(SP) – Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta confirmed today that he has parted ways with his longtime pilates instructor after seeing his ERA rise again following his latest poor outing on Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“Sometimes when things aren’t working you have to make a chance,” said Arrieta, whose ERA has risen from 1.77 to 3.10 to 4.35 over the past three seasons, undoubtedly costing him at least $100 million in his next contract. “I need to find a pilates guy who can help me start locating pitches again.”
Arrieta attributed his near-instant career transformation a few years ago from lousy Triple-A pitcher to near-unhittable MLB ace to adopting the practice of controlled movements, balance and core strength developed by Joseph Pilates in the early 1900s.
“I’m not moving on from pilates by any means,” said Arrieta. “I’m just leaving my instructor Jean-Luc Flay. I appreciate all he did to help my career. But my velocity is way down and I clearly need a different kind of slow stretch to fix it.”
Arrieta says he has not fired his PED supplier, however.
“I don’t have a PED supplier,” he said, which may be true and could also be the actual reason he’s not good anymore.
