A former Cy Young winner is stepping away from the game. In an appearance on Barstool’s Pardon My Take podcast, Jake Arrieta announced he is set to retire (interview around 56:00 mark). “I haven’t signed the papers, man, but I’m done,” Arrieta said.”It’s time for me to step away from the game. At some point, the uniform goes to somebody else. It’s just my time, really. … Yeah, man, I’m done.”
Arrieta, now 36 years old, retires after a 12-season MLB career. A fifth-round pick of the Orioles out of TCU in 2007, he made it to the majors midway through the 2010 campaign. He spent three-plus seasons in Baltimore, never really clicking despite getting a few opportunities to crack the starting rotation. Arrieta made 69 appearances in black and orange, pitching to a cumulative 5.46 ERA/4.72 FIP. His strikeout and walk numbers improved later in his time with the O’s, but the results never lined up and Baltimore traded him to the Cubs in early July 2013.
That deal — which saw Arrieta and reliever Pedro Strop head to the North Siders for starter Scott Feldman and backup catcher Steve Clevenger — proved one of the most consequential trades in recent MLB history. Arrieta had decent results down the stretch with the Cubs, but his peripherals didn’t suggest he was on the verge of a breakout.
That’s exactly what transpired, though. By 2014, Arrieta had emerged as a top-of-the-rotation starter. He tossed 156 2/3 innings of 2.53 ERA ball, earning a ninth-place finish in NL Cy Young balloting. That was an unexpected age-28 breakout, but rather than showing any signs of regression, Arrieta took his game to another height the next season. In 2015, the right-hander tossed a personal-high 229 innings with an incredible 1.77 ERA. He led MLB with four complete games and three shutouts, allowing a league-low 5.9 hits per nine frames.
Arrieta had a very strong first half that year, posting a 2.66 ERA in 121 2/3 innings. Yet it’s the second half of that 2015 season for which he might best be remembered, as he orchestrated one of the most overpowering runs by any pitcher in MLB history. After that year’s All-Star break, Arrieta threw 107 1/3 frames and allowed just nine earned runs (0.75 ERA). Opposing hitters posted a laughable .148/.204/.205 line in just shy of 400 plate appearances during that stretch, as the Cubs won 97 games and earned a postseason berth.
During that year’s Wild Card game, Arrieta continued his run of absolute dominance, tossing an 11-strikeout shutout in that season’s Wild Card game against the Pirates. He wasn’t as excellent during starts in the NLDS or NLCS, but he had launched himself into the upper echelon of starting pitchers. Arrieta won that season’s Cy Young award, and he’d pick up a third consecutive top ten finish the following season.
In 2016, Arrieta worked to a 3.10 ERA in 197 1/3 frames. He again allowed a league-low 6.3 hits per nine, picking up his first All-Star selection in the process. Alongside Jon Lester and a career-best season from Kyle Hendricks, Arrieta played a key role in the Cubs team that snapped their 108-year title drought. Chicago won both of his starts during the seven-game triumph over the Indians, during which he tossed 11 1/3 innings of three-run ball.
Arrieta remained in Chicago for one more season. He never recaptured his otherworldly 2014-15 form, but he still offered mid-rotation production with a 3.53 ERA in 168 1/3 innings. That offseason, he signed a three-year, $75MM guarantee with the Phillies. Arrieta’s first season in Philadelphia was solid, as he allowed just fewer than four earned runs per nine in 31 starts.
The past three seasons proved a struggle, as Arrieta’s velocity had begun trending downwards from its mid-90s peak by 2017. He posted a 4.64 ERA or higher in each of his final trio of campaigns, including a 7.39 mark in 24 starts between the Cubs and Padres last season. Arrieta returned to the place where he’d had the most success last winter, but the Cubs released him in August. He struggled in four starts with the Friars, and San Diego let him go shortly before the regular season wrapped up.
Obviously, Arrieta’s career didn’t end the way he would’ve liked. Yet there’s no question he reached a height few players in the game’s recent history have hit. From 2014-16, only future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw bested Arrieta’s 2.42 ERA among qualified starters. He played a pivotal role on the most successful teams in the past century of Cubs baseball and leaves the game with a Cy Young and a World Series title. Over his 12-year run, he won 115 games, and struck out upwards of 1400 batters in 1612 1/3 innings.
