ST. LOUIS — Cubs starter Yu Darvish said he overcame pain near his elbow early in a bullpen session Friday at Busch Stadium but adjusted his delivery and felt fine the rest of the session and while playing catch afterward.
Darvish and team officials say they were encouraged by the results overall, even though there’s still nothing close to an estimated timeline for the return of the $126 million right-hander, who has not pitched since May.
Darvish, who threw 23 pitches in his second bullpen session since a setback with his surgically repaired elbow last month, said he has “no worries” about the pain he experienced in the first 10 pitches when he reached back to start his delivery.
“It’s not to a point where everyone’s all worried,” Darvish said through an interpreter. “I just wanted to let you know that. To me, personally, I’m not worried that much.”
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Darvish said he felt lesser “discomfort” at times during a 16-pitch session three days earlier. But he sounded optimistic about his progress and said he looked forward to scheduling his next step in the rehab process.
Team president Theo Epstein cautioned against overanalyzing words and descriptions from Darvish, especially with the interpreter in the process.
“I think the bottom line is it was a very positive day,” Epstein said. “He felt good. He was sort of making some adjustments trying to get his feel back for his arm action as he went, and I think he got through a little bit of discomfort and ended up feeling really good and throwing more afterward.”
