The Cubs have requested unconditional release waivers on right-hander Jake Arrieta, per a team announcement. That move comes amid a series of transactions, as Chicago has also placed catcher Willson Contreras on the 10-day injured list with a sprained knee, reinstated catcher Austin Romine from the 60-day injured list, selected the contract of right-hander Ryan Meisinger from Triple-A Iowa, and designated lefty Kyle Ryan for assignment.
It’s been a miserable season for Arrieta in his return to Chicago. The former Cy Young winner got out to a nice start, working to a 2.57 ERA through April 25, but he’s been tattooed for 58 runs in 58 1/3 innings since that time. Opponents have racked up 91 hits, including 19 home runs, during that stretch. Last night’s outing was particularly non-competitive; Arrieta yielded seven runs in the first inning and ultimately departed after four frames with eight Brewers runs on the board.
The Cubs signed Arrieta to a one-year, $6MM deal over the winter with the hope that the injury troubles which plagued him during his three years with the Phillies were behind him. He’s avoided any notable arm troubles, but Arrieta’s fastball is sitting at a career-low 90.8 mph on the year and he’s seen across-the-board declines in swinging-strike rate, chase rate, home-run rate and walk rate. This marks the sixth straight season that he’s seen his ERA increase from the prior season.
Arrieta is still owed the balance of that $6MM salary — about $1.71MM between now and season’s end. He’s a lock to clear release waivers and become a free agent, but any team that signs him thereafter would only owe him the prorated league minimum for the remainder of the year. That sum would then be subtracted from the balance owed to him by the Cubs.
As for Contreras, the knee troubles that are currently hobbling him are believed to be minor. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer told reporters this morning that the move was “precautionary” in nature (Twitter link via the Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan). He’s seemingly not expected to require a lengthy stay on the injured list.
Romine, who has logged just six games and nine place appearances this season due to a left wrist sprain, will presumably pick up the bulk of the catching work in place of Contreras. The veteran 32-year-old was the Yankees’ backup catcher from 2016-19 before signing with the Tigers as a free agent for the 2020 season. He’ll now get the opportunity to team up with his brother, Andrew, for the first time in the big leagues. The Cubs inked Andrew to a minor league pact at the end of Spring Training and recently selected him to the Major League roster.
Meisinger, 27, has a 5.70 career ERA, albeit in a tiny sample of 23 2/3 innings between the Orioles and the division-rival Cardinals. He’s spent the 2021 season thus far with the Cubs’ top affiliate in Iowa, pitching to a 4.25 ERA with a huge 34.4 percent strikeout rate but also a concerning 12.2 percent walk rate (in addition to three hit batters).
The 29-year-old Ryan, meanwhile, has struggled to a 6.75 ERA in 13 1/3 innings this year. It’s the second straight season of struggles for Ryan, who posted similarly discouraging numbers in 15 2/3 frames with the 2020 Cubs.
That said, Ryan has been excellent in 25 innings of Triple-A ball this season, logging a 2.52 ERA with a 24-to-7 K/BB ratio. He’s also not terribly far removed from a 2019 season that saw him toss 61 frames of 3.54 ERA ball as one of the Cubs’ most heavily used relievers.
With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, Ryan will be placed on either outright or release waivers in the coming days and be made available to all 29 other clubs. He’s playing on an $800K salary, so he’ll cost a bit more than the league minimum, but Ryan has a bit of track record and can be optioned for the remainder of the season, so he’d be a solid enough depth pickup for a team in need of some southpaws in the bullpen.
It had to happen. It was a good journey, Jake, but I think it ends here. Nice career
For the prorated league minimum odds are someone will give him a chance
-2 WAR, where’s the upside here?
Red Sox possibly
Mop up duty.
If they want to make the playoffs they will steer clear.
Didn’t stop Matt Harvey from being employed the past 5 years
Mets
Someone may see value in converting him to relief duty.
Mets got Hill, why not Arrieta. He can’t be worse than some on their staff.
angels! if they are smart they need to throw away the season. but, i, kind of doubt, if they are that smart.