Arrieta retires with a career 3.98 ERA, although that mark is inflated by the struggles he experienced at each end. For a three-to-four year period, he was among the top few pitchers on the planet. MLBTR congratulates him on his excellent run and wishes him the best in retirement.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Feel like he would have gotten more praise if he just called it a career two years ago. Idk. Solid prime though
Very short prime. It didn’t last and he signed that contract already past it. That hurt his rep.
Well I for one think Tony did a great job with the article. I especially liked the part about peripherals being almost useless.
Live by the peripherals, die by the peripherals.
22-6 Yeah lets retire, what an amazing year!
Hall of fame, nah
not close
When did I ever say he should retire after his 2015 season? If Curly was the smart stooge, which stooge are you?
No one said he should retire after the 2015 season & i’m the smart stooge so who are you, you imposture?
Koufax did. 27-9 with a 1.73 ERA and he called it a career…
That’s literally what your comment said Baseball Fan was implying.
You obviously aren’t very smart…or funny.
Koufax had arthritis in his throwing shoulder, really wasn’t his choice to hang them up
@Curly: A smart stooge should know that the term is IMPOSTOR. Curly himself probably was a good bit brighter than you, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!
unfortunately koufax didn’t have a choice there was no tjs when he played, if there was tjs back then i wonder just how much better his career numbers would be. also enjoy retirement jake and good luck in whatever you decide to next
I don’t think TJ surgery would’ve solved Sandy’s problem.
I wouldn’t count Jake Arrieta out of the Hall of Fame. Right now, less stellar players are making it in the Hall of Fame. There has been a couple guys I never thought would make it to the Hall of Fame, did. Heck, I am waiting on Jason Kendall making the Hall of Fame since they are allowing mediocre players in now.
Less stellar players? Name one. Harold Baines got in with over 15 more WAR than Jake and their was universal outrage. And he didn’t even get in the normal process. Arrietta is likely off the ballot his first turn. The idea that he is even in the conversation is laughable. Again, name ONE player worse than Arrietta who got voted in recently.
It’s absulutely laughable that you think Arrieta has a chance at the HOF my god
Jason Kendall’s career wipes itself with Arrieta’s career. Kendall was not mediocre and definitely in the argument for HoF.
Heck, people here always argue Yadi is an easy Hall of famer but Kendall put up similar war in less seasons. So, if Yadi deserves it then Kendall should be in before him.
Kendall had 3 all star appearances and no World Series wins and 0 gold gloves……how is he more deserving than Yadi???? Now I’ve heard everything.
fisher – Maybe he meant Cubs HOF? Probably not, but benefit of the doubt.
Arrieta is not going to the Hall of Fame…. period.
@Dotnet22 – Nobody cares about WS wins when it comes to the HOF. Baseball is a team game. The HOF is about individual accomplishments. I guess Ernie Banks shouldn’t be in the HOF either, he didn’t even play in a single playoff game.
There is absolutely zero chance of Arrieta going into the HOF. Had an incredible stretch of 3 seasons, way too short of a prime for any sort of HOF consideration. Career 3.98 ERA would give him the highest ERA amongst any HOFers and his 115 wins would also put him toward the bottom for starters. Likely will be bounced in the first ballot.
But what about the b.s. allstar game selections? Oh and those gold gloves. Get out of here with that garbage. Both guys played well regardless
Also @dotnet I never said more deserving. I said if Yadi is as sure fire as people on this site like to say, then Kendall is 100% deserving.
More deserving? Jfc dude did you even read my comment? Also Yadi Is active, do the mental math on the voting timeline. Kendall only helps yadis case anyway.
Arrieta was good for like 3 seasons. He shouldn’t even be on the ballot.
Yeah, but if there was a hall of really good for three seasons he’d be a first ballot lock.
Funny you mention the All-Star appearances and gold gloves considering both those honors are moot. How many “gold glove” awards did Jeter have? And that guy was an absolute butcher in the field. All-Star appearances are nothing more than a popularity contest.
Frankly, Molina was at no point the best catcher in baseball when he played. He entered the league at the tail end of IRod and Piazza, then Mauer and Posey surpassed him. Molina and Kendal are cut from the same cloth but fans don’t see it due to the fact they have been force fed how great Yadi is for years.
Was only REALLY great for two
@PiratesFan the Hall Of Decent Or Just Okay
I wouldn’t count Jake Arrieta out of the Hall of Fame.
==============================
Not remotely close.
I watched Kendall during his entire career here. A Punch and Judy hitter but a solid defensive catcher. HoF? Nope
there are some borderline players whose post season performances helped put them over the top (jack morris) but agree that JA is not close enough for a couple of wins to tip the balance
No chance in hell.
