Jake Arrieta's Cubs Legacy Assured as He Announces Retirement

Arrieta retires with place in Cubs history assured originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Jake Arrieta left Chicago on the rails of bad optics and worse pitching last summer.

He probably would have been better off to let the sleeping ghosts of 2016 lie and passed on the chance to return to the Cubs as a free agent for one last hurrah.

But nothing that happened during that ill-fated 2021 season on the mound or on Zoom can diminish the historic and outsized role he played for a franchise that desperately sought an end to the longest championship drought in American professional sports history.

With the news Monday of his retirement at 36, that’s how Arrieta should be remembered — as one of the greatest pitchers in the game for a three- or four-year peak with the Cubs that included a 2015 Cy Young Award and the 2016 championship more than a century in the making.

With time, the blemishes of a failed 2021 return engagement that included a snarky anti-mask comment to a veteran Cubs reporter over his final Zoom call will fade as his 2014-17 contributions become set in the marble foundation of team history, alongside the likes of Three-Finger Brown, Pete Alexander, Fergie Jenkins and teammates Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks.

Looking back on Arrieta’s impact as an emerging star after the Cubs landed him in a 2013 deadline trade with the Orioles, former Cubs president Theo Epstein said a few years ago:

“I don’t even think we’re competitive in ’15 without him. And we’re not a playoff team without him. Maybe the whole timetable for the rebuild is different without him.”

That is Arrieta’s legacy, a place that will forever belong to him in Chicago baseball lore.

He pitched for four teams during a 12-year career that included a 115-93 record and 3.98 ERA and more than 1,600 innings.

The Orioles drafted him and eventually made him an Opening Day starter. The Phillies paid him more, as a free agent after the 2017 season. The Padres gave him a final chance last summer to help lead them to the playoffs.

But his career will forever be defined by his 148 starts in Chicago, the 3.14 ERA and 73 regular-season wins there, the two no-hitters, the Cy Young and nine postseason starts that included two of the biggest wins in franchise history — in Games 2 and 6 in Cleveland in the World Series.

Small sample-size take of the week

Forget the Rookie of the Year. Seiya Suzuki is a threat to put himself into the MVP conversation with his quick transition to a new league.

The former Japanese batting champ and All-Star — who was named NL Player of the Week on Monday — is off to a 10-for-25 start that includes four homers, nine walks, 11 RBIs and a 1.503 OPS that ranks second to the Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado (1.514) in the NL.

“What’s stood out is just how calm the at-bats are,” manager David Ross told reporters in Colorado after Sunday’s win, which included two walks and a homer from Suzuki.

“You hear about the plate discipline and the contact,” Ross said, “but just being able to find his pitches, and not chase outside the strike zone with the velocity that’s here, and some of the nasty stuff that he’s faced so far, it’s just been really impressive.”

Try this for impressive:

Suzuki’s .960 slugging percentage through Sunday is better than the OPS of each of the 11 players who won the last 12 MVP awards (both leagues), except one. And he almost beats Mike Trout (.972 OPS).

Chelsea stagger

Premier League football fans in west London shed no tears when the Ricketts-led group of investors pulled out from the bidding process last week for the Chelsea franchise.

In fact, you could hear them singing “Go, Cubs, Go!” from all the way across the pond.

“And take Joe Ricketts with you!”

RELATED: Chelsea dagger? Ricketts family earned blowback of FC bid

E-voidance

One, singular thing stands out about the Cubs’ team performance in the early going.

That’s the one, singular error they’ve made in nine games.

Only the Royals and Padres have made as few (actually, zero each). Everybody else has at least three, with the league average over 4.

And that one Cubs error was committed by Jonathan Villar playing his stretch position, shortstop, Friday, and it came on a muffed broken-bat grounder with a piece of the bat flying toward the middle of the infield with the ball.

Not bad for a team that plays its Gold Glove right fielder (Jason Heyward) in center, its Gold Glove second base finalist (Nico Hoerner) at short, Frank Schwindel at first and Ross’ matchup bat of the day in left.

Considering they’re 3-2 in games decided by one or two runs, it’s also the difference between a winning and losing record as they open their second homestand of the season Monday.

