Darvish refutes report that claims he's retiring

San Diego Padres right-hander Yu Darvish, who won't pitch in 2026 while recovering from elbow surgery, refuted a report that claimed he's decided to retire.

Earlier Saturday, Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Darvish had informed the Padres of his plan to walk away from baseball. While the 39-year-old did acknowledge in a post on X that he's considering "voiding (my) contract" with the Padres, he insisted that no decision has been made.

"Right now, I am fully focused on my rehab for my elbow, and if I get to a point where I can throw again, I will start from scratch again to compete," Darvish wrote. "If once I get to that point I feel I can't do that, I will announce my retirement."

"Yu has not made a final decision yet. This is a complicated matter we are still working through," Darvish's agent, Joel Wolfe, added in a statement obtained by Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

Darvish is under contract with the Padres through 2028. If he were to walk away now, he'd forfeit the $43 million left on his deal, barring a negotiated buyout settlement with the team.

Those negotiations may already be underway, as people involved in the process told Acee that details regarding a buyout amount still need to be worked out. Darvish may indeed be open to giving up a large chunk of the contract, sources told Acee.

Darvish has made 31 starts for San Diego over the last two seasons because of elbow problems and a personal issue in 2024. He missed the first three months of last season while recovering from elbow inflammation.

The 39-year-old made his 2025 debut in early July and posted a career-worst 5.38 ERA with 68 strikeouts and 14 homers allowed over 15 regular-season starts. He started Game 3 of San Diego's wild-card series but lasted just one inning and took the loss in what may have been his final major-league appearance. A few weeks later, he underwent internal brace surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament, ending his 2026 season before it started.

Darvish has compiled a 3.65 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and 2,075 strikeouts (placing 80th all time) across 297 big-league starts with the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, and Padres. He's a five-time All-Star and two-time Cy Young runner-up. He led the majors with 277 strikeouts in 2012.

Darvish is the only Japanese-born pitcher to record 2,000 strikeouts in the majors, and his 115 MLB wins are second only to Hideo Nomo among his countrymen. He and Nomo are the only pitchers with 3,000 combined strikeouts across MLB and Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball.