Yu Darvish has missed out on a lot since the season ended. He wasn't around when the Texas Rangers hired Jeff Banister as their new manager. He wasn't around when it was eventually decided that pitching coach Mike Maddux, whom Banister beat out for the manager's job, would stick around and remain in his position. Now, he's set for a return to the U.S. and to DFW, where he is set to arrive Thursday from Japan.
Darvish has meetings scheduled with several club officials, including one with his new manager, and he is also scheduled to undergo an MRI on his elbow, which was suffering from inflammation that caused him to be shut down for the final month and a half of the Rangers' train wreck of a season.
If the MRI on his elbow comes back without any issues, Darvish will begin his normal off-season throwing program on schedule soon.
Darvish finished the 2014 season with a 10-7 record and a 3.02 ERA with 182 strikeouts in just 144 1/3 innings. He is without question the Rangers' ace, and without question one of a handful of true aces in all of baseball, but the Rangers hope he can have his first DL-free season in 2015.
