JAKE ARRIETA

There's food and supplements that you can take legally that will better your body and help you stay healthy. Shortcuts are something that's always been around all sports, but as a union, we're trying to do the best we can to weed those guys out of the game.

Sports psychology or mental training has been viewed as a weakness, and I think that's a pretty silly way to look at it.

Unfortunately, the business side of the game shows its head every once in a while. But I still think there's opportunity and chances that we can have good conversations as far as an extension's concerned.

When I do train heavy, it's typically one to two days a week, but the training I do just about on a daily basis is Pilates-based.

I had teammates like Chris Davis. Manny Machado was really young and such a good kid. Seeing his development, it's ridiculous. He's going to get bigger. He's going to get stronger. He's going to get even better.

I was giving some of my teammates a hard time, saying I've got more pop than they do.

Just having two kids now, regardless of what happens in the field, they're there to receive you with open arms every night after every game.

Really being able to harness my mental approach has kind of taken me to the next level, and obviously maturing as a player and a teammate and as a person. Those are things that are necessary to achieve success in this game. There's no other way around it.

You rarely see any blowout games.

People asking my teammates, 'Is Arrieta a guy who'd try to cheat the system?' Honestly, hearing that kind of stuff come from some of the best players in baseball is honestly a compliment. I view it that way.

There are so many things on Twitter, so many mentions, it's hard to get through all of them.

It is good to kind of put your pride aside for the betterment of the ball club. We are all on board for that, even if you want to go another inning.

The numbers are hard to control.

On the road, we're hitting in the cages during our normal batting practice for our position players.

Building strength is very important, but there are many ways to do that.

As far as my mental approach, I really think it's just knowing that the past is really irrelevant.

I'm not really into the statements kind of thing.

I've had some incredible experiences with this organization. I owe a lot to this team and this organization and the ownership. I don't want to see that time come to an end, my time as a Cub.

At the end of the day, all we're trying to do is get the hitter off balance. Get him in a position where he's not strong in the strike zone.

At this point, I'm just grinding through it, trying to establish strikes in the zone with my pitches, using some information the opposition gives me, and kind of moving forward in that regard.

There's plenty of situations where we'll come up with guys on base, less than two outs, and those are opportunities for us to help ourselves out.

That's one the main reasons we live in Austin. The weather is so nice for the majority of the offseason, and it's easy for us to get out and ride bikes and get on some trails, to walk together as a family. Sometimes I'll go out for a trail run. We just like to do things outdoors.

My flexibility is probably my No. 1 asset. Obviously we need to have a strong shoulder, strong scapula, strong lats, and a durable elbow to have longevity as a pitcher, but being mobile in the hips and flexible in the hamstrings takes so much pressure and stress off of my arm.

I eat plants. I eat lean meat. I work out.

You play your surroundings. You pitch accordingly. Not that I drastically try to change my game plan based on the score or the team or stadium, but you have to take everything into consideration.