He might be awful enough for the Cardinals to sign.
a little young for the redbirds
@mac1brad awesome comment i thought it was hilarious and this is coming from a cards fan.
Zaidi may be calling since Cueto just went on IL
@redwolves3 doubt it. Cueto is only going to miss one start and FZ just signed 3 pitchers to minor league deals.
They can survive without Cueto. Cueto has an FIP near 4. Arrieta is washed up.
Exactly. The Cubs did him a favor by releasing him. If he is willing to move to the bullpen he could easily find some of that lost velocity. Kennedy and Graveman are solid examples of starters that found a new career out of the pen. Seems like someone Cashman would take a shot on.
Most overrated pitcher ever. 1 1/2 good seasons and the rest junk. What a fraud.
64-29 2014-2017 (4 seasons)
Averaged 16 wins a year during that run.
Go away now troll.
With the exception of 2014 he played on some really good Cubs team. The fact you’re retorting with wins shows you’re somewhat of a troll too.
His 2014-2017 seasons were great. He had an ERA+ of 151, and was #9, #1, and #9 on the Cy Young voting, and was #5 in the MLB in fWAR.
Now who is trolling?
Ha. Love the conviction of the hot take: Most overrated pitcher ever! Ever!
So you’re admitting you’re a troll, though.
That’s good and all and kudos to you for doing all that research. Still doesn’t take away my point of wins being a poor indicator of how good a pitcher is. Jake Arrieta = overrated.
Overrated by whom? To me, a player is whatever his stats show him to be. He was one of the best pitchers in BB for 4 years. He went into a decline at age 31, like a lot of other guys, and then the Phillies went completely off the rails and signed him for $75M/3.
But except for you and the Phillies, I am not seeing anything overrated.
Yea but all of his other stats were great including the 2 no hitters the post season wins , the era crown was great for the Cubs just average after
Well.
Look who’s back. Sweeet. I can guarantee that – at the very least – this place is interesting.
On trolls:
Yes. We have ’em. Our fair share, certainly.
Personally…ya know, an old timer at the barbershop got me to start “pulling wire for walleyes” (trolling) on the way back to wherever I launched from when I’m waterfowling.
It’s not my focus. But…well, I will throw a line in the water & see what I can add to the freezer. So to speak.
Lastly:
@Joe Brady is one of my favorite dudes on the board. Check it. He’s also a red sox fan. Crazy times, bro.
He’s not wrong. Only 3 good seasons where he’s had a decent FIP and reached 200 innings once (197 another season). High WHIP throughout career minus two fantastic years.
In fairness the Phillies were in a transitionary phase of their rebuild and wanted a pitcher with a solid track record. 3 years isn’t a bad contract for a pitcher, it just didn’t work out.
Ducky Buckin Fent
Crazy times, bro.
==============================
Thanks. I got a lot of respect for Yankee fans. They waay overrate their prospects, but that might be an issue of loyalty over logic. Past that, and this might be a Bronx thing, virtually all Yankee fans have some knowledge of the game.
Not that I don’t disagree with them sometimes, but I seldom run into completely baseless opinions. In my day, baseball, whether it was hardball, stickball, wiffleball, or later, softball, everyone played it. There was no one my age that couldn’t hold an in-depth discussion.
Call ’em like I see ’em, @Brady.
On Yankee fans & prospects:
The fascination & high value placed on them is a relatively new deal. Before Jeter, Bernie, Posada, Rivera, Petitte we really didn’t care about MiLB players.
Also, I think that exists with every fan base. Yankee fans are just kind of…loud.
Of course we’ll disagree about stuff.
Yankees & red sox fans, uh?
I would also expand that same sentiment towards football, too. Everyone played. Everyone knew about the game.
Nah Blake Snell is even more overrated and the worst recent Cy Young is Porcello
Blake Snell was just easily overlooked. He never was fantastic. I kept saying a 5 inning pitcher like him is not an ace. His career numbers show that he isn’t great if you look into them.
I do agree Porcello is not Cy Young material.
bucs – how does that make him a fraud?
