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The Padres are “close” to signing the right-hander Jake arrieta, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). USA Today’s Bob Nightengale first indicated that the Padres were among the contenders to contact Arrieta, who was released by the Cubs last week. Arrieta is replaced by the Boras Corporation.
San Diego suddenly finds itself desperate for the innings – a scenario few would have anticipated after an offseason in which the brothers acquired Yu darvish, Blake snell and Joe musgrove to reinforce a rotation that already seemed to have quite a bit of depth. However, Darvish was placed on the injured list yesterday due to back problems, and the Padres are also currently without Chris Paddack (oblique effort), Dinelson Lamet (forearm inflammation, hip surgery) and Adrien morejon (Tommy John surgery). Bragged prospect MacKenzie Gore hasn’t been in a game since June 13, as he was sent back to the team’s spring training complex to work on mechanical issues soon after.
Arrieta will give the Padres a veteran option to soak up a few innings, but the extent of his struggles with the Cubs underscores the dire nature of the need for weapons in San Diego right now. While Arrieta has got off to a good start after signing a one-year, $ 6.5 million contract to return to the Cubs, his production has cracked after a handful of solid outings to start the season.
Arrieta pitched at a 2.57 ERA in his first five starts, but has since been eliminated for 58 points in 58 1/3 innings. He has completed six innings just once in those 15 outings and completed five frames in just six of them. And while a few mediocre releases can always skew the numbers by a few months, that’s not necessarily the case here; Arrieta has allowed at least four runs in 10 of those 15 starts. This year’s 90.8mph fastball average is the lowest of his career and represents a two-mile-an-hour drop from last year’s levels.
Of course, Arrieta was once one of the best weapons in the game. He followed a solid first half in 2015 with a historically dominant second half, heading for a National League Cy Young Award and a sixth place finish in the game. MVP vote of the NL. He then threw a shutout on his playoff debut in 2015. This was followed by the All-Star campaign in 2016, which featured 197 1/3 innings of 3.10 ERA balls, and Arrieta posted an ERA 3.63 in 22 1/3 post-season frames. as the Cubs marched to a World Series victory. Overall, he was a major driver of the Cubs’ transformation into an eternal competitor in his first race there.
It all sounds like a distant memory after three lackluster years in Philadelphia, elbow surgery, and Wrigley’s unsuccessful reunion this year. The Padres are hoping a change of scenery can result in some late-season flashes in a bottle, but the growing number of rotational injuries has left their grip on the second-place NL Wild Card more tenuous than ever. What was a six-game lead over the Reds as recently as July 27 has been reduced to a 2.5-game lead over their closest rivals in Cincinnati.
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