The San Diego Padres have high expectations heading into this season. They made some moves to upgrade their roster over the winter and will also get their young All-Star back, Fernando Tatis Jr.

With all the hype they've created in the offseason, they may be without a key piece of their starting rotation to start the season. Yu Darvish isn't sure he'll be ready for Opening Day. The hard-throwing righty doesn't believe he has built himself up enough while competing in the World Baseball Classic.

Yu Darvish says he’s keeping in touch with the #Padres but that he’s unsure whether he’ll be fully built up and ready for opening day.

Darvish has been in contact with the organization about the situation. The last thing the team wants to do is roll him out on the mound when he's not ready. They'd rather have him miss time at the start of the season than lose him to an injury.

This isn't the only injury the pitching staff is dealing with. Joe Musgrove is battling a foot injury. With injuries, it's likely the Padres will give the ball to Blake Snell on Opening Day.

The rotation to start the season is so cooked twitter.com/bnightengale/s…

@BNightengale A wasted spring. And hurts his team.

@BNightengale Have to say I am VERY disappointed with Team Japan management.

@BNightengale Hahaha come on!

San Diego Padres fans aren't thrilled to hear that Darvish is likely out for Opening Day. He's the team's ace and is expected to perform like it this season.

But people told me last night that pitching today wouldn’t affect him starting opening day. twitter.com/bnightengale/s…

I’d assume Blake Snell is the frontrunner for the Opening Day start IF Darvish is, in fact, not built up enough for an Opening Day start. twitter.com/bnightengale/s…

Yeahhhhhhhh that’s a problem twitter.com/bnightengale/s…

Sorry #padres fans He would have been ready to go at STLet’s hope this does not lead to injury. twitter.com/bnightengale/s…

I’m sure all the padres fans paying to sell out petco in 9 days love to hear this. #WBC2023 continues to be the biggest sham in sports. twitter.com/bnightengale/s…

Some fans are directly blaming the World Baseball Classic. While many have enjoyed the tournament, others don't think it has a place in the sport. They don't like seeing players from their favorite team risk injury in a tournament that doesn't mean anything to Major League Baseball.

San Diego Padres fans shouldn't worry about Yu Darvish

Yu Darvish is one of the top pitchers in the league. It shouldn't take him long to build up his arm. He'll likely take a week or two to get to where he wants when he rejoins the San Diego Padres.

Once this staff gets healthy, they'll be a force to be reckoned with. The Padres will roll out a rotation of Darvish, Snell, Musgrove, Michael Wacha, and Seth Lugo.

Snell and Musgrove could make cases to be aces on other teams, while Wacha has flown under the radar. He posted an 11-2 record with a 3.32 ERA for the Boston Red Sox last season.

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