Did Chicago Cubs do Jake Arrieta wrong in breakup?

With Jake Arrieta sharing new details about his breakup with the Chicago Cubs, does it change your view of the Cubs letting him walk?

In the end, baseball, like any other sport, is a business. And past performance isn’t always enough to convince people of future success. As such, it didn’t necessarily surprise Chicago Cubs fans that the team didn’t re-sign Jake Arrieta after a down 2017.

After all, Arrieta’s 32 years old and struggled with injury issues last season, only showing brief spurts of his 2-15 Cy young-winning self.

And with Yu Darvish and his electric stuff on the market, the Cubs decided that he might be a better investment long-term. So they signed Darvish to a six-year, $126 million deal: a fairly friendly contract for the Cubs.

Arrieta, meanwhile, signed with the Philadelphia Phillies on a three-year, $75 million deal. As he said to ESPN today, he doesn’t mind betting himself to prove he deserves more from Philly in the long run.

In the end, both sides got a situation that they wanted. Arrieta got a contract, and the Cubs bolstered their rotation.

But could, or rather should, the Chicago Cubs have tried harder to keep him in town? After Arrieta revealed some details about his brief negotiations with the Cubs, it might be worth asking.

Arrieta reportedly turned down a six-year, $120 million deal offered to him by Theo Epstein just before the team signed Darvish. And according to Arrieta, he got the impression that Epstein and the Cubs knew before offering that this deal wasn’t going down.

Here’s what he said to the Sun-Times’ Gordon Wittenmyer about his conversation with the Cubs’ GM:

"“He called literally the night before [Yu] Darvish signed and said, ‘Here’s the offer, take it or leave it,” the 32-year-old right-hander said. “If you don’t want it, we’re going to try to sign Darvish as soon as possible.’He made an offer, but in my heart, I believe that he knew I would say no or that I would want to negotiate.”"

Interesting.

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On one hand, the logic of not wanting to overpay for Arrieta if he wasn’t going to stay healthy and, as a result, fail to pitch up to his past performance makes sense. Coming into the season, Darvish was projected to pitch more innings and be more valuable anyway.

Also, we don’t know how much Arrieta wanted per year, so it’s hard to say what the Cubs should or should not have done.

However, if the price for Arrieta was what his Phillies deal could be extended to — five years, $135 million — does letting him walk look worse?

Arrieta’s certainly winning the head-to-head right now with both guys five starts into the season. Arrieta currently sports a 3-1 record with a 3.49 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 28.1 innings. On the other hand, Darvish is 0-2 with a 5.26 ERA and 29 Ks.

Next: Does Darvish hold greater potential than Arrieta?

It’s early, of course, and we don’t want to use those numbers to jump to conclusions. But it just raises the question again: should the Chicago Cubs have valued Arrieta more highly?

And could letting him leave in free agency be viewed as a mistake by Epstein, even if just a short-term one?

Ultimately, if Darvish turns things around, it might not matter at all. But right now, it’s hard not to wonder if perhaps Jake Arrieta should still be with the Chicago Cubs.