Charles LeClaire - USA Today Sports
Charles LeClaire - USA Today Sports

Cubs News: Lester on Darvish: "He cares almost to a fault"


by - Senior Editor -

Veteran pitcher Jon Lester has been around the block and knows the pressures of signing a big-time contract ($155 million with Cubs) like teammate Yu Darvish.

Darvish signed a six-year, $126 million contract with the Cubs this offseason but has not had much success this season with a 4.95 ERA in eight starts and can't stay healthy as he has already been on the disabled list twice.

Lester was on Inside the Clubhouse on 670 The Score on Saturday and talked about Darvish's hard-working nature and some insight on his personality.

Yu, he works his butt off every day," Lester said. "I know that is a cliche answer whenever when you talk about a teammate. Yu really does work hard, and he cares almost to a fault. He might care too much. The big thing when you come to a new team, you want to make sure your teammates like you. You want to make sure you fit in. You want to know you' re not screwing anything up. You don't want to mess up the mojo or whatever. When that is your main focus, you are focused on all the wrong things. You need to go out and be who you are."

Lester knows that there is a lot of outside pressure for Darvish to play well to show that he is worth the hefty contract.

"With the language and cultural stuff going on, he does a really good job of trying to communicate with everybody. I know it's still difficult for him. This has been a grace period. It has been unfortunate that he got sick and now the triceps thing, which you have to be careful about. You know that injury is close to the elbow. That has all put him behind the eight-ball a little bit. There is always going to be pressure from the fans and media. When you start to put too much pressure on yourself, things can really go south."

Hopefully, the Cubs will take their time with Darvish's injury and rehab as swingman Mike Montgomery has done a wonderful job in his last two starts.

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