Chicago Cubs: What Jake Arrieta might have meant to the 2018 team

Instead of bringing back 2015 National League Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta, the Chicago Cubs made a mistake and looked for other avenues this offseason.

When the 2017 offseason began, the big question for Chicago Cubs fans surrounded the future of right-hander Jake Arrieta in Cubbie Blue. Arrieta gave the Cubs five remarkable seasons, going 68-31 with a 2.73 ERA.

However, there was an odd sense that his time in Chicago had run its course. In his final campaign, his earned run average rose to its highest point since 2013 and fans felt like it was time to move on and make way to add another elite pitcher to the rotation.

As we all know, the Cubs let Arrieta walk and signed Yu Darvish to a six-year, $126 million deal. It seemed like the sexy move to make at the time, and to pair with another intriguing addition of Tyler Chatwood, the Cubs rotation looked to be the best the team has had in the Joe Maddon era.

However, these moves have completely fallen flat for the Cubs and I want to show what Jake Arrieta in the rotation would have meant for this team.

Chicago Cubs: Freeing up a chunk of cap space

Jake Arrieta signed a three-year deal with Philly for $75 million. Compare this to the $126 million spent on Darvish and $38 million on Chatwood, and the Cubs are saving big bucks. With the $51 million they could’ve saved from Darvish, we may have seen the Cubs make a bigger splash at the trade deadline.

With much more cap space, Chicago would have been much more in the mix (and probably pulled off a deal) for guys like Zach Britton, Chris Archer, J.A. Happ, and maybe even a bat like Manny Machado.

The Cubs have definitely made the best of the situation by adding Jesse Chavez, Cole Hamels, Brandon Kintzler, Jorge De La Rosa and Daniel Murphy on the cheap. All of these additions (minus Kintzler) have been incredible surprises for the team, but I think we call all agree that having the ability to add another lockdown arm at the deadline would improve this team even more.

Chicago Cubs: With Arrieta in-tow, this team would be elite

The Cubs are 78-54 entering August 30, and 48 of their wins (62 percent) have come in games started by the likes of Lester, Hendricks, and Quintana. These starters headline the eighth-ranked pitching staff in all of baseball.

With Cole Hamels coming to Chicago with new life, the Cubs have a staff a lot of teams envy. However, that fifth spot in the rotation remains up for grabs. Add Arrieta to this rotation and we see the Cubs right there with not only Houston for best staff in baseball, but top one of the best records in the game, as well.

With the Cubs looking toward the postseason, the four-man rotation seems set, but seeing inconsistency from Lester, Hendricks, and Q lends some uncertainty on their success come October.

Having a reliable fifth option to come in a save a rough outing from one of these arms could be huge. Sure, Montgomery and Jesse Chavez are there to be long relievers and help the Cubs win a ‘bullpen game,’ but having a let’s say, Quintana and Arrieta duo to go in a winner-take-all-game could be the difference in another World Series run.

The Cubs took a risk by letting Jake Arrieta walk. That risk hasn’t paid off but Theo and the front office have done their best to make up for Jake’s replacements and the Cubs find themselves in position to win their third straight division title. Things are great in Chicago right now, but with Arrieta as a part of this team, the Cubs could be closer to Boston than anybody in baseball.