Jake Arrieta 2017 Salary Drive Sploogefest

[Saul Goodman]

Confirmed: Jake Arrieta is still 7% human.

[InternetApex]

Confirmed: Jake Arrieta is still 7% human.

Dee Gordon and Chris Colabello are gone for 80 games each after getting caught using PEDs. I don't think one single person ever looked at either of those guys and said, man, I bet he's on some shit. There's no way he could do that without drugs. The takeaway is that 99% of athletes at the highest level have probably dipped into something on the banned substance list at one time or another. The stuff they're doing these days is completely different from the STEROIDS they were using during the longball era. The effects are not for functionality and speed, they're for keeping the body younger and healthier so they can do sports like they're being paid to do.

Jake is one of those guys who takes such amazing physical care of himself that you can believe that he'd see the challenge of doing it natrually as something to take on with fervor and piety. People thought the same thing about Roger Fucking Clemens.

I don't have one single solitary problem with a person who is paid to abuse the shit out of his body on the field and in the gym, taking a drug, knowing the risk, that helps him do his job better. Rules are rules, and MLB in particular took such a massive P.R. hit by allowing the word STEROIDS to dominate the discussion through they're litany of communications and policy fuck ups. So some guys have to get busted now and again to make it look like they give a gram of shit whether guys are on PEDs or not.

I do have a problem with guys like Clemens and Lance Armstrong who wag their fingers at the world and uphold their lifestyle as something it isn't and make a name for themselves as dominant physical specimens above reproach. Jake is my favorite baseball player since Sosa, a known drug cheat who was caught up in an environment that was encouraged and richly rewarded until it wasn't. But Jake has now entered the category of guys who are so fervently anti-dope that he'd really better not get caught doing it or the public cry against him will actually be somewhat deserved.

Even that might not be fair. He was defending himself against iditos like Stephen A. Smiff who can't look at this issue objectively enough to see that if Dee Gordon and Chris Colabello are getting popped, maybe it's not PEDs that make Jake the ace of the entire profession right now. You think? What Madison Bumgarner did during the 2014 postseason should raise as many eyebrows as Barroid's gigantic fucking jawbone but fuck if I ever hear a peep out of any of the handwringing shitbirds on the anti-drug firing squad.

Fuck them all, and feed them greenies so they may wake the fuck up some day and stop trying to ruin my favorite sport with their mealy-mouthed indignation.

[SKO]

I really don't think that many players are on PEDs anymore, given how few players are defying the aging curve nowadays, the frequent injuries to pitchers, etc. The fact that two guys got caught by comprehensive testing is not evidence to me of widespread use so much as it could be interpreted as "hey the system is working and guys are getting caught."

I'm going to assume guys aren't on anything until they get caught doing it, and if they get caught, whatever, there's a system of punishment set up now that I think is fine. In the meantime, stop accusing people of shit, because it's annoying and I'm tired of it after all these years. I don't care about the purity of the game, but I respect that guys like Jake Arrieta work their asses off and don't want their name sullied by these allegations even if you say you don't care if he did it or not, so let's just drop it and agree anyone who keeps bringing up can get fucked.

[InternetApex]

I really don't think that many players are on PEDs anymore, given how few players are defying the aging curve nowadays, the frequent injuries to pitchers, etc. The fact that two guys got caught by comprehensive testing is not evidence to me of widespread use so much as it could be interpreted as "hey the system is working and guys are getting caught."

I'm going to assume guys aren't on anything until they get caught doing it, and if they get caught, whatever, there's a system of punishment set up now that I think is fine. In the meantime, stop accusing people of shit, because it's annoying and I'm tired of it after all these years. I don't care about the purity of the game, but I respect that guys like Jake Arrieta work their asses off and don't want their name sullied by these allegations even if you say you don't care if he did it or not, so let's just drop it and agree anyone who keeps bringing up can get fucked.

That's exactly what MLB wants you to think, so yeah, the system is working. And how in the world do widespread injuries make you think that guys aren't getting extra help? PED helps their muscles recover faster so they feel well enough to plow forward until something tears, and then their recovery time from the injury is shortened and so on and so forth.  

[SKO]

I really don't think that many players are on PEDs anymore, given how few players are defying the aging curve nowadays, the frequent injuries to pitchers, etc. The fact that two guys got caught by comprehensive testing is not evidence to me of widespread use so much as it could be interpreted as "hey the system is working and guys are getting caught."

I'm going to assume guys aren't on anything until they get caught doing it, and if they get caught, whatever, there's a system of punishment set up now that I think is fine. In the meantime, stop accusing people of shit, because it's annoying and I'm tired of it after all these years. I don't care about the purity of the game, but I respect that guys like Jake Arrieta work their asses off and don't want their name sullied by these allegations even if you say you don't care if he did it or not, so let's just drop it and agree anyone who keeps bringing up can get fucked.

