The Cubs made a last-ditch call to free agent right-hander Jake Arrieta, gauging his interest in a deal similar to what Yu Darvish eventually agreed to Saturday, FanRag Sports reported.

Darvish signed a six-year, $126 million deal, but before that deal was closed, the report says, Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein put in a final call to Arrieta, who had been a mainstay of the team's rotation in recent seasons.

The point of the call was to see if Arrietta would accept a deal similar to the one the Cubs offered Darvish, FanRag Sports says: "Epstein felt like he owed Arrieta that call to gauge that possibility. After all, not only had Arrieta put together one of the great half-seasons in baseball history to win a Cy Young (in 2015), he’d come up big time and again when it counted most and was a key figure in the Cubs’ historic 2016 World Series championship."
However, Arrieta wasn't ready to accept the offer immediately, and Epstein landed Darvish instead.

Arrieta's agent, Scott Boras, reportedly is pitching him to teams as a better overall performer than Darvish and the top free-agent starter on the market. FanRag Sports lists five teams as the most logical landing spots for Arrieta: the Brewers, Cardinals, Nationals, Phillies and Twins