Jake Arrieta and the Recurring “Cubs Culture”

There has been a lot of chatter in the news world the last couple of days about Jake Arrieta and the status of his contract extension negotiations. There was a really great breakdown and sampling of the chatter posted in an article on Bleacher Nation yesterday that is worth a read. And, if anything, I can agree that the existence of the conversations is a really good thing and shows that both sides are open, with positive thoughts about the status and possible future of things going into the season.

I don’t want to spend our time speculating on the possibility of a contract or what that contract should or would look like. We all know that Jake is going to get paid and that he deserves it after his Cy Young Award winning season last year. If he performs anywhere near that level again this year you can count on him getting a huge contract. You can also count on the Cubs being in the World Series.

There was a good article from the Chicago Tribune which included video on Jake talking about his contract and I believe there is something here that you can (and I will) read into. The Cubs Culture is alive and well and Jake is clearly on board. It’s one thing to hear Theo mention “Jake’s priority (now) is helping the team come together and prepare for a season,” but it’s entirely different when you hear Jake say:

The financial stuff takes away from what we’re trying to do as a team and I don’t necessarily like that

That, my friends, is the emanation of the Cubs Culture that Joe and Theo have created and it is a huge intangible in the clubhouse. This 2016 Cubs team is concerned with one thing and one thing only – winning a World Series. And they are damn serious about it. And why wouldn’t they be?