Jake Arrieta says goodbye to Chicago

The Phillies will hold a press conference at 9AM this morning to introduce Jake Arrieta. Before he departed for Clearwater, however, Arrieta penned a nice farewell to Chicago, where he plied his trade for the past four and a half seasons. Like, he literally penned it, in pretty nice handwriting, as you can see below.

In the letter he said “[i]n the midst of what felt like never ending adversity and failure, I was traded to the Cubs on July 2nd, 2013. This day was the beginning of a four and a half year stretch that would forever change our lives. On the verge of walking away from the game I love dearly, Theo called and the transformation began. I looked myself in the mirror, as well as my two year old son and pregnant wife knowing in my heart that everything was about to change.”

And it did change. In those four and a half seasons with the Cubs, Arrieta won a Cy Young Award, a World Series and tossed two no-hitters.

Arrieta finished:

“I was lucky to have dedicated teammates that willingly shed blood, sweat, and tears to achieve our goals. I will miss going to battle with all of you, but look forward to competing on opposite sides moving forward. Lastly, thanks to all Cubs fans around the world for standing with us, and investing in us even when times were tough. You will all be missed dearly. Thanks for the memories.”

🙏🏻🏆✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/vFGFQArISb

— Jake Arrieta (@JArrieta34) March 13, 2018

Follow @craigcalcaterra