The Chicago Cubs made their decision earlier in the offseason that Yu Darvish was their No. 1 target and with Tyler Chatwood already signed, it was only a matter of time that Jake Arrieta found a new home. That time was longer than anyone imagined, but Arrieta has finally signed and it's with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Arrieta, 32, has reportedly signed a three-year deal.
Following his 2015 Cy Young Award season, Arrieta's agent Scott Boras frequently brought up how he was going to be asking for a Max Scherzer type deal. Scherzer received a seven-year, $210 million from the Washington Nationals. Obviously with this offseason's free agent market, Arrieta wasn't going to get anything close to that, but seeing as though it's March 11, you might be safe to assume Arrieta was holding out for more money. While Arrieta rejuvenated his career with the Cubs, the last two seasons simply looked different than his dominant form in 2015. The control got worse and Arrieta's fastball velocity decreased. Although he can still be very good, the consistency wasn't there anymore. That's probably the reason he only got three years, as the $25 million per year is what most expected he would get a few months ago.
For the Phillies, signing Arrieta firmly gets them into the Wild Card mix in the National League. As for Arrieta's legacy with the Cubs, what else can you say other than he had one of the most impressive runs as a pitcher ever in franchise history. In five years with the Cubs, Arrieta went 68-31, with a 2.73 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 2015 Cy Young, 2015 Wild Card complete-game, ass-kicking of the Pirates, 2016 World Series and two no-hitters. That second half in 2015, might go down as the most dominant ever by a pitcher in MLB history. At his peak, Jake Arrieta was a bad, bad man on the mound and boy was it a pleasure to watch. So, good luck to Jake in Philadelphia.
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