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Cubs' Jake Arrieta On Free Agency: Payday Will Take Care Of Itself If 'I Carry Myself In The Right Way'

(CBS) Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta has never lacked for confidence, but as the postseason nears, he producing the results he's expected out of himself all along.

In nine starts since the All-Star break, Arrieta is 6-1 with a 1.59 ERA and has held foes to a .189 batting average. In that stretch, Arrieta hasn't allowed more than two earned runs in any outing.

This has all come after he recorded a 4.35 ERA in 18 starts in the season's first half.

"I'm pitching now like the guy I should've been pitching like in the first half," Arrieta said Thursday in an interview with Dan Bernstein and Jason Goff on 670 The Score. "Some things didn't go my way. I wasn't executing that well. I was leaving too many balls in the middle of the strike zone in hitters' counts. And those are all just little adjustments."

Arrieta is set to be a free agent in November and his rocky first half, there was some thought that his payday on the open market was going to take a hit. Asked if it's comforting to being throwing so well as he enters free agency, Arrieta responded that he let his mind wander into that territory.

"Moving forward, I don't know how many starts I have left, I just really don't put much thought into that," Arrieta said. "I just know if I do what I'm supposed to do, I can carry myself in the right way and I perform close to the way I'm capable of, then things will just take care of themselves."

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