San Diego Padres: What Adding Arrieta Could Mean to This Team

Yesterday, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports let the cat out of the bag and confirmed that the San Diego Padres were having internal discussions about adding the ace to their staff. A move like that could, most definitely, put this team over the top.

Right off of the bat, let’s just put this out there: This is still all pure speculation at this point, but if the San Diego Padres were to add free-agent hurler Jake Arrieta to their staff it would make some serious waves, forget ripples.

Yesterday we spoke about the effect that Arrieta could have on the Padres’ young pitching staff, and that still holds true. What I’m contemplating today are the short and long-term effects of adding an established ace to this staff.

Of course, Arrieta would add ten to fifteen wins to this team’s projected total the minute he signed the contract. If he can rediscover the form that won him a Cy Young Award just a couple of years ago, that number could increase even more significantly.

San Diego Padres should just do it

Let’s imagine that A.J. Preller agrees to give Arrieta the big deal he’s looking for, using four years, $80 million as an example. Sure, that’s a lot of dim-sum. But for a pitcher like that, it would be worth it.

In my humble estimations, adding even the 14-win, 3.53 ERA, and 1.9 WAR pitcher that Arrieta was last season would improve this staff considerably. It might push a guy like Jordan Lyles or Matt Strahm into the role of a full-time reliever but, again, totally worth it.

Bringing in a perennial All-Star like Jake Arrieta, even at the price he is commanding, could turn out to be an invaluable addition to a team that (maybe not this year, but soon) figures to be in heavy contention for years to come.

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Luis Perdomo, Dinelson Lamet, Joey Lucchesi, MacKenzie Gore, Cal Quantrill, etc. will all benefit from having a guy like Arrieta around. Even Clayton Richard could profit off the addition, as he wouldn’t need to be relied upon so greatly to lead this young Friars’ rotation.

Again, this is all speculation at this point. But it sure is fun, isn’t it?