Why does people put so much on All-star appearances? The fans vote them in ! It’s a popularity contest
Part of the reason he didn’t get more praise is that once his decline started he didn’t take responsibility for his play. At least during his Phillies years he would blame pretty much anyone but himself saying others needed to step it up. I choose to remember him for his Chicago years though.
Another player that should
Have taken the bigger contract when offered.
Yeah, I remember reading an article about what happen ed with him in and the Cubs.
Arrieta said they offered him the same deal as Yu Darvish (6yrs $126 million) and he said he wanted to talk to his wife about it. Then the next day his agent told him it was off the table bc they signed Darvish.
Arrieta want on to say, if the Cubs had told him it was a take it or leave it deal he would have took it. But he had no warning it would go down like that and he really wasn’t going to drag his feet to make a decision.
That was the around when Bryant and other were salty with the lack of communication from the front office as well. But since Arrieta confirmed he received an market value offer I believe others did too. Like you said should have took the bigger offer when it came up. Oh well. I think Yu Darvish worked out fine and then getting traded.
Arrieta calling it a career. Good for him. He had a brief time of domination and made some dough. Probably time after a few bad years.
Another career cut short due to Borasist. Ended up cost Jake close to 100 mil, that the cubs eventually gave to Darvish foolishly, who they unloaded on the padres that everyone complained about and the cubs won the trade easily.
No way Cubs won the Yu trade. Unloading money got them losing and no prospects they have seen or will see the Cubs roster. You realize that Cubs have money to spend and whenever a player makes a lot and the team suffers you dolts say those players are goods to trade. And then you fools get really excited checking Double A box scores for “Two years from now Cubs are gonna be really good” delusional fandom. There’s a reason the Ricketts failed in UK attempt to expand—Brit’s prefer a great soccer team to “a great fan experience at the park.” Yu Darvish is still a top of the rotation starter and the Cubs has to go out and pay Stroman nearly the same amount to be a maybe 1, used as 2, 3 as a floor guy.
They hedged bets on prospects developing versus holding on to guys who they know are good—and fans are stuck watching 30 year old journeymen be given a chance to play rather than be backups. And then putting all the eggs in Brennan Davis’s basket as if one farm kid maybe turning out will make up for an implosion of the roster.
@cubbie the cubs were trending down before the yu trade, theo traded away the farm and overpaid for some vets that has the cubs in there current mess. teams that build constant long standing winners do so through there farm and fill holes in fa. right now the cubs best option is to get rid of the dead money and rebuild there farm, also the cubs got a freebie with yu, when healthy he is a tor guy but he is older and hasn’t really been healthy since 17
Likely Hall of Famer. If King Felix doesn’t get in then Arrieta shouldn’t
love em but hell no
um, he played all of 12 years and a good few were pretty bad. not nearly a long enough peak to even make a second ballot.
What about Tim Lincecum
No on Lincecum. Not even close. Not even as good as Arrietta. You gotta start looking up stats on bRef or Fangraphs, these are pretty obvious “no’s” here. I mean, they’re not even close.
He had 4 dominant seasons. I’d say Lincecum was still better than Arietta
Lincecum had a way way way better career than arrieta
They’re actually interesting players to compare since both pitcher’s identifiable peaks were roughly four seasons.
Looking at those peaks here…
Arrieta edged Lincecum out in WHIP, ERA, and ERA+.
Timmy trumps Jake in starts/innings pitched, strikeouts — both in terms of net and rate — and FIP.
Their postseason numbers are also comparable — although Lincecum produced a better ERA and WHIP across a few more innnings, so I’d probably give the Freak a very “arguable” edge there.
Worth adding — was fascinated to see that both Arrieta and Lincecum posted identical career ERA+’s of 104, and were also close in innings 1,612.1 and 1,682 respectively.
I’ll add, in my opinion at least, both guys fall comfortably short of the HOF.
Depends how you judge it. Lincecum probably better prime, Arrietta better on counting stats. NEITHER belongs anywhere near the Hall.
How about Tim Hudson?
Now THAT is a guy who is definitely in the discussion. 58 career bWAR. Not that bWAR is the gold standard, but you get that close to 60 bWAR, you’re definitely in the conversation.
Hudson comes to mind because I feel as though he’s highly underrated and doesn’t get much recognition. He’s a likely HOFer imo
Yea I’d vote him in most likely.
Tim Hudson surely did enough to at least warrant discussion, as @Cosmo2 stated.
