Washington Nationals: Did Miguel Montero cost them Jake Arrieta?

If Miguel Montero wasn’t with the Washington Nationals, did they have a better chance at signing Jake Arrieta?

In 2017, Miguel Montero and Jake Arrieta had a very public feud as Chicago Cubs teammates. Oddly enough, it came in a game against the Washington Nationals.

You see, they were batterymates in this game. It’s something they had done before and will probably never do again.

In this outing, the speedy Nationals took advantage of this and ran all over the bases against the pair. Trea Turner was the most egregious culprit with four in the game.

Montero blasted Arrieta after the game. A choice needed to be made. The Cubs picked Arrieta and Montero became a member of the Toronto Blue Jays shortly after.

Flash forward several months and Montero is a free agent. The Nationals need some catching help, so they agree to a deal. But then Arrieta remains unsigned late into the offseason. The Nationals are linked to him in many rumors. Does he sign elsewhere because Montero is with the Nationals?

Some Theories

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Likely, Montero’s presence on the Washington Nationals had little to do with Arrieta’s choices. There never was a guarantee Montero would even make the MLB squad. He has now, so maybe it’s for the best the Nationals don’t have two sworn enemies in the same locker room together. It’s one thing for a toxic relationship to develop. It’s another thing to bring it in purposefully.

Since Montero did have one of the league’s worst percentages of throwing out base runners last year, it’s possible the two have made up since. Maybe Montero has reflected on the game and the season only to apologize later. It’s doubtful, but not impossible.

Because pitchers and catchers work so tightly together, it’s essential they get along. Even if they could forgive and forget there was no chance Arrieta could throw to Montero again safely.

The Montero, Arrieta Feud Should Continue

Instead of signing with the Nationals, Arrieta will pitch for the Philadelphia Phillies this season. That means if Montero can stay in the big leagues, there’s a chance they face each other.

While the professional wrestling fan in me hopes to see the feud continue, I don’t want to see it end with a fastball off of Montero’s chin. These two should settle any remaining score by who wins the at-bat.

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Many other factors were certainly at play when Arrieta settled on the Phillies. However, I can’t help but wonder how much Montero’s presence factored into it as well.