With yesterday’s loss, Jake Arrieta has provided the Phillies with a 19-22 record in the last year of his 3-year $75M contract with the team. One has to go back a few years to find one that was worse in return from what the Phillies paid for.
Embed from Getty ImagesI can recall a few other players that were paid well, but no where near the $75M that the Phils will have paid Arrieta. Jon Lieber comes to mind, he was paid $21M from the Phils in ’05-07 and he was 29-30 with a .492 ERA for his time with the Phillies. Admittedly, the Phillies did finish 2nd in the NL East in ’05 and ’06 and first in ’07, but they should have been better with the stars they had on those teams is Lieber a main reason why? Is this still the case with this Phillies team over the past three years?
Embed from Getty ImagesWho else is on this list of ‘bust’ free agents with the Phillies? We could go as far to include a few relief pitchers that were signed by the Klentak era. How about Tommy Hunter, paid $18M dollars in two years, which is a ton of money for a pitcher like him. He didn’t return well for the team either. Pat Neshek, already well past his prime, hardly pitched and squeezed $22M plus out of the Phillies including a $375K buyout for this season.
It just adds up to bad, the Phillies are still 1-game under .500 in August of 2020 and apparently not playing well enough to go further into a post season scenario.
