Per Jon Heyman of Fanrag Sports, before signing Yu Darvish, Jake Arrieta turned down a similar six-year offer from the Cubs.
“The Chicago Cubs were down the road with Yu Darvish, but before they completed a deal, Cubs baseball president Theo Epstein, respectfully, put in one last call to the Cubs’ star free agent Jake Arrieta for one last, long-shot chance to see if — if need be — they could extend Arrieta’s career with a deal believed to be similar to the one offered to Darvish should Darvish turn them down.“
With Theo Epstein making the call to Jake, out of respect, and Jake deciding to say no, the Cubs were free to move down the road with Yu Darvish.
Now that the Cubs have Darvish, and have set the free agent pitching market, expect Jake as well as Alex Cobb, Lance Lynn and others to follow along and sign soon. With Spring Training around the corner, I’d expect these things to get wrapped up this week.
