Jake Arrieta calls PED speculation by rival players ‘flattering’

Nobody’s ever said it to his face.

“Nobody’d be stupid enough to do that,” Jake Arrieta said.

But the Cubs’ ace has heard the whispers, through teammates, of rival players speculating that his sudden and historic success since joining the Cubs is the result of performance enhancing drugs.

“I think it’s flattering to hear mentions of that,” said Arrieta, who on Wednesday makes his first start since throwing a second no-hitter in 11 regular-season starts. “Especially when some of those comments are coming from some of the best players in the game.”

He won’t say which ones.

“My teammates and, personally, myself, I know I’ve never taken any shortcuts,” he said. “and I don’t ever intend to.”

Arrieta, 30, is on a 24-start run unequaled in the live-ball era: going 20-1 with a 0.86 ERA over those 24 starts, with no-hitters Aug. 30 in Los Angeles and last week in Cincinnati.

In 71 starts with the Cubs since a July 2, 2013, trade that sent Scott Feldman to the Baltimore Orioles, Arrieta is 40-13 with a 2.17 ERA and 466 strikeouts in 468 1/3 innings.

He was 20-25 with a 5.46 ERA in his career (358 innings) with Baltimore before that.

“Even prior to him being good, his numbers regarding the pitches he was throwing were the same, whether you talk about fastball velocity, spin rate, all that stuff,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “I think command’s the biggest difference. And probably confidence.

“I guess everybody’s become suspicious, but I challenge anybody to go with him for his workout program and just keep up for two days and see what he actually does and see if you could do that particular workout program.”

Arrieta’s Pilates-based workout, mixed with some heavy lifting, has left teammates gasping and unable to finish.

“None of it really bothers me because I’ve never had anything to hide,” Arrieta said of the PED talk. “I pride myself on doing things the right way and hard work and doing things that’ll make my family proud, and that’s definitely not one of them. So that’s really not something that’s ever been on my agenda.”

In fact, after an Al-Jazeera report surfaced in December, implicating players from multiple sports, including former Cub Taylor Teagarden, Arrieta tweeted a picture of him and his trainer that said:

“With my performance enhancer. #PEDfree.”

If anything, Arrieta, who’s the Cubs’ union rep, wants to see tougher penalties for steroid cheats.

“It’s apparent that guys are still trying to take things,” he said Tuesday, the week after Blue Jays first baseman Chris Colabello was suspended 80 games for testing positive for a steroid used by athletes since the 1960s. “I personally don’t think that guys should get multiple chances when they fail a steroid test.”

One strike, you’re out? Arrieta said exceptions should be built into the system for someone who can demonstrate taking a banned substance unwittingly or involving other extenuating circumstances.

“But if it’s a blatant attempt to cheat the system with a serious steroid, then I think maybe so,” he said. “There’s food and supplements that you can take legally that will better your body and help you stay healthy and perform throughout the course of the season.

“So shortcuts are something that’s always been around in all sports, but as a union, we’re trying to do everything we can to weed those guys out of this game.”

Arrieta, the Cubs most likely to conduct a postgame interview in a tank top (or sans shirt), said he’s always had a similarly muscular body going back to college at TCU – the first time he said heard the PED whispers.

“Might be some jealousy involved,” said the reigning National League Cy Young winner. “It is what it is.”

“This guy’s one of the most disciplined athletes I’ve ever seen,” his agent, Scott Boras, said of Arrieta’s career obsesson with conditioning.

While Arrieta lobbies for tougher PED penalties, he’s not looking to add to a “ridiculously long” list of banned substances, he said.

“I eat plants, and I eat lean protein. That’s my gig,” he said. “I watch what I eat and I train properly. That’s no secret. My mom’s 6-1, and my dad’s 6-4. I’m going to be big regardless.

“I could be 30 pounds heaver, if I wanted to, if I played football,” he said. “But I play baseball, so I do Pilates, and I strength train with heavy weights occasionally. And this is the result.”