By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia Phillies weren't able to land RHP Tyler Chatwood in free-agency, but that apparently wasn't because of a lack of effort.
Viewed by many as the best free-agent fit for the Phillies, Chatwood agreed to a three-year/$38 million contract with the Chicago Cubs this past weekend. According to Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies did make a push for Chatwood prior to him signing in Chicago:
This offseason, they appear willing to add maybe one or two innings-eaters to the current group of young starters, whether it be through a trade or a one-year contract. A source said the Phillies were interested in righthander Tyler Chatwood and made a multi-year offer before he signed a three-year, $38 million contract with the Chicago Cubs last week.
Chatwood, 27, went 8-15 with the Colorado Rockies in 2017, while posting a 4.69 ERA and a 4.94 FIP (per FanGraphs). Those numbers are obviously not overwhelming, though he's viewed as someone that both because of his high spin-rate and the fact that he's now moving away from playing his home games at Coors Field, could still have high upside. If that happens, his contract may ultimately look like a bargain. But signing him certainly doesn't come without risk.
Speaking of the Cubs, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reported this morning that the Phillies are considering free-agent RHP Jake Arrieta, who has spent the past four-and-a-half seasons with the Cubs. The former National League Cy Young Award winner, 31, has seen his metrics decline fairly rapidly over the course of the past two years. Gelb said in his piece that the Phillies do not plan to sign Arrieta or fellow free-agent Yu Darvish.
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At this point, the Phillies rotation is pretty underwhelming after ace Aaron Nola. Jerad Eickhoff is a nice piece towards the back-end of the rotation, but even he is coming off of a disappointing 2017 season. If the season started today, he would be the No. 2 starter. After that, the Phillies have the group of Vince Velasquez, Ben Lively, Nick Pivetta, Mark Leiter Jr. and Zach Eflin, none of whom have been especially impressive in their limited major league experience. Tom Eshelman, who was acquired in the Ken Giles trade, had a strong season between Double A and Triple A in 2017 and figures to also factor into the rotation in 2018.
In some senses, early struggles are par for the course for young pitching and it makes sense for the Phillies to give some of their young arms a more extended chance to figure things out at the major league level. It's also important to remember that the Phillies real group of young pitching talent – Sixto Sanchez, Franklyn Kilome, Adonis Media, Ranger Suarez and JoJo Romero – is still in their minor league system. But in the meantime, it would benefit the Phillies to make an upgrade or two in their starting rotation, whether that's through free-agency, a trade or both.
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