That's exactly what MLB wants you to think, so yeah, the system is working. And how in the world do widespread injuries make you think that guys aren't getting extra help? PED helps their muscles recover faster so they feel well enough to plow forward until something tears, and then their recovery time from the injury is shortened and so on and so forth.  

I'm saying with the decline in offensive numbers and the comprehensive testing I think it's safe to say there's more evidence now that most guys aren't on it than evidence there is. You can say "hey they have cool new shit now that can't be picked up by tests" but if I'm donning your tinfoil hat I'm going to ask why the fuck are guys getting caught then? Did they not get the memo everyone else got about which ones evade detection?

You don't actually have any evidence, you just have skepticism, which is fine, I get why you'd have it given the game's history, but I'm fine with believing Jake Arrieta and whoever else is telling the truth until they are proven not to be. It's kind of a dick move to just assume everyone is lying all of the time. You can say "hey I get why he has to lie, but I believe he's doing it even though I don't care that he's doing it", but that still kind of makes you a dick for accusing him of lying without any real evidence to back that up.

For what it's worth the consensus among writers and ex-players who lived through both eras is that the game is mostly clean now, and I tend to believe them because during the steroid era it was never really even a remotely well kept secret.

[Quality Start Machine]

I really don't think that many players are on PEDs anymore, given how few players are defying the aging curve nowadays, the frequent injuries to pitchers, etc. The fact that two guys got caught by comprehensive testing is not evidence to me of widespread use so much as it could be interpreted as "hey the system is working and guys are getting caught."

I'm going to assume guys aren't on anything until they get caught doing it, and if they get caught, whatever, there's a system of punishment set up now that I think is fine. In the meantime, stop accusing people of shit, because it's annoying and I'm tired of it after all these years. I don't care about the purity of the game, but I respect that guys like Jake Arrieta work their asses off and don't want their name sullied by these allegations even if you say you don't care if he did it or not, so let's just drop it and agree anyone who keeps bringing up can get fucked.

That's exactly what MLB wants you to think, so yeah, the system is working. And how in the world do widespread injuries make you think that guys aren't getting extra help? PED helps their muscles recover faster so they feel well enough to plow forward until something tears, and then their recovery time from the injury is shortened and so on and so forth.  

Anabolic steroids help with muscle recovery, but HGH helps everything - ligaments, cartilage and bones - heal faster. And it's much harder to detect.

Anybody getting caught is just being dumb.

[InternetApex]

I really don't think that many players are on PEDs anymore, given how few players are defying the aging curve nowadays, the frequent injuries to pitchers, etc. The fact that two guys got caught by comprehensive testing is not evidence to me of widespread use so much as it could be interpreted as "hey the system is working and guys are getting caught."

I'm going to assume guys aren't on anything until they get caught doing it, and if they get caught, whatever, there's a system of punishment set up now that I think is fine. In the meantime, stop accusing people of shit, because it's annoying and I'm tired of it after all these years. I don't care about the purity of the game, but I respect that guys like Jake Arrieta work their asses off and don't want their name sullied by these allegations even if you say you don't care if he did it or not, so let's just drop it and agree anyone who keeps bringing up can get fucked.

That's exactly what MLB wants you to think, so yeah, the system is working. And how in the world do widespread injuries make you think that guys aren't getting extra help? PED helps their muscles recover faster so they feel well enough to plow forward until something tears, and then their recovery time from the injury is shortened and so on and so forth.  

Anabolic steroids help with muscle recovery, but HGH helps everything - ligaments, cartilage and bones - heal faster. And it's much harder to detect.

Anybody getting caught is just being dumb.

Most guys get caught doing stuff that helps them cycle off of the real PEDs. Then they're like "I DUNNO WHAT HA HAPPEN!!! THIS WAS NOT FOR SPORTS!"

[Shooter]

I really don't think that many players are on PEDs anymore, given how few players are defying the aging curve nowadays, the frequent injuries to pitchers, etc. The fact that two guys got caught by comprehensive testing is not evidence to me of widespread use so much as it could be interpreted as "hey the system is working and guys are getting caught."

I'm going to assume guys aren't on anything until they get caught doing it, and if they get caught, whatever, there's a system of punishment set up now that I think is fine. In the meantime, stop accusing people of shit, because it's annoying and I'm tired of it after all these years. I don't care about the purity of the game, but I respect that guys like Jake Arrieta work their asses off and don't want their name sullied by these allegations even if you say you don't care if he did it or not, so let's just drop it and agree anyone who keeps bringing up can get fucked.

