Report: Cubs, Arrieta to have arbitration hearing Tuesday
An arbitration hearing date has been scheduled for the Chicago Cubs and reigning National League Cy Young award winner Jake Arrieta, who will each make their cases Tuesday in Arizona to determine the 29-year-old's salary for the upcoming season, reports Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago.
Arrieta, now arbitration-eligible for the second time, filed at $13 million following his spectacular 2015 campaign - he fashioned a 1.77 ERA with a 0.87 WHIP over 33 starts - while the Cubs countered with a $7.5-million offer. A three-person arbitration panel will hear arguments from both sides Tuesday, and Arrieta will earn whichever figure they deem more appropriate (the arbitration process does not allow the parties to split the difference).
Should the three-person panel side with Arrieta, the former fifth-round pick will receive the highest salary ever for a second-year arbitration-eligible pitcher at $13 million - a $9.37-million raise over his 2015 salary. When broached about his arbitration hearing last month, though, Arrieta felt "confident" following a season in which he finished first or second in the NL in ERA, WHIP, FIP (2.35), and WAR (7.3).
"Everybody wants to be compensated for their performance," Arrieta told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.