It’s funny — Hudson was one of those guys that while he pitched, putting his name in the same sentence as HOF wasn’t something I envisioned — and I grew up an A’s fan!
Looking back, his overall numbers were darn good though — 3.49 ERA (120 ERA+) over more that 3,100 innings. Also, and while I’m not a huge wins guy, I do think they hold a certain degree of merit and 222 is an impressive number.
A bit surprising he fell off the ballot in only his second year of eligibility. Ultimately, however, he’s a touch short of HOF caliber in my view.
Absolutely nowhere near a hall of famer. Nowhere near the player Felix was. Arrietta is a potential one-and-done. I think you need to re-check the stats.
As always, we await developments.
Arrieta not even close to HOF
The only way he gets in is to buy a ticket!!!
from a scalper
No. Just no. And there is no comparison between these two players. Keep watching just the Yankees.
What. He had a HoF peak season but no where near a HoF career lol
Yes. You need more than one season of that to be in the conversation. Absolutely.
To be fair Jack Morris is in on one postseason
Morris has just about DOUBLE Arrietta’s WAR, there’s really no comparison. Morris probably shouldn’t be in but he had way better of a career than Jake.
that ain’t going to happen
LOL @ likely hall of famer. In 7 of his 12 seasons he had a 4.64 ERA or higher. Outside of his 5 year peak where he was VERY GOOD, he was one of the worst starters in the game. He also struggled to go deep into games and while hitting the 30 start marker 4 times, he only topped 200 innings one time.
His peak was great, just short. Besides that his results were pretty terrible.
Seriously? Hall of Fame? For a couple seasons?
Huge Cub fan here and love him dearly, but he will not make it past the first ballot. A small handful of emotional votes, that’s it.
HOF?! What a maroon. Ahahahaha!
Arrietas peak was extremely small, zero chance he’s a hall of famer. Hes well below King Felix, they aren’t even close to being on the same tier
If he peaked with Yankees or Red Sox then yea, maybe he would get some HoF attention.
Definitely not a likely HOFer. King Felix was better, and he’s not getting in either.
King Felix should absolutely get in the HOF. Probably even better than Sabathia
Felix had longevity good stats over his career. Arietta had a Roger Maris career. Good for a couple of seasons, otherwise mediocre or worse. No. HOF. rumor has it when arrietta was accused of steroid use, arieta denied it, then his production fell off a cliff.
Wait Arietta took steroids? Actually not surprising given how muscular his arms were
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out” – Miguel Montero
He finally realized he was done. Fans knew it long ago.
He was more than just lucky, he was good for a while.
Saw some Tik Tok about how he beamed a bunch of little kids pitching to his kids team because he can’t lob a ball accurately.
He beamed a bunch of kids ? What does that even mean
Means autocorrect may have boned me pink taco.
Doesn’t it mean hit with pitch?. I mean, sure, traditionally it’d be “beans” but, c’mon. It’s not like “beans” even makes sense anyway. Beams actually flows better. I think you’ve created a new colloquialism.
He transported them all to Pluto
Scotty to the rescue
This is misleading. He was talking about how it’s difficult to NOT throw as hard as possible all the time. He was trying to let up for these kids but found it hard to be accurate while throwing so soft.
Congrats on a fine career, Jake! Going in the Hall as a Padre, for shizzle. =)
This man had the best 2nd half in MLB history. (well no, I don’t know that for sure but…).
Congrats on your career and best of luck in retirement. You might need a hobby – you only have, say, another 50 years to go.
One of the best trades in Cubs history.
Bob Gibson had a better second half in 1968 (and first half).
I’ll take your word for it. I just remember hearing that when Jake was dominant. However Gibson had that season before they lowered the mound.
Orioles still won that trade with the Cubs.
What?
Clearly that was a joke there buddy.
Well, you Cubs fans shouldn’t be allowed to win a trade for another 50 years after how you stole Sandberg from the Phillies. Man he tormented the Mets for years.
Near historic Cy Young year. Check. Win a World Series. Check. Sign big ole free agent contract. Check. That’s the professional athlete triumvirate right there.
Most people would certainly be satisfied with that pedigree as a retired ballplayer. Heck, most people would love to be a retired ballplayer…
Too bad he rejected a much better offer from the Cubs than he ended up getting from the Phillies.
According to Arrieta he didn’t have a chance to reject it. The Cubs pulled it the next day bc they signed Darvish.
Arrieta has said that it was the same deal as Darvish and he would have took it, if he knew it was going be pulled so quick.
