The rumored marriage between the Philadelphia Phillies and ace pitcher Jake Arrieta appears to be coming to fruition. According to Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philly, the two sides have an agreement in principle that is pending a physical.
Phillies have agreement in principle with Jake Arrieta. Deal pending physical. It will be multi year deal.
— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyNBCS) March 11, 2018
Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports reports the terms of the deal are $75 million over three years.
Jake Arrieta gets $75 million over 3 years
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 11, 2018
That Arrieta was leaving Chicago was all but a given once Yu Darvish signed his mega-deal last month. Since then, teams have been poking around, and now Arrieta appears to have found a new home.
If the Phillies are going to turn things around in 2018 after a poor 2017 campaign, then Arrieta will likely have a lot to do with it. He’s coming off somewhat of a sub-par campaign by his standards, having posted a 3.53 ERA and 1.218 WHIP with a record of 14-10 last season with the Cubs. But he’s still one of the elite starters in today’s game and should be a big boost to this club, which hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2011.