Phillies righty Jake Arrieta will undergo season-ending surgery later this month to remove a bone spur in his right elbow, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reports.
Arrieta, 33, had been pitching through the injury since early in the summer, to less-than-stellar results. The 2019 season was the hurler’s worst since his days in Baltimore: though the righty somehow maintained a fastball velocity in the 92-93 MPH range despite the injury, he again struggled to miss bats, command the baseball, and keep it in the park. Though the second half of Arrieta’s season didn’t much differ from the first – apart from his outings often being truncated upon his reaching the 75-80 pitch mark – the pain seemed to intensify, and both team and player finally pulled the plug following a disastrous Sunday outing in San Francisco in which the 2015 Cy Young Award winner was touched for five earned in just three innings pitched.
Arrieta signed a three-year, $75MM deal prior to his age 32 season in 2018. The Chicago reclamation project anchored the Cubs staff for years, but his ERA, on the back of an otherworldly Cub defense, had long outpaced his peripherals, a gap which reached a head in his 2017 walk season, where ERA estimators pegged the righty at the top end of the fourth-starter range. He’s been about that or worse in Philly, where despite steady grounder and walk rates, the former fifth-rounder has seen his strikeout rates slide to worse than eight per nine and his gopher-ball rate ascend to below-league-average totals.
Like its bullpen, the Phillies’ rotation is mostly in shambles now. It can always count on ace Aaron Nola, but it’s now Vince Velasquez, Drew Smyly, Jason Vargas, and Zach Eflin beyond, a quartet that won’t inspire much confidence as the group charges toward its first playoff appearance since 2011.
Good
Pretty callous Coach Him, or is it Coach Knight?
None of the potential replacements are capable of Arrieta’s admittedly mediocre production. The Phil’s are in a tight WC race and their rotation was already an issue.
Not a good day for the Phillies.
shouldve happened as soon as he was injuried. at least a few of those outings thereafter were passable. bridging to Rosso or Howard I guess.
I can remember the marketing that this guy would most likely be a good investment……….because he won’t get injured due to his workout routine, preparation, etc.
I think this season has driven home to even the densest front office personnel in MLB that anything Scott Boras is selling is a figurative booby trap for sure. He oversells his clients to the nth degree, and few are the teams who can honestly say they’re satisfied with the overall results.
So you’re saying an agent should just rollover?
Boras is satan.
Wrong, that’s the squad.
Fool!
Upvote
I’m honestly ok if he just wants to take next year off
We all knew Arrieta was declining and someone still gave him that contract
Were was their analytics dept!!??
what’s your boss gonna do now that Darvish is out pitching Arrietta. his head will explode
Darvish’s recent hot streak can not wipe out the fact that he has been horrendous so far on this contract.
Arrietta has had the most important ability, availability. This elbow injury will give him more time to make sure next year is solid.
We are slowly seeing the downside of the waiver-trade elimination.
A guy like Ivan Nova would have been available in the past. Now, Phils are stuck.
We should expect a more active trade season next year, as teams insulate from injuries.
Arrietta held off servitude so he could opt in to his 20mil player option and not have to play a single game .. worst signing in philly sports he’s such a self centered bum
Or play a single game? He will be ready for Spring Training so I’m not sure what you’re talking about.
*Not have to play in a single game
Eagles signing Demarco Murray was way worse.
I think someone told klentak that arietta was the worst signing in Philadelphia sports some time around November. He said hold my beer and the rest is WTF history.
.
MK hasn’t had a lot of luck signing free agent pitchers. Arrieta was good for about half of 2018 and pretty dismal ever since. His luck with relief pitchers is even worse. Since Robertson will miss all of 2020 and then become a FA, MK spent $23 for about 6 IP. Neshek and Hunter didn’t pan out. Nicasio is too scary to trust at crunch time.
All this analytics stuff that MK is supposed to be good at is driving me crazy. Talent evaluation is what we need and MK is seriously lacking in that department. MK is the same guy who gave Hellickson a $17+ million QO and let Charlie Morton walk. And to say that he seriously overrated the likes of Eflin, Pivetta and Velasquez heading into this year is a huge understatement.
Fire MK and Kapler. Let Chollie manage and then find a GM who knows how to recognize what constitutes a good pitcher and a good hitter. I’m free, so maybe Cigar Guy ought to give me a jungle? Hey, I can’t do any worse.
A relapse of Philly leaking Oil,Charlie can’t Pitch
All Cubs fans will always appreciate how great Jake was for us. Hope he comes back as good as ever!
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Grade A jerk.