Arrieta discusses not signing with Cubs |
The Chicago Cubs were searching for starting pitching this past offseason and signed
Tyler Chatwood and
Yu Darvish to long-term contracts.
However, they didn't really aggressively negotiate with Jake Arrieta and it was a little confusing to the All-Star pitcher. "I knew there was always an opportunity to come back here until there was a contract signed with another team," he said to the media before Tuesday's game. "It was a very chaotic offseason for free agents, not just myself. When Theo (Epstein) did call (day before signing Darvish), it seemed like a possibility, but the more it went down I was leaning toward the idea of not returning to Chicago. That is just the way it worked out. Would have it been great if I signed here? Yes. Am I happy about the way things worked out signing with Philly? Absolutely." In 2017, Arrieta was 14-10 with 3.53 ERA with 163 strikeouts and 1.22 WHIP. During his successful career transformation with the Cubs, he was 68-31 with a 2.73 ERA in 128 career starts. In his impressive Cy Young Award-winning year in 2015, he was 22-6 with a sparkling 1.77 ERA. Arrieta was so dominant that he finished in the Top 10 of the National League CY Young voting for three straight years (2004-2016). This season, Arrieta has been impressive with the Phillies with a 5-3 record, 2.66 ERA, and 1.17 WHIP.