Because when you mention Arrieta’s name, you should think of similar pitchers with brief, great stretches like Ubaldo Jiminez or Jair Jurrgens. Instead this dope got planted on one of the most stacked offensive teams (with great defenders too) in recent memory and the media portrayed him as some kind of great pitcher. Watch a game or two of his from 2016 or so…. line drive rockets all over the place. Baez, Heyward, Bryant, Rizzo, etc all making him look good. When the pixie dust wore off and the ball started finding the holes, a fraud was revealed. I don’t think his stuff declined as much as his numbers show – he just wasn’t as good as the numbers were to begin with.
You are so right. Amazes me that a mediocre pitcher has a good year and teams slobber over each other. Giving millions to a middle rotation plinker.
Must have stopped doing…ahem…yoga 😉
Overrated indeed. One wind of steroid talk and his losses and era ballooned.
When you have a good a year that Arrieta did in 2015, people overrating him is not surprising nor do I blame them for doing so.
Old school or new school, 22 Wins and a 1.77 ERA with excellent peripherals and a historically great 2nd half all makes for a beautiful portrait of a baseball player and one not so easily replicated.
If he didn’t have that year, let alone any of 2014 through 2018, none of us would be saying anything about him – good or bad.
No, Jansen exists
That Cy-young that he won a few years ago was nothing more than an aberration. How do you go 22-6 1.77 era then have nothing more than mediocre seasons after that. Most over-rated player in recent memory
How do you go 22-6 1.77 era then have nothing more than mediocre seasons after that.
=============================
He got older. Following his C.Y.:
Age 30 18-8 3.10
Age 31 14-10 3.53
Age 32 10-11 3.96
Age 33 8-8 4.64
Age 34 4-4 5.08
I’m not a Cubs fan or an Arrieta fan, but all of this looks perfectly normal.
Remember when people said it was collusion why nobody signed Arrieta for 6-8 years lol. Should be forced to publicly apologize for such ludicrous comment.
That’s mostly the press. The press is supposed to be unbiased, but always sides with the downtrodden players. What Philly paid was already crazy.
Nice run, but it’s over. Had no idea he had an ERA approaching 7. It’s humiliating to keep trotting out a guy like that every fifth day.
That’s like Matt Harvey the past FIVE seasons, yet he’s still has a job in the major league
Matt Harvey has actually been pretty good for the last couple of months. Doubt it holds up but you never know.
Teams keep taking a flyer on Harvey. That’s the thing.
He was a gamer. I watched his last start last night, he looked pained and hurt. He wants to compete but his body has rebelled. When he was good he was really good, let’s remember that Jake Arrieta.
He was getting creamed. The manager sure left him in far beyond what was already a shellacking.
Low class organization.
Samuel
He was getting creamed. The manager sure left him in far beyond what was already a shellacking.
======================================
Not at all. Not even really close, imo.
He gave up 7 runs in the 1st inning. All the damage was done before the manager could even get to the phone. So it is not like they could call a timeout, give an RP 10 minutes to warm up.
Further, starting SPs have to take a hit like that occasionally. If you run out your BP for 9 innings every time the starter gets hit, they’ll be toast in august.
Further, he allowed one run in the following 3 innings. It was probably better for Arrieta’s psyche to have been allowed to stay in.
If Bobby did one thing right with the RS, it was that he allowed the Yankees to light him up one game. I’m sure Lester was embarrassed, But the lesson is, if you don’t want to be embarrassed, then pitch better. Lester’s ERA was 5.46 going into that game, and it was 3.92 after that game.
Low class? Come on. They’re down a relief pitcher and the BP has been over worked for several weeks. I can’t think of many managers that wouldn’t have done the same thing in Ross’s situation.
Well said! It was painful to watch,even as a Brewer Fan!
IF HES HURTING LIKE YOU SAY…..THEN HE SHOULD RETIRE INSTEAD OF MILKING MILLIONS
@Ghost of pirates past
If you had the opportunity to that you would as well. Or maybe he thought he could still play, you’re no saint either.
To me it seems like he is completely finished but Someone should try him in the bullpen. Maybe he could gain back some velo. Probably not but worth a long shot for minimum $.