Well, the fact that he didn’t accept right away, it was his way of rejecting it. Works out that way sometimes. They made the offer, then pulled it when he didn’t say yes in a quick amount of time.
Yeah, I can agree with that too an extent
but it was less than 24 hrs while he discussed it with his wife.
But I think it was more of the fact that Cubs didn’t expect Darvish to sign with them. They probably had an “uh-oh” moment bc they had two $126 million contracts on the table and had to pull one quickly.
If you remember, that year Darvish was expected to sign $175-$200 million contract but couldn’t get it. Other players had issues too, but I can’t think of them currently. This one stuck out bc it involved the Cubs and Arrieta.
Crazy circumstances for sure!
** original got deleted bc I think I cussed. Instead of “uh-oh”, hope it doesn’t post twice.** my bad.
Overrated career-wise and he stole the act You g from Grienke.
Cy Young
well he stole the act You g too
I agree on the Cy Young. At no point after any appearance did Zack Greinke have an ERA that started with a 2 in 2015. Go look at his game logs, it’s ridiculous.
White Sox are down a couple starters… Just saying, Jake.
No thanks. Not a chance either. Maybe your Yanks though? Lol!
No way he’s making the HoF. He should have hung them up sooner!
One of those players we all know was overpaid and overrated, despite a couple of stellar peak years leading to that overpay contract. He deserved his Cy Young, He earned his money overall, but it was also an overall mediocre career.
Depending on if you look at it as he was underpaid for his 3 peak seasons so he was overpaid for his decline or he was paid later for what he did earlier, etc. he both earned his salaries and he didn’t really pan out at the same time.
He’s the typical
reason most players get overpaid.. a few gods/great years. The rest are average or subpar
I have no idea what standards you go by but he won a CYA (which a majority of ML’ers don’t), played 10+ years, and made over 9-figures in salary. That’s a pretty successful career in my book.
I don’t know what those guys are talking about. A Cy Young and a championship are what every pitcher dreams of winning.
I don’t think anyone is saying he didn’t have a successful career. It’s just a shame that he started to decline as soon as he got paid. But he has a great career.
Jon Bon Jovi needs to be next…
“OH We’re halfway there.. “
He was dominant for a brief period which is insanely impressive. His post Cubs career didn’t work out at all, but the guy accomplished more than most.
He was a bum by the time he put on a Phillies uniform. He stole $75 million. Now that’s what I call spending “stupid money!”
The move was simply to develop the Phillies younger pitchers while also enticing other FA to sign in Philly. Unfortunately the young pitching talent didn’t really develop. Vinny Velo and Pivetta are elsewhere. Phillies overpaid, but they knew they were overpaying. I don’t fault Arrieta for that.
You make a good point and unfortunately he didn’t seem like he had the personality, patience or tolerance for a rebuilding team. Not too many guys come to teams like Jim Thome did years ago for the reason, you’d mentioned. But I’m sure Jake felt good cashing the check after every loss so in his eyes he probably felt like he was helping.
Vinny now making moves in Chicago. Phillys loss
Phillies gave Vinny every chance in the world. Sometimes moving away is key.
Did so many PEDs that other PED users were calling him out. Also, that Cy Young should’ve gone to Grienke, and I couldn’t be more anti-Dodger
I remember those accusations. I don’t think he used though. When that was going on I remember him crediting the pitching staff to letting him pitch like he did in college. He said a lot of pitching coaches kept trying to “fix” him and screwing him up.
I can’t remember the pitching coaches name. It he left and it kinda started his downward trend. Then he went to Philly and sucked, probably be they tried to fix him.
He also did a lot of pilates and crazy stretches to get the torque he wanted.
If anything his spin rate was pretty crazy on his slider so maybe it was sticky stuff. I dunno. Still think he just had some special timing for a few years.
Just ran out of juice, I guess.
the term, ‘backup catcher’ should be eliminated
What’s pretty crazy is he made 72% of his career earnings after he left the Cubs.
Would have been a lot more if he didn’t have Boras as an agent. Cubs offered 127 million. Boras wanted 175 for 6-7 years. Had to settle for 75 from the Phillies. Cubs pivoted to Darvish and paid him the 127.
Cubbies would not have a World Series without Jake. Thank you sir! I have the ninth innings of both his no-hitters recorded on my phone. Enjoy your retirement!
Arrieta HOF? Insane and worthless discussion. El Tiante, yes.
It’s absulutely laughable how some people on this topic are suggesting that at some point he goes into the HOF.
