Former Cubs great Jake Arrieta is back in the city of Chicago for the first time since the Cubs let the right-handed pitcher walk during free agency. Arrieta signed a very lucrative 3-year, $75 million dollar contract with the Philadelphia Phillies in early March officially closing the door on his five-year career on the North side of Chicago.
Before last night’s game against the Phillies, the Cubs paid tribute to their former Cy Young winner with a pretty badass tribute video/highlight reel. Arrieta won’t have to face his former team (and former friends) during this three-game set but that hasn’t stopped both sides from engaging in some friendly shit talking.
Arrieta said he got a text from Rizzo this morning that said “I can’t believe you’re ducking the Cubbies” and his response was “Hey, I’m just trying to help you catch Milwaukee”
— Cat Garcia (@TheBaseballGirl) June 5, 2018
One of the reasons Arrieta didn’t come back to the Cubs this season was the team’s decision to pursue another big name free agent pitcher, Yu Darvish, instead of meeting Arrieta’s requirements in both years and price. So when the team decided to pursue Darvish instead of the beloved Jake Arrieta, all attention shifted to new Cub Yu Darvish and he probably had no idea the shoes he was trying to fill.
Arrieta’s Cubs resume is nothing short of spectacular —
Two no-hitters, one Cy Young Award, a complete-game, wild-card shutout, and two World Series victories that helped the Cubs to their first championship in 108 years.
Arrieta saw the good, the bad, and the ugly during his time in Chicago and he will go down in Cubs history as one of the all-time great pitchers. Now that he is gone, all eyes have turned to Darvish and his well documented struggles so far in 2018. We don’t have to revisit Darvish’s stats or mention again that he has more trips to the DL than wins because Cubs fans are already chomping at the bit to crucify Darvish before he even gets settled in.
Even though most fans are ready to throw the towel in on Darvish, there’s one former Cub that has more confidence in Darvish than about 94% of Cubs fans right now.
Yep, you guessed it.
Jake Arrieta.
Arrieta shared his thoughts on Darvish’s struggles thus far and had nothing but positive things to say about the new Cubs pitcher.
“He’s going to focus on getting himself healthy and he’ll be tremendously successful here,” Arietta told 670 the Score. “This city is going to love him and I look forward to that.”
I find it hilarious that the guy who essentially was moved out of Chicago for Darvish has more faith in Darvish than fans of the team that Darvish plays on. I also think it’s still too early to play the “Darvish or Arrieta” game because both are still getting acclimated to their new teams and both still have a lot of time left on their respective contracts.
Seeing Arrieta back at Wrigley raving about the stadium, Cubs fans, former teammates, and even Yu Darvish is the perfect example of why it doesn’t matter where he ends up at, Jake Arrieta will always be a Cub for life.
(And I’m praying he’s right about Darvish.)
