The Cubs and pitcher Jake Arrieta exchanged arbitration figures on Friday and there is a sizable gap between the two numbers.
Arrieta, 29, is coming off a Cy Young season and asked the Cubs for $13 million. Meanwhile the Cubs offered the 22 game winner just $7.5 million.
There is a lot of work to do should the Cubs and Arrieta want to avoid going to arbitration. The pitcher was projected to make $10.4 million in arbitration according to MLBTradeRumors.com which is the midpoint of the two numbers.
Sources: Jake Arrieta filed at $13M and the Cubs at $7.5M. By far the biggest gap this offseason.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 15, 2016
Back in November Arrieta said he saw contract extension talks as inevitable but thus far there has not been more than a whisper in regards to a new deal. Perhaps more is going on behind the scenes or this may spur the two sides to ramp up talks.
Since joining the Cubs in 2013, Arrieta is 36-13 with a 2.26 ERA across 437 1/3 innings of work.
