San Diego Padres will regret signing and starting Jake Arrieta
By Kevin Henry
In an effort to keep their hopes for the postseason alive, the San Diego Padres are gambling on Jake Arrieta regaining his form on the mound. It’s a big gamble, and one that very likely won’t pay off.
Here’s why the San Diego Padres signing Jake Arrieta won’t help them reach the postseason.
Signed to a minor league deal on Monday, the 35-year-old right-hander is expected to start Wednesday’s game for the Padres at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies. It’s certainly a tough assignment to ask Arrieta to go into Denver and hold down a team that has performed very well at home in 2021 (38-21, the second-best home winning percentage in Major League Baseball heading into Monday’s series opener with San Diego), but it’s also even tougher knowing that Arrieta has already been bombed by the Rockies once this season at Coors Field. That came on August 5 with the Chicago Cubs when Colorado tagged him for nine hits and four runs in four innings of work.
That was the next-to-last start Arrieta would make in a Cubs uniform before he was released on August 12. After a pair of trips to the injured list, Arrieta would finish his season with the Cubs with a 6.88 ERA, 1.76 WHIP, and opponents hitting .315 against him.
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And those aren’t the only statistics that are concerning about Arrieta in 2021. His barrel percentage of 9.2 is the highest of his career as is the 90.8 mph exit velocity that batters are sending his pitches back into play. His hard hit percentage of 44.9 is the only time in his career he has been over 40 percent in the category.
Over Arrieta’s last seven starts, he’s lasted just 23.1 innings and gave up 48 hits while posting an 11.57 ERA.
Certainly, there’s a reason why the Padres are taking a chance on Arrieta. With a rotation that has been decimated by injuries and with San Diego fighting off plenty of competition for the second National League Wild Card spot, the Padres need to find pitchers who can not only eat innings, but also help the team get to October. With Arrieta’s track record, particularly his first run with the Cubs that included a Cy Young and World Series title, the hope of what he could potentially do makes sense.
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However, hope and reality don’t often work in tandem. Such will be the case with Arrieta on the mound in what could be a short stint on the San Diego roster.