Darvish has agreed to a $126 million, six-year contract with Chicago, giving the Cubs one of the deepest rotations in baseball and taking one of the top players off the slow-moving free agent market.
The 31-year-old Darvish met with Cubs officials way back in December and the sides remained in contact while the right-hander listened to other potential suitors. Texas, Milwaukee, Minnesota and the New York Yankees also reportedly expressed some level of interest, but Chicago’s approach paid off with the agreement just days before the start of spring training.
A person with direct knowledge of the deal confirmed the contract to The Associated Press on Saturday on condition of anonymity because there was no official announcement. The move was first reported by The Athletic.
The addition of Darvish gives the Cubs a big boost as they try to return to the World Series after winning the title two years ago for the first time since 1908. He joins a formidable rotation that includes Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana and Tyler Chatwood, who agreed to a $38 million, three-year contract in December.
Darvish finished last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, helping them knock out the defending champion Cubs in the playoffs to reach the World Series. The Japanese star is expected to take the rotation spot of Jake Arrieta, who became a free agent after a successful run in the Windy City.
2 tropical storms are bearing down on Japan. Weather officials are calling on people to keep up on developments as they approach.
(NHK) 
Camping is regaining popularity in Japan after a mid-1990s boom led by the country's "dankai" first baby boomers born in the late 1940s, with various new camping options available. (Jiji) 
The northward migration of fugu, or blowfish, as well as new types created through mixed breeding, are causing confusion in Tokyo's Tsukiji food market. (NHK) 
Japanese police arrested a 19-year-old university freshman on Monday for allegedly making and possessing triacetate triperoxide, a lethal explosive known as TATP. (Jiji) 
20 million foreigners have visited Japan so far this year. It's the earliest in any year this milestone has been reached.
(NHK) 
The Japanese Olympic Committee said Monday that it has disqualified four basketball players from the ongoing 18th Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, for allegedly violating the code of behavior at international multisport event. (Jiji) 
A team of Kyoto University said Monday it has applied for approval by the health ministry of a plan to infuse platelets made from induced pluripotent stem cells into a sufferer of a serious blood disease. (Jiji) 
A 14-year-old boy was arrested Sunday for allegedly stabbing a newspaper delivery woman in Osaka Prefecture in July, in what he claimed to be a random attack, police said. (Japan Today) 
Japan's education ministry is planning to place English-speaking artificial intelligence robots in schools to help children improve their English oral communication skills.
(NHK) 
Police in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, are deploying 3,000 officers to find a suspect who has been on the run for a week.
(NHK)