Cubs: Who will be better in 2021 – Jake Arrieta or Yu Darvish?

Since everyone in Chicago knows who Jake Arrieta and Yu Darvish are, let’s get right to the point: what are the chances that a 2016 World Series hero and former Cubs Cy Young winner will have a better year than two-time Cy Young runner-up and 2017 World Series goat?

First things first- 2016 and 2017 were a long time ago. Arrieta is not the same guy he was in his 2015 Cy Young season, or even the World Series year of 2016. Darvish, on the other hand, still might be the same guy he was then as evidenced by his last year and a half on the mound. Oh, and he might not really be so much of a goat since he was pitching against cheaters in that infamous ’17 World Series.

Now that all of that is out of the way, it’s pretty clear that these two guys have shared some kind of bizarre Cubs connection ever since the end of that 2017 World Series. Darvish signed with the Cubs that next offseason right on the heels of Theo Epstein and the Cubs waving goodbye to one of the best pitchers the club had ever seen.

Cubs fans weren’t happy then and they’re not happy now

Most fans were fairly annoyed, especially given the fact that… well… Arrieta was basically Superman; and, Darvish, well… he was looking like anything but that after getting rocked by the Astros a couple months prior. Both guys were 30 years old and looking for big-time money; Darvish got it from the Cubs and Arrieta got some of it from the Phillies very late into Spring Training that year.

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Now, it seems, fate has drawn these two back together again for a reversal of rides as Arrieta rejoins the Cubs on the heels of a Darvish exit to San Diego via trade. Oh, and guess what: fans aren’t very happy about letting go of Darvish this time, although they might be a bit more excited with the Arrieta reunion if only because of the bad vibes emanating from Clark and Addison for most of the offseason (they might still be reverberating, actually).

Under different circumstances, the Arrieta signing would look tremendous and there’s a chance he might be a great value as a one-year addition to this 2021 team and rotation. The only problem is, instead of coming in as the number three guy behind some combination of Yu Darvish and Kyle Hendricks, he’s essentially filling the “two” role behind the now clear ace of the staff, the ever stoic and professorial Hendricks. What could have been a best-in-division rotation of Darvish, Hendricks, Arrieta, Alec Mills, and Adbert Alzolay now features one fewer ace in the hole.

While it’s clear the Cubs 2021 rotation would indubitably be better and deeper with Darvish still on the team, maybe there’s the chance that Arrieta coming to Chicago after a few inconsistent years in Philadelphia could produce the same career renaissance as his original arrival from Baltimore in 2013. If the Cubs and Arrieta can catch lightning in a bottle a second time thanks to some minor tweaks and the comfortable Wrigley Field/Chicago digs, maybe they won’t miss Darvish quite so much.