I mean he may, as a visitor. That’s up to him.
Absolutely laughable? Mildly amusing would’ve sufficed.
He was absolutely filthy during his prime. Fun to watch. One of the best stretches of dominance. Definitely had his moment in the sun. Congratulations on a very good career.
how much of that ‘filth’ was, spydertack?
Who knows. It’s certainly possible. Maybe even likely. Lord knows he wasn’t the only one using it if that’s the case. Still had elite stuff. Better than most his peers during that stretch. Doesn’t diminish his accomplishments during his prime stretch in my opinion.
Struggled appreciating Jake’s efforts. The view from afar was that Jake was just too fond of Jake. Clouded my view of his dominance.
Good luck to him though. Enjoy the retirement Pilates.
Glad to see this headcase leave.
Wasn’t Stretch Armstrong supposed to lengthen his career with all the Yoga?
Lol yeah and pilates. He showed one of his workouts and it was crazy with the pilates machine. I almost got into it bc of him but that stuff is expensive.
A Cy Young award, two no-hitters, and a World Series ring with the Cubs. Not a bad career even if the last few seasons weren’t very good
… at the 2018 All-Star break.
Don’t forget he had 2 no hitters during that peak run too
Thanks for the work with the cubs, it was a fun ride
Better pitching thru chemistry!
As a player what more can you ask for ? Play a game for a living earning him over 101 million , Gets a Cy young , WS Ring and ends his career with a winning record and he’s still young and can enjoy the 2nd half of his life .. Congratulations on a great career and Thank you for helping the cubs win the World Series
2015 wasn’t that the year we went back to the future, can’t believe it’s been that long, or that Arrieta is calling it a career already isn’t he still 28?
He still owes Zack Greinke that 2015 Cy Young.
Grienke also finished twice to Clayton Kershaw and he isn’t expected to hand over his awards
Agreed. Arrieta won it simply because of his monster 2nd half. Voters apparently forgot Zack Greinke was dominant all season long.
Never had an ERA that was higher than 1.xx at the end of any day of the season. Greinke was too consistent, I guess.
Arietta is proof that free agency really doesn’t work. Big payoff for crap pitching.
Will always take the time to see his highlight videos as the movement on his pitches were out of this world!
It always takes away from their careers (in my opinion) when these players announce their retirement after they are unable to sign a reasonable deal with any team. Like a weird attempt to save face, as if it was their decision to leave the game
Interesting career. I wonder what historical precedents there are for it. BA’s Similarity Score (which isn’t a match for this) includes Lincecum and Charley Morton. I don’t see Morton, although he is a late bloomer. Lincecum has more of the “feel” of high peak.
I’ll never forget the argument I got into with some bozos in discord one night after Arietta’s monster season. They were trying to make the argument that he was a better pitcher than Clayton Kershaw. Now here we are some years later and Arietta is retired and Kershaw is coming off of 7 perfect innings.
So, your argument was ‘Kershaw will pitch 7 perfect innings in a start in the 2022 season, so he’s better [now] than Arrietta..’?
Joe Karen Kelly should retire as well, for being a disgrace to the game of baseball.
How so? What makes him a “disgrace to the game of baseball?”
Easily in my top 5 right handed pitchers of all time!
Not trying to be a wise guy, but are you a teenager whose list is limited to only those you have seen pitch? The list of superior RHPs in the last 20-30yrs alone would be long before getting to Arrieta, let alone the ones that are light years better(Scherzer, Degrom, Verlander, Greinke, Bieber, Halladay, Hudson, Maddux, Smoltz, Pedro, Clemens, Schilling, Dave Stewart, Mussina, King Felix, etc)
My God man. Off the top of my head I can name 30 better starters. The best I’ve seen who didn’t cheat was Greg Maddux. If we are counting PED users, then I’d instead say Roger Clemens.
Then I suppose it was just a coincidence that shortly after those rumors started he suddenly was an average pitcher. And the following season he was below average. Then he was basically done. Okay…
To be fair they never said Arrieta was a top 5 all-time RHP. They only said it was their top 5 all-time RHP. When I first saw the post, I thought the same thing as you initially. People like whomever they like though. Maybe Jose Mesa is in someone’s top 5? It’s their right.
A funny thing…as soon as the steroid rumors started about Jake he almost immediately started going downhill and was never close to being the same pitcher. I’m not saying for sure that he cheated but c’mon man, he came out of nowhere to post one of the best seasons ever and then rumors started and he was average followed by below average. And it’s not as if he was old then.