Phillies Sign Former Cubs Ace Jake Arrieta

PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Phillies have signed the best remaining free agent on the market, former Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta, multiple sources report. The signing gives the Phillies a bona fide ace to slot in beside Aaron Nola at the front of their rotation and puts them in the conversation for Wild Card contention in 2018.

The deal is for $75 million over three years, although Arrieta has the option to opt-out after two, and the Phillies have the unusual option of voiding that opt-out by guaranteeing him a fourth and fifth year at $20 million a year.

The deal was first announced by Jon Heyman with Fanrag Sports.

As reported by Patch last November, Arrieta, 32, makes perfect sense for the Phillies. In the four months since that report, that match has only crystallized. The Phillies shored up their other weakness, the bullpen, by signing Pat Neshek and Tommy Hunter, while two of the other three top starters on the market, Yu Darvish (Cubs) Lance Lynn (Twins) were signed.

Arrieta has been one of the best pitchers in baseball over the last five years, though each year has, statistically, been slightly less impressive. He won the National League Cy Young award in 2015, and led the Cubs to three consecutive NLCS', including a World Series championship in 2016.

The Phillies had long been open about their desire to acquire another pitcher, though they'd also seemed cautious to commit to a long term deal that would mean paying for a player's declining years.

After Nola and Arrieta, the Phillies will likely have Jerad Eickhoff and Vince Velasquez, while the fifth spot will likely go to one of Nick Pivetta or Ben Lively. Zach Eflin, Mark Leiter Jr., Jake Thompson, and Tom Eshelman are also in the wings.

In a weakened NL East, the Phillies, just a year removed from a brutal 66-win season, suddenly look like contenders for the second Wild Card.

The fact that Arrieta had remained unsigned this late in free agency was shocking, though typical of this year's tepid free agent market that netted a number of the game's best unsigned players underwhelming contracts.

Because Arrieta rejected a qualifying offer for 2018 from the Cubs, the Phillies will surrender their third highest draft pick in 2018 back to the Cubs in exchange for the signing.

While many pundits had argued against the Phillies signing Arrieta due to his age and the Phillies abundance of young players still just on the cusp, there are several factors that make the move a good one. In the worst case scenario, Arrieta continues to regress, and the Phillies are free of their obligations in just three years. In another bad scenario, the Phillies struggle this year; Arrieta could still be dealt for prospects to needy teams at the deadline in July.

But in the more likely scenario, Arrieta continues to be borderline elite for at least the next three years. Arrieta is not a typical 32-year-old pitcher: due to injuries and limited usage, he has only thrown over 200 innings once in his career; before 2014, he had never thrown more than 119 innings in a season. That's far less mileage than the average 32-year-old starter.

Couple that with the fact that Arrieta is famous for his work ethic, cross-training, and fitness regimen (sounds like someone new Phillies manager Gabe Kapler would get along with), and you have an athlete that is primed to remain a very productive pitcher - if not a Cy Young candidate - through his mid-30s.

Moreover, the Phillies have already committed free agent money for the next three seasons in the form of the bullpen and, more notably, first baseman Carlos Santana. With those investments for the present in mind, leaving the rotation without another frontline starter aside Nola wouldn't make much sense.

Finally, as with Santana, the Arrieta signing signals to the 2018 free agent class, which includes superstars like Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and Josh Donaldson, that the Phillies are ready to compete now and willing to pay to help get them there.

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