The Chicago Cubs have their top of the rotation starter. Now the Milwaukee Brewers are going to have to find their own. The team had been looking at Yu Darvish but they lost that derby. Could Jake Arrieta be next up for a team that has some good young talent but is a bit short on the veteran presensces? Could the Brew Crew end up paying quite a bit more than they need to in order to get that top of the rotation pitcher?

Chicago Cubs starting a bidding war

The "hot stove" league has been incredibly cold the last few months. There are all kind of ideas as to just why there has been so few big time free agent signings.

What we can agree on is that Yu Darvish is the biggest free agent that has signed in 2018.

That underlines just how silent the free agent class has been this offseason. The big question now is that since Darvish has officially been signed, will we see a bit of a juicing of the free agent signings by other teams? The Milwaukee Brewers have been attempting to get quite a bit better this winter.

By trading for Christian Yelich they have indeed gotten better on the offensive side. With Darvish off the table, you have to wonder whether the Brewers are going to be doing after former Cubs hurler, Jake Arrieta.

Yu Darvish precluded the Cubs from signing Arrieta

There had been time when the Cubs had been looking at bringing back Jake Arrieta.

While the club wasn’t all that excited about paying the asking price for the former Cy Young winner, he appears to have been the team’s backup plan.

Now that Chicago isn’t going to be bringing back their former ace, it would seem as though the way has been cleared for the Brewers to get him. At the same time, Arrieta is now the best pitcher on the open market.

Milwaukee has now found itself in a situation where they might have to overbid in order to get Arrieta.

There are still a few teams out there that might like to have a former Cy Young winner on their roster when the 2018 season kicks off. The Minnesota Twins were one team that was looking hard at getting Darvish, but couldn’t pay the contract he was looking for.

While the Twins likely won’t be able to afford Arrieta, they might be able to help drive up his price. It’s also possible the Los Angeles Dodgers should now be able to go after the former Chicago Cubs hurler since they have officially lose out on Yu Darvish. With pitchers and catchers reporting soon, the Cold Stove league could finally be heating up big time.
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