Padres Faux Winter Meetings: Search for SP ends with Jake Arrieta

It has not been easy finding a top of the rotation pitcher for the San Diego Padres in FanSided’s Faux Winter Meetings, but we did land Jake Arrieta.

If there is anything San Diego Padres fans can take away from our Faux Winter Meetings at FanSided, it’s that finding a top of the rotation pitcher will not be an easy task.

It seems like almost every team is hungry for top of the rotation pitching this offseason, and as a result, the price tag for these pitchers (both in money and prospects) has skyrocketed.

So when you see this trade below, just know this wasn’t my first, second, or even sixth choice for a starting pitcher. But it was the best I could do with what was left out there.

Here are the trade details:

The Padres also got $5 million in this deal.

And full disclosure, I was getting ready to go to bed when the Phillies GM asked about throwing in another prospect and I just said “sure.” For some reason I thought he was throwing in another prospect from his side, but oh well.

It does sting to give up a couple of young guys in Joey Cantillo and Efrain Contreras who have a ton of upside.

Had I not been so tired and so desperate to get a starting pitcher, I would not have done this deal. Especially after he threw in Contreras.

The deal I wanted was Arrieta, Randolph, and $5 million for Cantillo. Once he tried to throw in Contreras I should have just said I’ll do Arrieta and either Randolph or $5 million for Cantillo.

But at the same time, prospects are prospects. Maybe Cantillo and Contreras will be big league contributors down the road, but most likely they will flame out.

Cornelius Randolph is a throw-in here. But he is a former 10th overall pick who has the chance to be a power corner outfield bat very soon.

However, the most debated part of this deal may be trading for Jake Arrieta.

Like I said at the top, and I’ll get into more detail about the hunt for a starting pitcher in a future post, but Arrieta was not at the top of my list.

But I do like Arrieta and think he has a bounce-back season in 2020. And if not, then he becomes a rental player for $15 million in 2020.

He does have a $22.5 million option for 2021, but he’d have to really perform well next season to earn that option. And he has the same option for 2022 that is not likely to be picked up.

You can’t really judge Arrieta by his numbers in 2019 because he was battling bone spurs through most of the season. He’s now had those bones spurs removed, and I’m expecting to see a determined Arrieta in 2020.

Maybe that’s me pumping him up for making this deal and trying to be optimistic, but one thing we know about Arrieta is that he’s a fierce competitor.

I’ll take the fire of him and Chris Paddack at the top of my rotation any day.

If healthy, I expect Arrieta to have an ERA around 3.50 — especially pitching in a much more pitcher-friendly park than Citizens Bank.

In the last few days of our mock Winter Meetings I’m still hoping to find another veteran starter that will eat up some innings in the middle of the rotation.

Please continue to follow along in our mock Winter Meetings and go easy on me in the comments below.