Phillies to sign Jake Arrieta

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Transmogrified Tiger
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Re: Phillies to sign Jake Arrieta

Post by Transmogrified Tiger »

FWIW, my read is that the Cubs never had any serious interest in signing Arrieta, and did him the favor of dripping the occasional bit to the media so it didn't come off like they thought of him as damaged goods(and I don't think they did see him as damaged goods).

To the contract itself, the Phillies had a payroll around 50 million before Arrieta and no star-caliber players they need to pay big money to in the next several years. The odds of that contract causing them any hardships are basically zero.

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Re: Phillies to sign Jake Arrieta

Post by Socnorb11 »

I'm curious as to what the Cubs dripped to the media. I guess I missed that.

To clarify, when I said the Phillies would "regret it", I didn't mean that it would hurt them much, financially. I guess what I really mean is that the contract will end up looking foolish.

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Momo
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Re: Phillies to sign Jake Arrieta

Post by Momo »

Socnorb11 wrote:Granted, this report is about a month old:

Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the Cubs have "barely engaged" in contract talks with free agent starting pitcher Jake Arrieta.

Nightengale goes so far as to say that a reunion between Arrieta and the Cubs is as "unlikely as a Bill Belichick comedy show." Well then. He also reports that other teams seem concerned about the lack of contact; wondering if Chicago knows something about the 31-year-old's health. Arrieta went 14-10 for the Cubs in 2017, registering a 3.53 ERA and striking out 163 batters in 168 1/3 innings.
True, but there was also this:
The Chicago Cubs were down the road with Yu Darvish, but before they completed a deal, Cubs baseball president Theo Epstein, respectfully, put in one last call to the Cubs’ star free agent Jake Arrieta for one last, long-shot chance to see if — if need be — they could extend Arrieta’s career with a deal believed to be similar to the one offered to Darvish should Darvish turn them down.
https://www.fanragsports.com/mlb/heyman ... ta-go-now/

Which honestly is a pretty big load of vagueness, so who knows what that means. Did they actually offer him the same contact? Did they just call to say "Hey we're about to do the deal, want to talk anymore?" I dunno.

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Re: Phillies to sign Jake Arrieta

Post by Socnorb11 »

Thanks Momo......... I hadn't seen that.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: Phillies to sign Jake Arrieta

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

This seems like an odd deal. Sure it’s not a contract that will hamstring philly but is it going to help them compete for the division? Seems unlikely.

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Re: Phillies to sign Jake Arrieta

Post by Magneto2.0 »

AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:This seems like an odd deal. Sure it’s not a contract that will hamstring philly but is it going to help them compete for the division? Seems unlikely.
They are a sleeper for the WC imo

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Re: Phillies to sign Jake Arrieta

Post by Transmogrified Tiger »

Magneto2.0 wrote:
AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:This seems like an odd deal. Sure it’s not a contract that will hamstring philly but is it going to help them compete for the division? Seems unlikely.
They are a sleeper for the WC imo
ZiPS has them on par or even slightly better than the Brewers at this point. ZiPS probably undersells the Brewers a little bit, and making the leap to relevancy is always going to be the hardest part, but they don't have 2 clearly good teams in their division(unlike the Central and West) either. They do really need Hoskins to be for real though, they could try to make a deal for another bat during the season if they surprise, but if Hoskins disappoints then Santana looks like the only clearly above-average hitter in the lineup.

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Re: Phillies to sign Jake Arrieta

Post by dmarx114 »

The Phillies seem to be emulating what the Cubs did with Lester.

But the Cubs were significantly closer to being a playoff team (and were right away) when they signed Lester, compared to where the Phillies are at now.

Maybe they win an extra 4 games as a result of this signing. I don't think they are a playoff team this year. They are likely banking on the final 2 years being the years that Arrieta puts them over the top.

I have serious doubts Arrieta will make the difference, but time will tell.

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Re: Phillies to sign Jake Arrieta

Post by Momo »

AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:This seems like an odd deal. Sure it’s not a contract that will hamstring philly but is it going to help them compete for the division? Seems unlikely.
If Hoskins and Nola really perform, Santana provides the leadership they wanted, and Arrieta bounces back, they've already got a pretty solid improvement from last year. Interestingly, they went 37-38 in the 2nd half of last year. That probably makes them "dark horse" WC candidates.

Then if some kids like either (or even both) of Kingery and Crawford are ready to take over the infield, they might be solidly in the mix of regular WC contenders.

Also they've got a new manager, Gabe Kapler, who I respect immensely, and who I think has the potential to get them to start playing much better.

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Re: Phillies to sign Jake Arrieta

Post by TimeForGuinness »

dmarx114 wrote:Good deal for arrieta.

Overpay for philly, but at least it's only 3 years.
Yup, they have the money and it's not a lengthy contract. Phillies will be fine are are now in WC contention.

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