It's seven guys since the start of spring training. Still not a ton, but as many as all of last season.

I think a pretty fair number of guys are still using PEDs in some form, in part because in the past, the chances of getting caught were very slim. If the testing has changed and they are catching more people, that will probably get some guys to stop.

[PenFoe]

I really don't think that many players are on PEDs anymore, given how few players are defying the aging curve nowadays, the frequent injuries to pitchers, etc. The fact that two guys got caught by comprehensive testing is not evidence to me of widespread use so much as it could be interpreted as "hey the system is working and guys are getting caught."

I'm going to assume guys aren't on anything until they get caught doing it, and if they get caught, whatever, there's a system of punishment set up now that I think is fine. In the meantime, stop accusing people of shit, because it's annoying and I'm tired of it after all these years. I don't care about the purity of the game, but I respect that guys like Jake Arrieta work their asses off and don't want their name sullied by these allegations even if you say you don't care if he did it or not, so let's just drop it and agree anyone who keeps bringing up can get fucked.

It's seven guys since the start of spring training. Still not a ton, but as many as all of last season.

I think a pretty fair number of guys are still using PEDs in some form, in part because in the past, the chances of getting caught were very slim. If the testing has changed and they are catching more people, that will probably get some guys to stop.

Seven since the beginning of Spring Training feels like a pretty significant number.

[Yeti]

Is he god?

[Canadouche]

Is he god?

I don't know if he's god, but at this point I'd trust him to dispatch Gozer.

[InternetApex]

Is he god?

I don't know if he's god, but at this point I'd trust him to dispatch Gozer.

Nimble little minx, insn't she?

[Saul Goodman]

Great, more reporters asking Jake about money.

Cubs ace Jake Arrieta won’t offer the team a discount in extension talks, he told reporters, including ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers. According to previous reports, the Cubs have been hesitant to commit to anything greater than a four-year term, and that length clearly isn’t of interest to the 30-year-old reigning Cy Young winner. “Aces get seven years,” Arrieta candidly said in the interview. Asked what he felt his market to be, Arrieta declined to answer directly, instead telling reporters: “I’ll let you judge that. Just look at the numbers.” Arrieta again emphasized that his preference is to remain with the Cubs but that being compensated at the same level as the game’s other elite arms is also a factor. “Financially I’m fine, regardless,” he said. “You want to be paid in respect to how your peers are paid. I don’t think that changes with any guy you ask. It happens around baseball every year.”

In before the "Jake is ungrateful to the Cubs/Chris Bosio" takes start!

[Eli]

Great, more reporters asking Jake about money.

Cubs ace Jake Arrieta won't offer the team a discount in extension talks, he told reporters, including ESPN Chicago's Jesse Rogers. According to previous reports, the Cubs have been hesitant to commit to anything greater than a four-year term, and that length clearly isn't of interest to the 30-year-old reigning Cy Young winner. "Aces get seven years," Arrieta candidly said in the interview. Asked what he felt his market to be, Arrieta declined to answer directly, instead telling reporters: "I'll let you judge that. Just look at the numbers." Arrieta again emphasized that his preference is to remain with the Cubs but that being compensated at the same level as the game's other elite arms is also a factor. "Financially I'm fine, regardless," he said. "You want to be paid in respect to how your peers are paid. I don't think that changes with any guy you ask. It happens around baseball every year."

In before the "Jake is ungrateful to the Cubs/Chris Bosio" takes start!

Aces get seven years because they typically hit free agency at 29 or 30. Jake will be 32 when his deal would start, which matters.

[Quality Start Machine]

Great, more reporters asking Jake about money.

Cubs ace Jake Arrieta won't offer the team a discount in extension talks, he told reporters, including ESPN Chicago's Jesse Rogers. According to previous reports, the Cubs have been hesitant to commit to anything greater than a four-year term, and that length clearly isn't of interest to the 30-year-old reigning Cy Young winner. "Aces get seven years," Arrieta candidly said in the interview. Asked what he felt his market to be, Arrieta declined to answer directly, instead telling reporters: "I'll let you judge that. Just look at the numbers." Arrieta again emphasized that his preference is to remain with the Cubs but that being compensated at the same level as the game's other elite arms is also a factor. "Financially I'm fine, regardless," he said. "You want to be paid in respect to how your peers are paid. I don't think that changes with any guy you ask. It happens around baseball every year."

In before the "Jake is ungrateful to the Cubs/Chris Bosio" takes start!

Aces get seven years because they typically hit free agency at 29 or 30. Jake will be 32 when his deal would start, which matters.

Jake's conditioning will make him an atypical 32 year old starting pitcher, no?