10:28am: Manager Gabe Kapler confirmed Arrieta has a bone spur. The Phillies will evaluate Arrieta in the coming days to determine whether he should keep pitching (via Lauber).
8:24am: Arrieta does think he has a bone spur, but he expects he’ll be able to continue pitching through it this season, per Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
7:49am: Phillies right-hander Jake Arrieta turned in his latest clunker Saturday, a 4 1/3-inning start in which he allowed five earned runs on 11 hits in a loss to the Mets. Afterward, not only did Arrieta have some choice words for Mets third baseman Todd Frazier, but the former ace suggested he has been pitching through an injury (via Ken Rosenthal and Matt Gelb of The Athletic).
“I labored physically,” Arrieta said. “I wasn’t able to put the ball where I wanted to. It’s been that way for a few weeks. Just physically not in a great spot.”
It turns out Arrieta’s dealing with a bone spur in his right elbow that will likely require surgery at some point, Rosenthal and Gelb report. The Phillies have known about the injury, but their hope has been that it won’t prevent him from continuing to pitch. Now, though, it looks possible Arrieta will have to undergo a season-ending procedure, according to Rosenthal and Gelb. He previously underwent season-ending surgery on a bone spur while with the Orioles in 2011.
Although Arrieta said there’s no medical examination scheduled, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia tweets that his elbow “will be checked.” If that exam yields bad news, his season – the second of a three-year, $75MM contract – could end. Should that happen, it seems likely to affect the Phillies’ trade deadline plans. Even with Arrieta having thrown a team-high 108 innings this season, its rotation has failed to produce compelling results and could be in line for upgrades. The struggles of the Phillies’ staff have helped lead to a mediocre 46-43 record for the club in the wake of an ultra-aggressive offseason. Philadelphia’s in third place in the NL East and 6 1/2 games behind the first-place Braves, though it’s only a half-game back of a wild-card spot.
Formerly a star with the Cubs, with whom he won the 2015 NL Cy Young Award, Arrieta has declined precipitously since he joined the Phillies. Arrieta was merely decent across 172 2/3 innings last year, but he has fallen well short of even posting average production this season. The 33-year-old has put up a 4.67 ERA/5.07 FIP with 7.08 K/9 and 3.33 BB/9. Despite a 50.9 percent groundball rate, Arrieta has yielded home runs on 20.2 percent of fly balls – roughly a 6 percent increase over last year’s figure. It seems Arrieta’s elbow issue has contributed to his problems, though, and it’s in question whether he’ll be able to keep laboring through it.
gee that’s why he can’t pitch…well get the dam surgery and be ready for 2020. and matt please trade for two SPs and a RP or 2 !!stop sitting on ur behind and do something.
Why? They’re sellers at this point. No need to give up prospects.
Sellers? They just came off a rebuild. They’re only a half game back of a wild card. A starter and reliever can position these guys ahead of the Cubs.
I say they need pitching right now more then anything. If Arrieta has to get surgery, then klentak has to go make a move. Philly is in win now mode, anything less then a wildcard this season is a big disappointment after the offseason they had.
Cubs are in first. You mean 1/2 game behind
Brewers. You then have cards Rockies dbacks and padres all right with you .
They were a starter and relief pitcher away before Jake went down. Now you could say 3 pitchers away.
sellers? they’re still very much in the thick of things, and dont have anything obvious to sell (save cesar maybe)
They’ve been falling fast since early June. Nats and Braves are hot. Phillies and Mets have been the two worst teams in baseball in the last month or so. Look at their records. Only reason the Phillies still appear to be in the WC hunt is because of their early success. They’ll be out of the WC rather quickly, especially if they lose another starter. I don’t really see any reason to think the Phillies will magically start playing well enough to warrant being buyers at the deadline.
I think also losing rick kranitz to the braves also hurts , look at the braves young starters.
Cubs have played less than .500 ball dating back the last 53 games. Can’t assume they’ll stay in playoff contention, much less first place. Cards have had starting issues, as well as the Brewers. Would be dumb to think the Phillies should give up in July while in the thick of the playoff hunt.
I think that no doubt, the Braves have much more talented arms to begin with. But I do think the Phillies made a mistake in letting Kranitz go in order to promote Chris Young because they didn’t want him getting poached. They wanted the young guy into analytics over the old school mind. How much is on the coach and how much comes down to the pitchers just being good or bad? Beats me but I do think Kranitz > Young and the Braves young pitchers talent >>> Phillies.
