NEWSLETTER
The Padres are losing Yu Darvish to the Injured List (back issues), where he’ll join Chris Paddack and Dinelson Lamet, and now the Padres are getting really desperate in the rotation.
Really:
Yu Darvish is expected to go on the IL (back).
Padres are talking to veteran free agents. Jake Arrieta is in the mix.— Kevin Acee (@sdutKevinAcee) August 15, 2021
Padres are looking for pitching reinforcements. Jake Arrieta is a possibility. @sdutKevinAcee mentioned
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 15, 2021
Has a bit of a wishful feel to it, being perhaps floated by Arrieta’s agent. Even as desperate as the Padres might be, it’s hard to imagine them feeling Arrieta, who was literally the worst starting pitcher in baseball (sorry, Jake, it’s just data), is the right guy to give them innings in a playoff crush in August and September. But hey, if it happens, all the best of luck to him and the Padres.
Still, if they were really desperate, and had no options internally or in free agency beyond Arrieta, you’d think the Padres would turn to the trade market. Yup, that’s right, I said trade market. Although there are no waiver trades in August anymore, you *can* still trade for true minor leaguers. Might there not be a minor league veteran at Triple-A somewhere who is a better bet to give you decent innings than Arrieta at this point? I could see it. Not that it’s likely to be pretty in either case – but that’s kinda what happens when you get to this level of desperation in mid-August.
… it’s also why, if you’re a contender with even a hint of question in your rotation, you make sure to add a starting pitcher at the Trade Deadline. It was a very weird deadline for the Padres, who could have had – for example – Zach Davies on the cheap. I’m still not quite sure why that didn’t happen, even as rough as Davies’ year has been at times, he would apparently be a huge help to the Padres now. Alas.
We’ll see what happens on the Arrieta front. He’ll clear release waivers shortly (if he hasn’t already), and then he’ll be free to sign with any team. Any deal figures to be a minor league deal, where his new team will have the flexibility to assess his level of readiness, make a tweak or two, and then deploy him in the rotation if he shows readiness. It seems unlikely to me. But if it happens, the Cubs will save about a month’s worth of the Major League minimum salary, so, hey, how about that. About $120K the Cubs can repurpose this offseason in free agency, AMIRITE?
