The Rundown: Jake Arrieta Follows Unwritten Rules, John Lackey Doesn’t Care

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanMarch 8, 2017

In addition to his studies in fitness and meditation, Jake Arrieta has apparently been boning up on baseball’s unwritten rules of propriety.

This is less than minor in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a statement that throws a little turpentine on Arrieta’s likability. Unless, you know, you dig this sort of thing. Maybe it’s just that the heat from this take has melted the precious snowflakes that comprise my personality.

Whatever the case, I object to both the idea that a vet has earned some perverted sense of grace or that a young player needs to wear one in the ribs because he hasn’t paid his dues. You know how someone earns a bat flip? He hammers a dinger into the seats. I don’t care whether the pitcher feels slighted, because here’s the thing about intentionally hitting a dude: it’s freaking stupid.

Not only are you talking about the potential for injury, you’re putting a free runner on base without even the possibility of getting an out on the play. Not to mention you’re also putting your teammates in harm’s way, since this jackassery generally means retaliation by plunking.

Needless to say, I won’t be mad if someone bat-flips on Arrieta this season just to call his bluff. Maybe we’ll even turn it into a T-shirt idea.

Lackey aloof following debut

I probably didn’t even need the last two words in the header, given the subject of this particular section. As you might imagine, John Lackey was less than concerned with his performance against Team Italy Tuesday, as CSN Chicago’s Tony Andracki relayed.

The big righty threw 30 pitches (an Edwin Jackson-ish 29 of which were fastballs) over two innings, allowing a hit and striking out one. Did he know about the pitch count or care about the results?

“Doesn’t matter. Whatever. I got about a month to go before it matters.”

I guess when you’ve gone through this as many times as Lackey has, you tend to stop caring about the little stuff and just look at these games as part of the process.

“Honestly, it’s spring training. It doesn’t matter who’s up there. I kinda got a routine on what I do from my first start. The second start and the last probably two starts before the season, I’ll pitch pretty much with everything and then go get ’em.”

More news and notes

  • Lackey and other Cubs got some spiffy new boots

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanMarch 8, 2017
Back to top button