The Cubs have agreed to a $10.7MM deal with righty Jake Arrieta to avoid arbitration, Jay Cohen of the Associated Press (Twitter link). There was plenty of incentive for both sides to get something done, as Arrieta filed at $13MM and the team countered at $7.5MM, setting the stage for what would have been quite a high-stakes hearing.
Instead, Arrieta will land $450K above the midpoint. As MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz has explained in detail, Arrieta’s case provided a test for assessing arbitration raises. While the MLBTR arb model projected a $10.9MM salary after Arrieta’s monster 2015 season, Swartz revised that downward to $10.4MM as a limitation on the predicted record raise for a second-year-eligible player. Obviously, Arrieta landed right between those figures.
Arrieta, who is nearing 30, somehow managed to improve upon his stellar 2014 campaign with the Cubs, taking home a Cy Young award in the face of stiff competition. Chicago successfully reclaimed him after a 2013 deadline trade with the Orioles that also landed Pedro Strop in exchange for a few months of Scott Feldman.
Over his 229 innings in 2015, Arrieta worked to a 1.77 ERA with 9.3 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9. He also improved upon his groundball induction numbers, posting an excellent 56.2% grounder rate on balls in place. With the righty showing career-best average fastball velocity, a true five-pitch arsenal, and non-existent platoon issues, there weren’t many pitchers this side of Los Angeles that could even come close to Arrieta’s work last season.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether there is any realistic hope of a longer-term pact. Arrieta is eligible for arbitration one final time next winter, and then stands to reach free agency. He won’t exactly be a youthful entrant onto the market, but as Zack Greinke just proved, it’s possible to take home over $200MM at an even later point in one’s career. Certainly, Chicago will have a tough decision as to how high it would be willing to go to keep Arrieta around.
Good job Cubbies!
Way to get it done. Hope arrieta puts up monster numbers again and gets 5 year deal after season and World Series ring.
Talk about counting chickens before their hatched lmao!
I don’t think its counting chickens before they are hatched when the word hope is prefaced before everything was said. I hope all of those things happen as well.
He said hope
Why not offer him a three year 50 million dollar deal? Show him you trust him and want him to be part of the future. Looking forward to watching the Giants and Cubs in the NLCS
They’ve been hoping for 108 years. Every year is “The Year!” Yeah . . . OK. Give it up, idiots.
So just because it has been longer than a century, they are supposed to give up hope? I don’t think it has been the same leadership in charge all that time. It is certainly possible (although definitely not set in stone) that the Cubs can win it all.
Arrieta got a great payday for his fantastic season last year. All that is past now. Let us see how he and the cubbies perform in 2016.
Everybody should win every 100 years or so
That’s a good one. I never heard that before.
How could you be so jealous of a team that hasn’t won the World Series in 108 years?
Nola is a troll
Good compromise for both parties. Arrieta still has one more year of arbitration before he hits FA at the end of the 2017 season. The only issue that Arrieta will face when he becomes a FA assuming these next 2 years (2016 & 2017) he pitches very good is he will be 32 as a FA.
Doesn’t matter. There is always one idiot in the bunch (Dave Stewart was this year’s). He will get his payday.
I’m sure Arrieta will make out pretty well as a FA. the FA class of 2018 is pretty lean of “elite” FA starters but there are a few what I would call very good starters that a lot of teams will be looking at as possible alternatives.
He will never have a year like that again. And Lackey won’t be as good as he was with the Cards, the best is behind both these guys.
Didn’t they say that about Arrietta last year? As the article points out, He didn’t just repeat, he got better.
Arrieta had an amazing second half of baseball. And he did not perform well at all in the playoffs. I’m sure he will have a good year, but all I’m saying is it won’t be close to last year. He has never had a year like that and he never will again.
His postseason ERA is 3.66. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible either. He did throw a complete game shutout in the first game of the playoffs.
Arietta won’t have a .75 ERA in the second half again? You must be a Sabermetrics guy.
Which brand of crystal ball are you using? I’ve found that the Fortune Tellers™ brand is prone to error sometimes. Sometimes it helps if you wipe the glass if it is foggy.
I look forward to many Mets vs. Cubs playoffs in the future. Should develop into a great rivalry.
Which of Arrieta’s great years was a fluke? 2014 or 2015? Or is that just a 2-year fluke?
Arrieta will be to the Cubs what Loaiza was to the Sox…a guy who had one outstanding year but never did anything close to it ever again.
Except Arrieta has already had two great years, so he’s already well ahead of pace.
Dear southsidesox15,
Unfortunately we will have to dismiss your comment due to bias. Thank you for your participation in discussion, and we look forward to seeing what you say next.
Best,
Everyone
bryant arietta schwarbs will have rough time this year. russell will improve. heyward zobrist signings terrible. by august it will be clear.
Did you ever study English? I will never understand why people like you bother posting when you have nothing positive to say.
I don’t know how you can say it’s hilarious how cubs fans thought we could make a WS run last year. I don’t know what games you were watching but I would say they made a run at the WS considering we were a series away from being in it.
Lots if White Sox trollers … So bitter … So Jealous of the Cubs ….
Haha…look at all the butt hurt jealousy. Face it d-bags, Jake is one of the best pitchers in MKB and is a bargain at $10.7M. The Cardinals ship has sailed. Holliday, Wainwright, Yadi….all on the wrong side of 30 and often injured. The NL central will be a Cubs and Pirates division for the foreseeable future.
Wow! Nothing noteworthy? The division that had 3 playoff teams and the 3 best records in baseball? Let me guess, you feel the same about the 1990’s Braves and only the 1995 team was any good because they won the championship. Also, Jake had a 3.66 ERA in the playoffs and you talk like he was a total bust. Your troll game is weak.
Cool story. The Cubs own your mind. How sad.