Phillies' Jake Arrieta Not Expected to Pitch Again in 2019 After Being Shut Down Due to Bone Spur
By Sean Facey

The Phillies have just been dealt a crushing blow to their starting rotation depth.
Veteran starter Jake Arrieta is not expected to pitch again for Philadelphia in 2019 after being shut down due to a bone spur in his right elbow. He's scheduled for an MRI on Thursday.
Arrieta shut down because of elbow bone spur. MRI tomorrow. Doesn’t expect to pitch again this season. #Phillies #ExCubs
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) August 14, 2019
He's likely going to have surgery on the elbow, which would undoubtedly take him out for the rest of the year.
The marble-sized bone spur had been bothering Arrieta for a healthy chunk of the season, and it showed up in his stats. He's managed an underwhelming 4.64 ERA, his highest single-season mark since 2013, through 24 starts.
#Phillies starter Jake Arrieta will stop pitching because of nagging trouble from bone spur in elbow. Likely done for season pic.twitter.com/HsiYoMhfXN
— kevintresolini (@kevintresolini) August 14, 2019
It also seems to have affected his velocity. Arrieta's average sinker velocity sits at 92.5 mph this year, according to Baseball Savant. That's his lowest average velocity on that pitch in the last five years.
Without him, the Phillies are going to have a tough time finding innings at the front of the rotation. Though he had an up-and-down year, he managed 135.2 innings of work, trailing only Aaron Nola for the team lead.
Over the last seven days, the #Phillies' playoff odds have sunk by 19.5 percentage points. They now have just a 8.4% shot of reaching the postseason pic.twitter.com/Ep62ajVvSA
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) August 12, 2019
Losing him in mid-August also deals a crushing blow to their already slim playoff odds. Sitting at fourth in the NL East, Baseball Reference only gave the Phillies an 8.4% chance of making the playoffs heading into Wednesday, and that was before the loss of Arrieta.