Yesterday, Baltimore Orioles slugger Chris Davis announced his retirement while Jake Arrieta may have thrown his last big league pitch as he was released by the Chicago Cubs.
I am struck by the remarkable similarities between the two men and by one crucial difference.
Both men are 35 years old. In fact, Davis is only 11 days younger than Arrieta.
Both men played high school and college baseball in Texas.
Both men were drafted thrice before signing.
Both men signed with teams who drafted them in the fifth round (one year apart).
Both men did not distinguish themselves with the teams with which they signed - Davis with the Texas Rangers and Arrieta with the Baltimore Orioles.
Both men would not reach their potential with the teams with which they signed.
Both men would be traded mid-season. Davis was traded to the Orioles at the trade deadline in 2011 while Arrieta was traded by the Orioles in June 2013 to the Cubs. (Yes, the two were teammates in Baltimore.)
Both men would set the world on fire two years after joining their new clubs. Davis led the AL in HR (53) and RBI (138) in 2013 (the same year Arrieta was dealt to Chicago) finishing third in AL MVP balloting behind a couple of guys named Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout. Arrieta won the NL Cy Young Award in 2015.
Both men had two more good seasons before their performance started to precipitously decline. Who can forget Davis' 0 for 54 streak in 2019 while Arrieta posted a 6.88 ERA in his Cubs return.
Now there is some variation here. Davis remained in Baltimore while Arrieta spent three seasons in Philadelphia before rejoining the club this season. Davis was plagued by injuries and did not play in 2021 due to hip surgery which prompted his retirement.
But the biggest difference between them is on masks. Chris Davis was all for wearing a mask on the field and there are masks bearing his number. After his last miserable start on Wednesday in which he gave up 8 runs in 4 innings pitched, Arrieta demanded a reporter remove his mask - on a Zoom call. Very, very disappointing. When I saw Arrieta pitch for the Cubs in 2014 he was a much different pitcher than when he toed the rubber in Baltimore. I predicted he would win the NL Cy Young in 2015 and is probably my greatest prediction. But as then 9-year old Boston Red Sox fan Henry Frasca wrote in a letter of encouragement to Davis during his spectacular batting slump, "The way you play baseball has nothing to do with how good a person you are." From the mouths of babes. Too bad Arrieta didn't have a wise fan beyond his years.
Chris Davis said goodbye gracefully while Jake Arrieta burned bridges.
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