Maybe, but remember, the Brewers tagged him for 7 in the first inning. I’m not sure that even getting his velo back up a couple mph would even help that. Plus his pitches were all over the place. I think he’s just lost it.
It’s not an issue of him losing it over the course of the start though, the thought is if he knows he’s only throwing 20-30 pitches the whole day he can exert way more effort into those pitches and perhaps add a couple ticks to his FB instead of saving some in the tank for later.
You’re right that it’s not going to help with command/control issue but if he can sit 92-93 and maybe get a little move movement instead of sitting 90 that might make him a little more competitive.
Shocking. He made it out of the first with only giving up 7.
Must be the wise comment after the game.
Agreed. The Cubs have no issues losing. It’s that they don’t need the post game crap. And I’m guessing they don’t want that type of attitude around a young team.
Geez, I mean he threw a great BP out there yesterday! 37 pitches in the first inning and then he settled down…
Os fan here. Glad he was able to flash some brilliance despite the best efforts of then-Baltimore coaching staff to snuff out every last bit of natural talent.
You made it sir, you got your 10 years in and a few seasons you can be proud of. Best of luck moving forward.
He should be working one of the concession stands for as poorly as he pitched for the O’s despite every opportunity.
The Oriole coaching staff did a horrible job with him, not allowing him to throw certain pitches because they wanted to “save” his arm. Went to the Cubs, who let him throw his whole repertoire and was immediately successful.
They should have kept in the rotation through the end of the year just for tanking purposes.
End of the road.
Remember when Chicago blowhard media pundits were acting like signing him was a revelation in April and they were not seeing a loss from Darvish…oh boy, that did not age well. His pitching career is over. goodbye.
Who?
No. I remember people being livid that they traded Darvish.
Orioles will be calling.
The Orioles would make Arrieta’s career symmetrical.
Literally said to my Cubs fan girlfriend as the game was starting last night “why don’t they just release him?” Well boom there ya go. Go Crew!
We all know you don’t have a girlfriend much less one who is a baseball fan.
Sox could use him
Which Sox? As a White Sox fan, part of me hopes they sign him so Katz can fix him in the offseason. Everyone needs a challenge, lol. But for this year, I don’t see how he helps any team at the major league level.
In a week, the #5 guy in the RS rotation will be Pivetta. So I assume you mean the WS?
Thanks for the memories Jake!
Any chance they release David Ross Jed Hoyer and Tom Ricketts? That would be good news
Ricketts is the one to release. Worse owner in baseball.
> Bob Nutting has entered the chat.
Right on the heel of Dick Monfort
Jerry Reinsdorf would like a word…
Mr. Dogbone, by far the most intelligent comment you have made.
Just to check, since I am not a Cubs fan, but isn’t Ricketts the most successful owner the Cubs ever had? In the past 7 years, the Cubs have made the playoffs 5x, with one WSC.
Which Cubs owner is better than Ricketts?
Signing Ross was hysterical. Thinking a guy who just played with these guys a few years back was actually capable of keeping that locker room together was the icing on the cake.
I wonder if Farhan Zaidi will take a chance on Arrieta? Bullpen perhaps?
Eh, probably not worth the roster spot with their depth. If scouting sees something that they think they can fix, possibly. But I don’t think a contender would trust him in the bigs.
Well Shoemaker and Chatwood got minor league deals, so no way Arrieta gets anything for the majors from the Giants. Even then something has to go terribly wrong or wonderfully right for any of those guys to be called up
The Giants definitely don’t need (or want) Jake. We have more than enough depth!!!
youre forgetting the one major stat that is left it for October – the desire to win above all else. I think its worth a shot, at least an outing or two. Fix him up Giants. He could be our dark horse, and if hes right – HOLY
i like it. Give him a shot. He would fit WELL with this vet-ladened club
Bet the Angels sign him as their “big pitching move”
Mets
Considering their next 13 games are against the Dodgers and Giants, I highly doubt it. Rojas was actually happy with the performance today of the other Cub they picked up at the deadline – Trevor Williams. Trevor’s on a minors deal, so they were able to use him as the 27th player during the doubleheader, then return him to Syracuse. Mets will have more of them so he’ll probably get another call then. DeGrom and Thor are due back in September, so I think they’ll try to make do with the rotation they have until then.
