This former Chicago Cubs Cy Young winner announced retirement

The Chicago Cubs had a lot of great players play for them over the last decade. They were so good that they all came together to win the World Series in 2016. There was a combination of great hitters, defensive players, and pitchers that got the job done for them for so long.

One of those great players was Jake Arrieta. The Cubs acquired him along with Pedro Strop in exchange for Steve Clevenger and Scott Feldman. This trade with the Baltimore Orioles was huge for the Cubs because of what Jake Arrieta became despite being the “second player” in the deal.

Arrieta joined the Cubs staff in 2013 after the trade and gradually got better as the years went on. He was so good that he won the Cy Young in 2015 and then a World Series championship in 2016. It was one of the greatest two-year stretches that any Cubs pitcher ever had.

When he returned to the Cubs in 2021, he clearly wasn’t the same pitcher. The Cubs released him in the middle of the season and the San Diego Padres picked him up. Since then, he hasn’t signed with anyone else in 2022.

Jake Arrieta was an outstanding player for the Chicago Cubs for a long time.

On Monday, it came out that he is retiring from Major League Baseball. He leaves the game with the aforementioned Cy Young and World Series championship along with a Silver Slugger (he was an outstanding hitter for being a pitcher) and one All-Star appearance.

In addition to all of the accolades, he threw two no-hitters in his career. There is no doubt that the 36-year-old had an outstanding 12-year Major League career. He should be very proud of everything that he accomplished in that time.

Cubs fans will always remember him for what he did to this team. Signing Jon Lester added an ace to the staff and Arrieta was somehow better for a short time. He also brought an attitude that changed the mindset from being lovable losers to championship contenders.

He wanted to win as badly as any player that ever played in a Cubs uniform. He was quite good at it for a long time too which separates him from a lot of other people. Without him, things would have been very different for the Cubs during their golden era.

He deserves plenty of congratulations for what he did in his career. He retires having accomplished pretty much everything that he wanted to do as a Major League pitcher. It was a lot of fun to watch for a very long time.