Take the poll

As Tampa Bay manager in 2008, Joe Maddon intentionally had his pitcher walk Josh Hamilton with the bases loaded, with a four-run lead in the ninth, and won the game.

On Friday as manager of the Angels, he walked Corey Seager with the bases loaded, trailing by one in the fourth, watched it backfire when two more runs scored — and won the game.

In between, he managed the Cubs for five years, and all we got here was Simon the Magician and a damn World Series.

GDubGrub

Stopped by a place called Eggspresso in the Glen in Glenview the other day — and then got stopped cold after a quick glance at the menu.

On the breakfast side was an egg yolk and avocado mix with a side of sliced tomatoes called “The David Kaplan.” And in case anyone might confuse exactly which David Kaplan this was, the description included the tagline “Take That!”

The waiter recommended it, and it did look good — except for the imaginary voice that gets stuck in your head before you can even decide: “Sunny-side up, Sparkles! Sunny-side up … Pancakes? No shot! You’re better than that. … Ridiculous!”

Can report that the avocado chicken salad, on the other hand, is outstanding.

Definitely one of the best North Shore spots for a bite. Just not a sound bite.

Take that.

De ja due diligence?

After a 3-for-32 start that contributed to a .219 on-base percentage, Kyle Schwarber was dropped from the leadoff spot.

Where have we heard that before?

Apparently places Phillies manager Joe Girardi has never bothered to listen for the last several years — namely, the north side of Chicago — before opening 2022 with the Phils’ newly signed slugger at the top of his batting order.

Schwarber, a 2021 All-Star after getting non-tendered by the Cubs for cost-cutting reasons, had a nice run in 27 games in the leadoff spot last year, but he’s shown over the course of his career he’s no leadoff man.

And now that the Phillies finally know what the Cubs learned years ago, he might have a shot at another All-Star nod.

Sentencing reform?

The Cubs and Keegan Thompson played baseball’s penal system to perfection after Thompson appealed his three-game suspension for intentionally hitting Brewers outfielder Andrew McCutchen with a pitch.

Just ahead of the decision — which reduced the sentence to two games — he pitched his usual three innings of relief in an appearance Thursday (actually 10 outs this time) and started serving his time. It was the same number of games he would have been unavailable to pitch, minimum, regardless because of the length of Thursday’s outing.

The suspension comes without pay, so Thompson’s out a few bucks, but the team didn’t pay a price.

And that’s not unusual these days in a system that hasn’t quite caught up to pitching trends.

Standard operating procedure for decades has been to suspend a starting pitcher for six games for a routine infraction (assuring a missed start) and suspending a reliever for much less for a similar infraction — essentially two buckets of penalties for two different types of pitchers.

But with the multi-inning, piggyback, swingman pitcher taking on increasing roles — and spots on expanded pitching rosters — it shouldn’t be long before MLB discipline exec Michael Hill’s department adds another bucket to options.

Philly fans not so tough anymore

Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm apologized last week after he got caught on camera telling a teammate “I hate this f***ing place,” after a sarcastic cheer when he finally made a routine play following a series of ugly errors.

And then after publicly walking it back, Phillies fans gave him a genuine ovation next time out.

What the hell?

First, Bohm should have worn with pride the contempt of the Phillies faithful — the same fan base that booed the greatest third baseman in MLB history back in the day, Mike Schmidt. That’s pretty good company.

And second, when did Philadelphia get so soft? Aren’t these the fans who threw snowballs at Santa Claus during an Eagles game?

Humbug. Looks more like snowflakes these days.

Now get off my lawn!

A perfect mess

Dodgers superstar Clayton Kershaw, limited by injury to 22 starts last season, opened the season with seven perfect innings in his first start (80 pitches).

And, of course, was pulled for a reliever at that point by the manager because of workload consideration after a short spring, pitch limits, health concerns, coddling, over-protective management nerds, and the softest generation of expectations the game has ever seen.

Back in the day, nobody’s taking that ball from that pitcher — Johan Santana’s career be damned.

Snark aside, it was the right call in today’s game, especially for a team with legitimate World Series aspirations. Not even Kershaw complained.

I get it.

I also hate it.

And dammit, I’m not gonna tell you to get off my lawn again!

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