My Angels will attempt to resurrect this career….
Interesting career. 17.4 of his 23.6 lifetime BWAR come in 2014-2016. Otherwise OK to pretty bad. Made over 110M, wins a Cy Young, pitches well in a winning WS.
He hasn’t had it in quite awhile. I do appreciate his last start in Philly were he battled through injury and tried to delivery a quality start, but no two ways around it, that Philly contract was horrible. Solid career though. Won the big games when they mattered for the Cubbies.
Not that they didn’t deserve it, but didn’t like his all too frequent pressers where he threw Phillies teammates under the bus.
Yeah. There’s a big difference between “We have to do better.” and “Our offense needs to hit.” I hate lack of accountability and throwing teammates under the bus is classless, but to be fair, Arrieta seemed like a well-liked clubhouse guy. So maybe it just looked bad in the press conference.
Sad to see his career with the Cubs at least end this way. He should have retired.
Well at that is left is…. The Cubs are on the clock..
Wonder if he will take a bullpen role seriously
Davey Martinez has entered the chat.
He signed a market contract and failed this Year! Sad to see him go out on such a downer! Seems like a nice teammate! Good Luck in retirement!
Did you know! You don’t have to end! Every sentence! With an exclamation point!
Do you know you sound like a KNIT Picker!
I would think this is the end. I doubt he will accept the likely minor league contract with spring training invite and compete for a job. I doubt anyone would pick him up now and give up a 40 space to him.
Phillies should sign him as a rp after he goes unclaimed…..( life long Phillies fan who endured the last 3 yrs of him)
He’s a veteran presence in the clubhouse and MUST now look to extend his career. His stuff should play better in the bullpen…and the fit would be seamless back there, as there were no rumblings of him being a cancer..
And he screams to me as a guy who won’t go quietly into that good night…
He’s 35, won a cy young, won a ring, made over 100 Million. I’m sure he’s fine with calling it a carrer.
It’s about Time
Good luck Jake. Thanks for some great years and the World Series in 2016. Now can Jason Heyward please retire like Chris Davis.
He will get a shot with another team- with no August 31 trade deadline teams can’t pick up a starter for the stretch run. A claim on Arrieta may be a GMs only option to add an extra starter.
About time. Hey it was worth a shot for 6 million. Now why are Happ and Duffy still getting AB’s? If you’re going to stink, You might as well stink younger and use this time to weed out the minor league waste overflow with the 20 new draft picks and the deadline group coming in. Not like there aren’t plenty of weeds to remove from the garden.
Happ and Duffy play because you have very little ML talent in the minors>
He’ll be a Dodger in 2 days.
Well it has come to an end for Jake and it is for the best because there is no way you run him out there again and watch him get nailed like he got last night!
The team now has no one to come watch and play with Contreras on the DL. This will probably end his season.
The Long, Long dog days of summer are certainly here for the Cubbies
I predicted the cubs would be horrible and lucky to finish ahead of the Pirates. Hit it right on. Be happy for your once in 120 year title. Losers and always have been.
your prediction was horrible, then
since if cubbies would have kept all the players who have been traded, they wouldnt have finished 4th
and cubs have 3 titles in the last 120 years, 2016 probably being more recent than your team
but you do you
But…they didn’t keep their players. AND Bucs have same number of titles in half of the time. Poor old Jake has probably got plantar fasciitis. No biggie.
Whatever I am getting 10 bucs a game that the Cardinals finish ahead of the cubs. After today that 75 dollars and counting but enjoy your one and done.
I wonder what’s changed from his first few starts when he looked passable to this most recent stretch when he’s entirely not competitive.
