By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
It's March 1 – 73 days after the Chicago Cubs signed Tyler Chatwood to a lucrative free-agent contract – and Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn and Alex Cobb are all still free-agents. The Philadelphia Phillies, who have been one of the more active teams this offseason, have yet to sign or trade for a starting pitcher that's currently on their 40-man roster. That seems increasingly likely to change before Opening Day.
According to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, someone with close ties to the Phillies thinks the team will sign a pitcher before they face the Atlanta Braves on Opening Day:
“They will sign a pitcher,” one person with Phillies ties predicted. So if they don’t get Arrieta, they are expected to look at Alex Cobb or Lance Lynn. Jeremy Hellickson is still out there, and he pitched well for them before struggling with the Orioles.
It's unclear, of course, exactly how in the know someone "with Phillies ties" is. If it's someone that currently has a role in the organization, the Phillies have a rather lengthy list of senior advisors and special advisors to the general manager. Any of those people would seem to fall under the category of someone "with Phillies ties" that isn't directly involved in the team's free-agent negotiations.
In any event, it's a noteworthy prediction. There seems to be growing momentum towards the belief that the Phillies will sign a pitcher. MLB.com's Jon Morosi went as far as saying Thursday that the Phillies are "entertaining the possibility" of signing two free-agent starting pitchers.
What's pushing the Phillies in the direction of potentially signing an impact free-agent arm? Perhaps it's the culture that appears to be present at Gabe Kapler's first Spring Training: sure, 2019 may be when the team is really ready to compete, but they believe they have a serious shot to compete for one of the two National League Wild Card slots in 2018.
Jake Arrieta, who won the 2015 National League Cy Young Award, has had one of the more frustrating free-agent campaigns in recent memory. His former team, the Chicago Cubs, is out of the picture, as they signed Yu Darvish to a six-year/$126 million free-agent contract in February. The Cubs, per Heyman, made "one last call" to Arrieta's agent, Scott Boras, to gauge his interest in re-signing for a similar rate. It's unclear how serious the call was, but if Arrieta didn't jump at that opportunity, he's unlikely to pitch anywhere in 2018.
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The Phillies, according to Heyman, have "had dialogue" with Arrieta's representation. This follows months of the team being speculatively connected to Arrieta, whose agent MLB.com's Todd Zolecki reported that the team met with at last December's MLB Winter Meetings. Last week, Heyman noted that there remains a difference in years in potential contract discussions. The Phillies, given the 31-year-old's declining metrics over the past two seasons, would prefer to sign Arrieta to an expensive, short-term contract. Arrieta, as noted above, seems to want a deal that the market is unwilling to give him. It's unclear if one of the two sides will eventually cave, or if they will be able to meet somewhere in the middle. Or maybe neither.
As for Lynn, Morosi reported Wednesday evening that the Phillies have been in contact with Lynn's people in recent weeks, but nothing is imminent. Lynn, who will be 31 in May, would have been an enticing option had he reached the free-agent market after 2015, his third consecutive season of posting a fWAR of three or higher. However, Lynn missed the entire 2016 season after having Tommy John surgery in November of 2015. Lynn's velocity mostly came back in 2017, but he still saw a decline in his overall numbers, as he posted a 4.82 FIP and a 1.4 fWAR in 33 starts.
Thus far, the Phillies haven't been connected to Alex Cobb beyond speculation. Cobb also had Tommy John surgery in 2015. Cobb had a nearly identical season to Arrieta in 2016, as he went 12-10 with a 3.66 ERA, 4.16 FIP and a 2.4 fWAR. It seemingly makes as much sense for the Phillies to be interested in Cobb as Arrieta and Lynn. Like the other two, he's flawed, though. One interesting note: Kapler played for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2009 and 2010. Cobb didn't make his major league debut until 2011, but the two likely crossed paths, as Cobb was drafted by Tampa Bay in 2006.
Hellickson, of course, isn't like the other three, who project as No. 2 starters in the Phillies rotation. While Hellickson did have a very nice 2016 season with the Phillies, his 2017 season, which he split with the Phillies and Orioles, was pretty uninspiring, as he posted a 5.43 ERA and 5.77 FIP. Hellickson, who was the Phillies Opening Day starter in 2016 and 2017, did reportedly "love" Philadelphia, so perhaps he would be interested in a reunion. You can never have too many starting pitchers, but from here, it's hard to imagine the Phillies bringing Hellickson back and having him pitch rather than Nick Pivetta, Ben Lively, Zach Eflin, Jake Thompson or Tom Eshelman.
