PHILADELPHIA– The Philadelphia Phillies landed their second marquee free agent this off season and a big name to its starting rotation.
The team came to terms with P Jake Arrieta on a three-year deal on Sunday.
Arrieta, 32, will make $30 million in 2018, followed by base salaries of $25 million in 2019, and $20 million in 2020, according to Jon Heyman.
There is an opt out in which Arrieta could leave the team after the second year, but there is also a vesting option that could stretch the deal to five years.
On top of that, there are incentives that could increase the value of the deal based on Arrieta’s Cy Young voting performances.
Arrieta is coming off a dominant 4.5 year run with the Chicago Cubs, where he went 68-31 with a 2.73 ERA in over 800 innings.
However, in 2017, Arrieta had his highest ERA in four years, coming in at 3.53 while accumulating a 14-10 record.
The Phillies were in desperate need of a starting rotation upgrade, after the team’s starters totaled a 4.71 ERA in 2017.
