At least one MLB insider expects Jake Arrieta to sign in the next couple days and Philadelphia is the favorite.
With only two more weeks of spring training baseball left, it’s hard to believe quality starters like Jake Arrieta are still free agents, but could Philadelphia be the former Cy Young winner’s new home?
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the 32-year-old Arrieta’s market has started to “heat up,” with the right-hander expected to sign in the “next couple days.” The Phillies are the favorites.
With MLB Trade Rumors projecting Arrieta to make somewhere near $100 million over four years, it will be interesting to see what the offers look like for the former Cubs ace. With Yu Darvish getting $126 million over 6 years from the Cubs, and Lance Lynn recently signing a one-year deal worth $12 million, it’s hard to predict where Arrieta lands between the two deals.
Some people on Twitter have thrown out the idea of signing a pitcher like Arrieta to a one-year deal that pays him around $25-30 million for 2018 and attempts to trade him at the deadline. That seems unlikely from the Phillies, seeing as they need rotation help and could use Arrieta’s veteran presence, but the market has been strange this winter.
The fit for Arrieta in the Philadelphia is eerily similar to the one his former Cubs teammate Jon Lester came into when he signed with Chicago in 2015. The proven veteran Lester helped a young rotation, eventually led by Arrieta, fight their way to the NLCS.
The Phillies current rotation has potential, with the 24-year-old Aaron Nola on staff, but outside of Nola the rest of Philadelphia’s rotation lacks proven arms. Adding a veteran like Arrieta, who has a 2.67 ERA and a 9.1 K/9 during the last four seasons in Chicago, gives a budding Phillies roster a tenacious leader to help them make the jump into the playoffs. Possibly sooner than expected, once again, like the Cubs.
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Combine that rotation with a newly acquired 1B Carlos Santana and a full season from rookie-sensation Rhys Hoskins, it’s not hard to envision the Phillies being in play for a postseason spot in 2018.