gurriel after the game.

“No one is perfect,” Darvish said back in 2017. “That includes both you and I. What he (did) today isn’t right, but I believe we should put our effort into learning rather than to accuse him. If we can take something from this, this is a giant step for mankind. Since we are living in such a wonderful world, let’s stay positive and move forward instead of focusing on anger. I’m counting on everyone’s big love.”

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Darvish's grace was not just felt back in 2017, but also this offseason per a conversation with Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller. The veteran didn't want Gurriel's past mistakes to get in the way of the ball club.

“I don’t care,” Darvish said he told Preller of signing Gurriel. “If he signs, I don’t want you guys to think too much about it. I just want it to be like nothing happened before.”

Per the San Diego Union Tribune's Kevin Acee, Preller checked with Darvish three times before signing Gurriel this offseason.

Gurriel was suspended five games to start the 2018 season and also apologized after the game in 2017.

“In Cuba and in other places, we call all Asian people Chinese,” he said through a translator that night. “But I played in Japan and I know (that is) offensive, so I apologize for that. I didn’t want to offend anybody, I don’t want to offend him or anybody in Japan. I have a lot respect. I played in Japan.”

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

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Gabe Smallson
GABE SMALLSON

Gabe Smallson is a sportswriter based in Los Angeles. His focus is sports and entertainment content. Gabe has previously worked at DodgersNation and Newsweek. He graduated from San Francisco State University in 2020 and is a Masters Candidate at the University of Southern California. You can get in touch with Gabe by emailing gabe.smallson@lasportsreport.com. You can find him on X @gabesmallson

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