Padres desperately need additional SP since they only have 4 right now and even then Weathers should not be starting, but I think with Arrieta is currently not even performing well enough to justify trying him over the internal bullpen arms they’re using now. If they try to stretch Stammen out and he gets pounded again, I wouldn’t put it past Preller though…
After seeing Jake’s 2020 (5+) and 2021 (6+) ETA, I was shocked that the Cubs even brought him back in the first place. Why put him or yourself in this position. I felt really bad for Jake watching him in the first inning, but was glad to him turn it a round by the 4th. That said, I hope he calls it a day and enjoys his retirement. Now, the Cubs need to dump Heyward somehow. This would be the last of terrible Cub Contracts. Contreras? What to do about you? Stay or go? That said, by 2025, the Cubs will have a $1 million payroll, but should be able to start adding big names by 2024. I am looking forward to the rebuild so ALL Chicago teams can be contenders.
Will sign with the Mutts they sign anybody who can throw a ball and has 2 arms.Then they will rant what a great DEPTH signing.
I’d like to think the Angels will stay away from Arrieta, but we signed Lincecum.
Tim Lincecum got a horrible case of Steve Blass disease.
Completely serious thought… Texas should pick him up. He fits a similar profile to Minor, Lynn, and Gibson when we grabbed them. See if you can fix him as well.
Arrieta can go back to the Orioles. His stats are just slightly below Matt Harvey’s. They can be a serious 6.00 ERA one-two punch at the top of their rotation.
If theres one team that has made it their REPUTATION to re-brandish guys for specified roles, its the Giants. Giants can maybe fix him, or see something he hasnt seen, and then BP him for special assignments. Just a thought, it seems like something Farhan would take a look at. You cant deny Jakes fire, and the Giants are chock full of that veteran passion.
lol Vetrean passion – sounds like a supermarket romance novel with Fabio on the cover
If he goes to the Giants the pitching coach can supply him with PED’S and sticky stuff Giants are cheating fools and their pitching coach Andrew Bailey should have been kicked out of baseball for supplying the sticky stuff for the staff but him and Kapler perfect together both Damn Weirdos.
Yup thats us, cheating to win World Series lmfao….. wut?
Our team rocks. Give them credit Bob
Bob have a really good day today
I really hope Dayton Moore doesn’t see that he’s available. it’s bad enough that the Royals had to have Matt Harvey for several starts last year, It would be really bad if Dayton decided to pick Jake Arrieta up for depth these last two months
Looking at his career stats, it’s hard to believe he got paid $30M for a single season.
His performance going into Free Agency wasn’t worth the contract he got. He was overpaid on the AAV but maybe that’s what Philly was thinking. Overpay on the AAV but save themselves the extra years.
He was done after 2019. Good on him for getting that extra $6M in the bank, but it’s over. He should retire, unless he just can’t not play baseball.
4 great to excellent years in an otherwise mediocre career. He just happened to have those years at the right time to hit the free agent jackpot. And he won a WS ring. Not too shabby.
2 no hitters within 15 regular season starts. The only no hitter in 2016. Which was in April. That alone is amazing considering this year alone there’s been 7 no hitters and 2 7inning no hitters.
Here come the Cardinals. Picking up leftovers with the Cubs paying the balance.
Ran out of juice.
The Cubs’ pitching instantly became better. They gave up 10 runs yesterday and 16 (so far) today.
I hope Hoyer cut a deal with Mega Bus megabus.com for service between Iowa and Chicago….
Hit the road “Jake”, and…..
At least he is not Joliet Jake, and in some prison!
The Cubs demise is the feel good story of the year.
When he was in Philadelphia, he came a across as an arrogant jerk. He wasn’t that good, yet he would tell you otherwise and that the fans didn’t appreciate him. Here’s hoping the Braves or the Mets can find a spot in their rotation for him.
You are likely right. However, the media and fans are over the top in Philly. They can make people into acting like Donkeys!
Maybe he can be turned into a one inning reliever — maybe he could rebound like Eckersley once did.
Made $110 million off that 2015 CY Young. Thats a nice boat right there.
Remember what Jeb Hoyer said, we are not in a rebuild, just retooling . How does finishing on the bottom for several years now with a horrible farm system and owners that have become Scrooge!
Patience is needed. Hopefully, the owner will spend enough money and hire the right people to turn it around. Right now it is ugly!