Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) has been throwing around accusations that Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is using performance enhancing drugs, according to a Washington Post reporter who interviewed him on the topic.
Jim Tankersley, the reporter, recalled a conversation he had with Brown two months ago regarding the Chicago ace, who won the Cy Young in 2015 and was the pitcher for the Cubs in their Wednesday night victory over the Cleveland Indians.
Brown, a diehard Indians fan, was asked months ago by Tankersley about a potential World Series matchup with the Cubs. Brown, unprovoked, brought up Arrieta.
"There’s a pitcher for the Cubs who used to be in Baltimore, and was sort of a journeyman, and then became great," Brown told Tankersley. "Is there anything going on there? I don’t know. I don’t make any accusations of anybody."
"Is there anything going on there? I don’t know. I don’t make any accusations of anybody."Pretty spectacular trash talk, nearly two months before Arrieta takes the mound vs the Indians.
— Jim Tankersley (@jimtankersley) October 26, 2016
Tankersly began his string of tweets by noting that "normally United States senators do not deal in such things as performance-enhancing-drug speculation among Major League pitchers." He added that it was "pretty spectacular trash talk, nearly two months before Arrieta takes the mound vs the Indians."
Arrieta handled Brown's Indians on Wednesday night, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning and giving up only one run. Brown was in attendance, joined by Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine, to watch Arrieta's impressive performance.
Brown is not the first to posit that Arrieta is a steroid user. Arrieta has taken the accusations head on, stating that he thinks the rumors are flattering.
"If people call into question my work ethic, that's fine, because I know what I'm doing behind the scenes," Arrieta has said. "It is somewhat flattering, especially when some of those comments are coming from some of the best players in the game."
The steroid suspicion is rooted in the fact noted by Brown that Arrieta became a pitching stud out of nowhere. Arrieta understands that, but says that steroids have nothing to do with it.
"I think it's funny because I've always been in good shape, I just sucked early in my career," Arrieta said. "I threw 96, 98 when I was younger and I still feel like I'll be able to do that for a long time."
Brown did not immediately respond to requests to comment on whether he actually believes his steroid accusation.