Baltimore Orioles: Be happy for Jake Arrieta

The Baltimore Orioles didn’t “fail” Jake Arrieta. And Jake Arrieta didn’t fail the Baltimore Orioles. We all know that there are guys in sports who end up needing a change of pace and/or air. Arrieta was one of those.

My hope is that in the wake of last night’s NL Wild Card game (in which Arrieta pitched a complete game shutout), O’s fans are happy for Arrieta. First off, he worked about as hard as anyone when he was in Baltimore. So this wasn’t a case of a guy not giving his all because he didn’t like the situation or something along those lines. He wanted to succeed here, and I believe that was his intention from the moment he came up from the minors.

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From the perspective of penning a sports column, it’s not the most insightful thing in the world to say sometimes things just don’t work out with one team or the other. But the fact is that sometimes that can be true in various settings. And that’s not to say that Arrieta or the Orioles themselves made a mistake or did anything wrong. Sometimes it just doesn’t click – and sometimes it does, as it has for Arrieta in Chicago.

Certainly it’s fair to say that Orioles fans might wonder why they couldn’t see this version of Arrieta in orange and black. But again, sometimes things click and sometimes they don’t. I suppose it’s similar to when you’re going through a crisis or a problem of some sort, and you decide to just go to bed. Often times when you wake up the next morning things just seem…not as intense as they were the night before. The issues are still there, but in some cases so are the solutions.

And that’s the type of effect that changing teams can sometimes have on a player, or even a coach. Looking at the NFL for a moment, Bill Belichick coached the Cleveland Browns in their final years before moving here and becoming the Ravens. He wasn’t exactly a rousing success, although we saw flashes of what he would later become. However we all know what he’s proven to be in New England; yes granted he had better players. However as I said, sometimes a change of air will do that.

On the other hand, did the Orioles mis-coach Arrieta? That might be a fair question and a valid point. But it’s difficult to say. For all we know he’s getting the same type of coaching under Maddon that he got under Showalter. But even the same message can come across differently in a “change of air situation.” Sometimes that’s just how it goes.

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