I think under Kranitz they were much better, which is why Nola was so good last year, I think this year nola started off bad, then he went back to the way he pitched last year, I thought Eflin & Pivetta would of been better with Realmuto calling the game, By the way look at Julio Tehran , he looks like he found his form again under Kranitz.
Julio is like that. He’ll go in spurts and then he’ll go in a wave of bad starts. He’s a solid starter for Atlanta and typically his biggest flaw is the HR ball, luckily last year it was the solo variety the most.
I do think Philly made a mistake in letting Kranitz leave though.
It was a huge mistake, a big reason why this staff is struggling, they would of been great if they kept him with Realmuto behind the plate.
Biggest change for Julio is this is the first year he is pitching completely from the stretch. He has a little more life on his fastball, making his offspeed stuff better. Was that Kranitz? I don’t know.
Spot on VPH…
They dont have any prospects other than Hasley thats why they cant make any deals. The other thing is they way over value their prospects. This team is done and was done June 1. You don’t see real contenders sitting on their hands like the Yankees, Astros, Braves etc. You need 2 starters and a closer!! Time for Middleton to clean house.
That’s officially it for the 2019 Phillies. Not that Jake was the sole hope, it’s that there are way too many holes to fill at the trade deadline. There’s no point in giving up any prospects for an outside shot at the Wild Card. Starting pitching, relief pitching, bench depth, reliable offense…this team needs it all.
Losing Cutch at the top of the line up crushed them, and now Arrieta hurt. They need to go get greinke, take on most of his contract without giving up top guys like medina & bohm. Greinke & Nola would make a great 1-2 punch.
Diamondbacks are still in WC contention so I’m not sure if Greinke is even available.
finally someone who sees it. Greinke is not just a possibility for the Phillies, Greinke is their salvation. they have money to take on that salery while not giving up as big of a prospect haul. he could very well be that missing piece.
I think he is that missing piece or bumgarner but now he’s hurt. It’s greinke or a bullpen arm. I would look at Alex Colome for the bullpen.
I also don’t really see Arizona throwing in the towel just yet. They’re in a similar position as the Phillies. I’d argue the D-Backs are in better shape. What makes one team a seller and the other a buyer?
Bumgarner just has a bruise.
The White Sox are not going to give up Colome for nothing when he has another year of control, especially when the White Sox could possibly win one of the two Wild Card spots in the American League.
The Phillies are on Greinke’s no trade list
Greinke should be on Philly’s don’t-trade-for list.
Bumgarner isn’t hurt
Hayes….it seems all but a few teams are in WC contention thanks to the 5th playoff spot. Thing is, I’m 100% in-agreement with you. Be soft sellers at this deadline, reset for 2020 even stronger and you have a better team moving forward with more assets to use.
Fans want to see success, obviously. They never want to see their team walk away from a potential playoff berth. Your idea is not popular, but I think it’s the right play. Let the other teams blow up their systems to make a run for it.
How do you soft sell the Phillies and get anything back that makes you better next season? I just don’t see a way to do that. All 3 of their rental relievers (Neshek, Hunter and Nicasio) are on the DL and not performing well. I guess you could trade Jay Bruce but what does that bring back for you? I think the negative PR isn’t worth the minimal return of selling anyone. I wouldn’t buy a bunch of rentals if I were in Klentak’s shoes but I’d probably poke around about controllable players.
right now philly needs to go get greinke. They should eat most of the contract without giving up a lot of prospects.
I don’t see Greinke turning them into a playoff team overnight. I’m not sure they’d be willing to give up anything at this point. The playoffs seem very unlikely. They’re pretty much a .500 club. Best bet may be waiting for next year.
Greinke would help them the rest of this season and the next two years. I agree they have too many holes right now, but Klentak can’t sit around.
the offense has well underacheived and theyre still well in the thick of things. look at a lot of guys numbers over the past week or so. things are trending up.
the offense has underachieved ever since Cutch got hurt and Herrera getting suspended.
I wish I had your optimism, but with the way Pivetta and Eflin have been pitching, I don’t see it. The Phillies have only won one series in recent weeks and it was against the Mets. Losing another starter kills this team.
I had high hopes for Arrieta , a cy young and world series winner, his veteran presence in the rotation, I thought the young guys would learn from him, and now he’s pitching like this. He’s had like 2 or 3 good starts all season, Im on board for getting greinke or stroman
Arrieta was already in decline in 2017, the writing was on the wall. He is a veteran presence though and that’s a plus. But he’s arrogant, thinks he’s better than he is based on past performance. It may turn around, but I think that magic from 2015-2016 might be fluke.
They are literally one hot streak away from taking back the division. 6.5 games is not a lot when there’s still 70 games left
6 games is nothing, I think they might be the one team that needs this 4 days off to regroup. I hope they come out swinging , I think they have an easy second half, all they really got is the division games and the dodgers, cubs come in. thats about it.
its relative really. the team faded last year simply due to lacking talent from the start and still was just under .500 at the end. this team has actual talent and is being hindered by injuries all over the pen. they’re a starter worse off then last year, but they have a real chance to contend this year and there are cheap options available.
angelsfan4life412
What is “easy”?
They need more than one starter though. But they did say they were going to spend “stupid” money so now it’s time to prove it.
I’m pretty sure that 330 million they threw at harper was the stupid money
Frazier must be one of the least liked guys in baseball. Between this, his feud with Eaton, and his constant complaining to the umpires, he sure has a lot of enemies.
I don’t get why he was so mad. Him getting plunked essentially won the game for the Mets. The last thing Arrieta wanted to do was put runners on. And it was a changeup that didn’t hurt. He should have been thanking Jake. Haha.
Arrieta had no problem running his arrogant mouth after yet another sh*t performance.
Love the quote from Jake: “If Frazier has a problem with my pitch, he can come see me and I’ll put a dent in his skull”.
Yeah, real tough guy talk. He’s a clown
as much as we might need him, its better he doesn’t make things worse. Ask Mark Appel about playing through bone spurs. it isnt fun, and it doesnt make things better for you. They need Grienke, Roark, and a solid middle reliever, (and maybe even buy low on Wade Davis) and then the team should be good to go obce the guys in the pen are back to health.
Won’t be putting a dent in Frazier’s skull now, will he? Bum
What a terrible signing. Not only is he a terrible pitcher, he is a phony tough guy. I hope he just goes away.
Phony tough guy? That sounds like Todd Frazier
How will I be able to get through another day knowing Arrieta is hurt?
I love how the Mets are a joke, but the Phillies have just as poor a track record with an extra 70 year head start.
The Philth are like this pathetic gambler who think “Oh, we’re just one piece away from finally becoming a real contender.
Neither franchise is as bad as their fans like to think. The Mets were the last NL East team to go to the World Series. The Phillies were the last NL East team to win the World Series. Neither fanbase has it that bad, but their both passionate big market cities so you hear a lot of despair.
Matt Boyd please
he’s not worth trading alec bohm.
Are you sure Bohm will help more than Boyd the next 3 1/2 years? Also will Bohm makes it in the majors?
“Are you sure Bohm will help more than Boyd the next 3 1/2 years? Also will Bohm makes it in the majors?”
He’s on track for a September call up.
Matt Boyd would improve them instantly.
Have fun with Ausmus.
Is Boyd getting traded to LAA?
8:24am: Arrieta does think he has a bone spur, but he expects he’ll be able to continue pitching through it this season
He’s been through this before!
“Jake… Go ahead. Have the surgery.” – The Phillies
“But I want to help the team…”
“Like we said… Go ahead. Have the surgery.”
Maybe during surgery they can put a dent in his head so he stops living a fantasy where he’s not awful
i figured he would at least be a solid #2 this year thanks to a full spring training and normal offseason. hopefully this was at least part of the cause as to why not…but that might just be a lot to hope for.
Lots of people get away with their responsibilities because of bone spurs. My wallet has a bone spur, can I get away with paying for a ticket or hotdog at the game?
At least Arrietta won’t have to worry about the military draft. :)
This should help clear up the contract situation. The Phillies are not going pick up Arrieta’s option years so Arrieta is not in a position to exercise his opt out so the Phillies are stuck with a washed up stiff with deteriorating stuff for another year..
I can’t recall one time where a bone spur in the pitching elbow did not result in surgery.
I think Edwin Diaz has bone spurs in his pitching elbow and has not undergone surgery. And like the Phillies with Arrieta, I’ll bet the Mets are wishing he had.
That would explain Diaz’s decline. He was lights out for Seattle last year. I know changing leagues can affect a pitcher but I’ve never seen it so drastic going from an AL to NL team.
Throwing to a different catcher can also be a factor, I am not saying it is but he had a good relationship with Zunino.