Jake Arrieta and understanding baseball's quickly moving, never ending clock

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Jake Arrieta is returning to Chicago for the first time since he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in March. As a key arm in the pitching staff to the championship team in 2016, he has expressed the typical mixed feelings about the “what was” and the “what is” that comes to life when you move on to a new organization.

After recently criticizing the Phillies about their subpar analytics work on the use of the shift and for their recent sluggish play, he raised questions about his happiness with his choice to not re-sign with the Cubs in the first place.

Even if the offer was presented, as Arrieta described, with no opportunity to negotiate.

This was amplified from the reported money he left on the table with the Cubs, an apparent final offer (and first offer, according to Arrieta) from Theo Epstein before Epstein turned around and signed the much maligned Yu Darvish, who currently sits on the disabled list with a near 5.00 ERA compared to Arrieta’s stellar start to the season and a 0.90 ERA in June.

But this is Major League Baseball, a world where change is standard. As players, we spend a lot of time trying to create stability within the changing hotel rooms and alternate uniforms, while relying on our smart phones to adapt to the new time zone of the week. Yet after significant time of paying your dues, if you play long enough, you finally earn the right to choose your employer, at least among the one’s that make you an offer. You want it to be a thought out and two-way courtship, if possible.

In this case, Arrieta, in his free agent moment to break the bank, had a chance to return to Chicago where he made his mark. A place which breathed life back into his derailed career, which was mired in a lack of command and the occasional demotion. Chicago was where his relentless faith in his ability met opportunity, where he was able to meet that opportunity at a time when Chicago was rising to the top of baseball through an accelerated youth movement. A place where he could start over, be himself, and win.

For years in your rise to the big leagues, a player does not have a choice. If you are in the draft, as we will see over the next couple of days, your first home is chosen for you. I was drafted by the Cubs in 1991 and that was home for the next 6 years until I was traded to the Phillies. Then as your career advances, you will experience the many kinds of transactions that could change the course of your life. A trade in the middle of the night, released from your contract because someone faster than you has arrived, a recall from the minor leagues for your first taste of big league life. Poof.

These “moves” capture the true rollercoaster of emotions of life in the game, many ups and downs, most of which are coming by surprise at the whim of others.

Then when the dues are paid up, you finally earn the right to make a choice, one that you have most likely had little practice at making. Do you stay for the school your son is in? Do you seek a better payday? Do you stay home at a discount? Do you go where you can be the ace? No matter what you are facing, you need time to think it through, which Arrieta believes he was not given before he signed with Philadelphia, despite the generous offer on the table by the Cubs. An offer that evaporated in a blink, which is a recipe for feeling unresolved.

So Jake Arrieta, the Cy Young award winner and world champion, is back in Chicago today, but he is a different man. Sure it is only been months since he wore the Cubs uniform but players age in dog years.

He made the most of putting it together on the late side of baseball time. Now there is a championship ring on his finger, awards in his cabinet, but like all players, wondering what life would be like had he made a different choice, had he had more time. Now he is a Philadelphia Phillie having an All-Star season. Boldly saying what he needs to say to spark a team that hit a June wall.

Even if he wants to say “I told you so” about the early critics of Yu Darvish, he knows that is a fruitless road to go down. A career is too fragile, too easily pushed in the wrong directly by a blister, a hanging curveball, or a bad matchup. Plus he has been where Darvish is right now. Even the greatest players know that dark place of not living up to something including yourself. He looks ahead, even if he longs for more information in a different past.

He will still compete to the death, as he always has done. The crossfire delivery where he looks like he will step on the third base line before he releases the ball. The blind spot he creates from hiding the ball a split second before he creates unusual tilt and movement to the baseball’s trajectory. His unorthodox delivery that first caused him to be wild became his weapon. He just needed to master it and be in the right place at the right time.

The Cubs will miss facing him this series, but in the meantime he will get a king’s welcome in his return to Wrigley. The best of time frozen for a moment. He will then know his work was appreciated in a way that transcended a simple loyalty to the team.

It is personal, and in this case, that is a good thing.

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