Cubs starting pitcher and 2015 NL Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta is in a contract year, so it was probably only a matter of time before we heard his agent, Scott Boras, sing his praises. 

He did so in Los Angeles to Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago, explaining that Arrieta is still an "elite" pitcher and asking everyone to look at the body of work and not just a small sample. A quick glimpse: 

"I wanted to bring this up because when you guys (reporters) talk about what an elite pitcher is, I want you to know Scherzer [in 2014] gave up seven runs, five runs, four runs, four runs and 10 runs, all before June struck," Boras said. "My point is he's an elite pitcher. He did all that in his platform year. Jake is throwing at better levels than what Scherzer did."

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"The reality of it is Jake has this history," Boras said. "He has a great history. These guys (elite pitchers) have not done it in one year. He did in '14, '15, '16 and now he's doing it in '17."  

There's more, including Boras talking about Arrieta's prowess as a big-game pitcher. 

Look, we shouldn't expect an agent to say anything bad about one of his clients. When we're talking about a guy who is expecting a nine-figure payday in the offseason, of course Boras is going to prop him up. 

What's the reality, though? 

Arrieta has a 4.92 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and leads the majors with nine wild pitches this year. In his last 17 starts last season, once he appeared to lose a good portion of his command, Arrieta had a 4.31 ERA and 1.21 WHIP. 

As far as the postseason track record, Arrieta provides a mixed bag. He threw a shutout in the 2015 NL Wild Card game, but gave up eight runs on nine hits and four walks in his next two 2015 playoff starts, good for a 6.75 ERA. He was good in the NLDS last year, but bad in the NLCS before two pretty good -- albeit very inefficient -- World Series outings. In all, Arrieta has a 3.64 postseason ERA in seven starts. 

We can go on the body of work, as Boras asked us to do, or we can look at what Arrieta is now, which is nothing resembling the Terminator-like presence he was in 2015 and the first two months of 2016. He led the majors in hit rate (hits per nine innings) in both 2015 and 2016 at 5.9 and 6.3, respectively. This year, it's up to 9.8. He's already allowed 10 homers after giving up 16 last year and only 10 in all of 2015. 

Arrieta right now is a 31 year old with good stuff and sub-par command who is getting hit a ton harder than he has in the past few years. He'll turn 32 next season and his agent wants a $100M-plus deal this coming offseason. Boras can talk Arrieta up all he wants, but as things stand he's going to be an incredibly risky free agent. The good news is there are 20-plus starts left in the season to turn things around.