2015 NL Cy Young Signs with San Diego

Author: Spencer Reyes

Editor: Brian Symons

On Thursday, August 12th, Jake Arrieta was released from his 1-year, $6M contract with the Chicago Cubs. He recently joined the Cubs as a free agent and his second time around with the team for the 2021 season.

The former NL Wins leader was coming off an underperforming 3-year/$75M contract with the Phillies. From 2018-2020, he recorded a 22-23 Win-Loss Record, an ERA of 4.36, 280 SO, and a WHIP of 1.387. His best years were with Chicago from 2014-2016, where he won the Cy Young Award, was an all-star and end up in 6th place in the 2015 NL MVP Race.

Since then, Arrieta hasn’t really performed up to his prior expectations. Although he hasn’t done too well since leaving Chicago, it made sense for the Cubs to pick him up for a cheap contract this season. This experiment didn’t go too well as he posted a 6.88 ERA and only 5 wins in 20 games. Arrieta gave up 113 hits, 75 runs, and 21 home runs. He was on pace to have one of the worst pitching years of his career.

A.J. Preller, the GM from San Diego is taking a chance on Arrieta and taking over his $6M contract. The Padres were supposed to have one of the top starting rotations in baseball, but sooner rather than later, it started to crumble. Yu Darvish, Chris Paddack, and Dinelson Lamet are all on the IL. Their starting rotation now consists of the struggling Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, Ryan Weathers, Reiss Knehr, and now Jake Arrieta.

As of August 17th, the Padres are in 3rd place in the NL West division and are 11 games behind the Dodgers and Giants. San Diego only sits 2 games ahead of Cincinnati and 4 in front of St. Louis in the Wild Card Race. The Padres have the hitting and defensive skills to continue their playoff push, but their struggling pitching staff may cause them to fall out of the postseason bubble. Padres fans can only hope Arrieta can pick up the pieces and reassemble San Diego’s playoff hopes.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE