St. Louis Cardinals: Cards looking at Jake Arrieta and Yu Darvish

With the possibility of Lance Lynn not coming back to the St. Louis Cardinals and losing a top pitching prospect to get Giancarlo Stanton, who should the Cardinals add to strengthen their rotation?

The St. Louis Cardinals are looking at the two biggest free agent pitchers on the market right now, Jake Arrieta and Yu Darvish. Both are 31-years-old and coming off a rough 2017 season. They are looking to have a bounce back season.

Arrieta had a 14-10 record in the regular season, an earned run average of 3.53, 163 strikeouts, while pitching a total of 168.1 innings. In the postseason, Arrieta went 1-1, an ERA of 0.84, striking out thirteen batters, and pitching a total of 10.2 innings.

Rumor has it the Brewers, Blue Jays, Twins, Rockies and Rangers have all shown interest in Arrieta who is looking to sign a nine figure contract, according to MLB Trade Rumors.

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Darvish on the other hand had a 10-12 record in the regular season, an ERA of 3.86, 209 strikeouts, while pitching a total of 186.2 innings. In the postseason, Darvish went 2-2, an ERA of 6.14, striking out fourteen batters, and pitching a total of 14.2 innings.

Darvish split time last season between the Rangers and Dodgers, who went on a World Series run, spoiled by the Astros in seven games. The Dodgers went out to get Darvish at the trade deadline to be their second ace behind Clayton Kershaw.

It’s predicted that Darvish will sign a six-year, 160 million dollar contract, according to MLB Trade Rumors.

I think the Cardinals will push more towards signing Arrieta over Darvish because they have seen him more than Darvish all together.

In the past the Cardinals have either traded for or signed pitchers who have played within the division due to the fact that they have seen them more and know how to make them a feared pitcher once again. They know what to fix in Arrietta and to make him a dominant starting pitcher again.

Even though both pitchers had a rough 2017 season, the St. Louis Cardinals always find a way to turn around a struggling pitcher. With the new addition of Mike Maddux as well will help either pitchers, as well as the rest of the Cardinals pitching staff.

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It will be interesting to see what the St. Louis Cardinals will do to help their starting rotation as they look to take over the Central Division once again.