Jake Arrieta - so frustrating to watch this guy pitch. Talented, but erratic. Will he ever put it to

[JLee2027]

Honestly, I think he made progress today. All the cap brim touching and nervous ticks he exhibits when things go south didn't start until after he gave up 3 of the 4 runs. So he hung in there mentally longer.

Bottom line: Give Jake time. He's worth it.

[SrMeowMeow]

Arrieta is going to put some great seasons together in his career. I'd rather not have it be for another team because he was railroaded out of town by ADD fans.

How's that for rhetoric?

[crissfan172]

It wasn't his best start, and it wasn't his worse.

We'll see.

[mark_beckens]

He had a great spring. He earned his spot in the rotation. How about giving him more then one start this year before you all decide he'll never succeed?

[glenn__davis]

He had a great spring. He earned his spot in the rotation. How about giving him more then one start this year before you all decide he'll never succeed?

With all due respect, why do you and others act like people are reacting just to one start? Personally, I did not like Jake being given this spot in the first place. I'd like to see him go down and show some consistent success in the minors, a la Tillman last year. No one is basing anything off of one start, it's just that that one start showed the same issues he's had throughout his young career.

And I don't think anyone is saying he'll never succeed, just that many of us have serious doubts. I certainly hope I'm wrong. He seems like a great guy, and the potential is obviously there. Hopefully his next start is better.

[Ommaculate]

I just watched the game. Arrieta is fine, keep sending him out there. I think he looked dominant at times.

[Ommaculate]

I was at the game and the stadium gun had an awful lot of 89 MPH "fastballs" from Jake. What's that about?

On TV it showed Jake throwing between 93-95MPH. That wasn't accurate??

[B-more]

With all due respect, why do you and others act like people are reacting just to one start? Personally, I did not like Jake being given this spot in the first place. I'd like to see him go down and show some consistent success in the minors, a la Tillman last year. No one is basing anything off of one start, it's just that that one start showed the same issues he's had throughout his young career.

And I don't think anyone is saying he'll never succeed, just that many of us have serious doubts. I certainly hope I'm wrong. He seems like a great guy, and the potential is obviously there. Hopefully his next start is better.

While the results in spring training were good. He also still exhibited strong warnings signs in a few of the 0 ER games where he still seemed to have some command issues (walks as well as games of few walks but not so great strike to balls thrown).

[Ommaculate]

Yes he was throwing gas. That is an amazing arm. Keep sending it out.

[UpstateNYfan]

If Nick had made the play on the triple, that eventually led to a total of three runs, would this discussion still be happening? That did not appear to be a Gold Glove move out there. It seemed (to me) that he got a late start and took a very unNick route to the ball.

[wildcard]

If Nick had made the play on the triple, that eventually led to a total of three runs, would this discussion still be happening? That did not appear to be a Gold Glove move out there. It seemed (to me) that he got a late start and took a very unNick route to the ball.

This is a key point. If Nick catches the triple the inning is over. Arrieta goes 5 innings and gives up 2 runs. If Nick catches the triple Arrieta gets out of the 4th throwing less pitches and may go deeper in the game.

I think Nick and the coaching staff that positioned Nick caused a lot of Arrieta's problems.

I understand Nick's problem. He is playing hurt. He not at his best. But let's not blame Jake for 5 runs. It was not all his fault despite what the box score says.

Jake can be frustrating but a pitcher should be measured on results that he causes. I am not ready to jump on Arrieta for problems that others caused.

[barnanimal]

This post manages to be based on zero facts, both in terms of how much Jake makes, and theorizing his issues, or in the quality of its writing. Arrieta has his flaws, but a 25 cent head isn't one of them. Quotes like that suggest to me that the guy has an attitude problem, refuses to listen, and is a headcase. This isn't a Matt Riley we're talking about. He obviously struggles once guys get on base and gets flustered, but that doesn't mean he's got a 25 cent head, it doesn't make him a headcase, and it's no different then countless pitchers in the big leagues right now. The question is can he overcome that as a starter, and if the answer is no, he needs to be moved to the pen because that's probably not going to change. I was disappointed in Jake's start because it showcased a lot of the problems he's had in his big league career as a starter, but I'm not throwing in the towel based on one start. The only garbage is uneducated responses and posts like this.

I think he may have just been playing off the "million dollar arm, 5 cent head" quite from Bull Durham

[Frobby]

If you believe he was the best guy for the job then you obviously don't give up after one sub par performance.

My thought is that he was not the best guy for the job based on the previous 3 seasons.

I think there is a lot of hyperbole on both sides, based mainly on the emotions associated with the game itself. Stepping away from it a little bit, I think we have to figure out quickly what Jake is. Since he got the first opportunity, we might as well give him at least 5 starts to see if he can make the changes. If he's still struggling, then make the move to Matusz and give him one last shot. At some point, we need to see if he can have a future in the pen.

This post pretty closely expresses my views. For a manager, there's a fine line between being too slow to react to a problem and bring too jumpy. Buck wants the players to feel that he trusts them and doesn't want them looking over their shoulder any time they have a bad game. At the same time, he needs to hold players accountable and make changes based on results. It's a tough balancing act. However, changing a starter based on one poor start is plainly on the overreactive side of the line. I agree Arrieta should get at least 5-6 starts, unless he's really awful several times in a row, which I doubt.

I've never been Jake's biggest fan, but he won the job in spring training fair and square and maybe he was just due for a bad day. It's just too bad his bad day happened once the games started counting, unlike Johnson, Britton and Matusz, who had theirs during the spring training competition for the fifth starter spot. Now he gets some chances to show that it was just a bad start, not the continuation of a trend from 2012.

[Frobby]

I think he may have just been playing off the "million dollar arm, 5 cent head" quite from Bull Durham

That saying goes back way further than Bull Durham. I've heard pitchers described that way for most of my life.

[Can_of_corn]

This is a key point. If Nick catches the triple the inning is over. Arrieta goes 5 innings and gives up 2 runs. If Nick catches the triple Arrieta gets out of the 4th throwing less pitches and may go deeper in the game.

I think Nick and the coaching staff that positioned Nick caused a lot of Arrieta's problems.

I understand Nick's problem. He is playing hurt. He not at his best. But let's not blame Jake for 5 runs. It was not all his fault despite what the box score says.

Jake can be frustrating but a pitcher should be measured on results that he causes. I am not ready to jump on Arrieta for problems that others caused.

If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas.