8 free agent duds we’re glad the St. Louis Cardinals didn’t sign

Jake Arrieta

Jake Arrieta was never really an option for the St. Louis Cardinals, thankfully.

He signed with the Chicago Cubs in February 2021, returning to a team where he had a lot of success.

Arrieta had a couple of stints on the IL with the Cubs and was terribly ineffective. In his last days with the Cubs, he was verbally frustrated and combative with the media. An apparent anti-mask and anti-vaccination proponent, he told a reporter he wished he would take his mask off. It would have potentially created a distraction in the clubhouse. Redbird Rants writer J.T. Buchheit wrote this about a potential pairing of the Cardinals and Arrieta.

That’s something the Cardinals do not need. Given all their frustrations this season, the team does have a good clubhouse dynamic. It would have been awful to add a clubhouse pest to the mix.

Arrieta was released from the Cubs in mid-August and just a few days later was signed to a minor league contract as a free agent by the San Diego Padres, who had been seeking rotation help to get them to and through the playoffs.

Arrieta was brought up from the El Paso Chihuahuas. After a rough first start with the Padres, he landed on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring issue.

In 21 games started in 2021, Arrieta is 5-12 having pitched 89.2 innings. He’s struck out 77 and walked 40 with a  7.13 ERA. He has a 25.5 CSW%. He gave up 120 hits, 71 earned runs including a career-high 22 home runs.

Considering the horrible attitude and even worse play, it’s a great thing the Cardinals did not consider adding Arrieta as a veteran arm. He just is not worth the headache.