Yanks in or out on Chapman?
January 7, 2010, 5:30 pm by iYankees · 27 Comments
Yesterday, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted that, along with the Mets, the Yankees were out of the Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes, with Olney citing a general front office concern as to whether or not Chapman was better suited to serve as a reliever or a starter (spending $20 million or more on an eventual bullpen cog seemed problematic).
The decision to bow out of the market for the prized Cuban southpaw made a certain degree of sense beyond role concerns, as well, as Chapman is far from a polished prospect. He needs to improve upon his overall command, which was fairly poor in Cuba, while bettering the quality of his breaking pitches. For these reasons, according to the Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham, the Yankees believe Chapman must begin his American career in the lower minor leagues, in Single-A ball, but he and his representation seem to disagree. Therefore, despite the talent inherent to his spidery left arm, the Yankees’ decision, while disappointing to some, was certainly understandable. Furthermore, last night, it appeared as though the Angels were nearing a deal for Chapman, so perhaps the hunt was over.
Today, however — there’s always a “however” — we hear from a report that conflicts with Olney’s, for it states that the Yankees could still be in on the Hendricks brothers’ sought after young client. According to Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston, “[c]ontrary to reports that have pegged the Angels and Blue Jays as favorites to sign the 22-year old pitcher, the Red Sox remain very much in the picture, [with] one major league executive predicting that either the Sox or Yankees will sign him.” The executive added, “This one is for the big-money teams,” although I think it’s fair to call the Angels, who are in the top ten for team payroll, a “big-money team,” too. If Boston, a club which offered Chapman a $15 million contract a few weeks ago, prior to his representation switch, is still in the thick of it, I would think that the Yankees, so as to drive up the price for the Red Sox, would at least stay in the race on a superficial level.
So, could we see some sort of surprise Aroldis Chapman signing by the Yankees this week? I definitely wouldn’t count on it, as most recent reports seem to favor the Angels or the Blue Jays and Olney ruled the Bombers out yesterday (he’s generally believable). However, if Gedes’ executive is, indeed, accurate, for those in favor of adding Chapman — and I know there are a number of you — I guess you can view his latest report as a glimmer of hope.
Either way, he’s poised to sign soon, so the speculation will finally conclude.
Photo by the AP
ESPN doesn’t need to list themselves as “ESPN Boston”, we all understand who they are rooting for.
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Even if there is some degree of bias, who cares?! It’s troubling to see this persecution complex some Yankee fans have when discussing Red Sox favoring. It makes them sound like Red Sox or “There’s an East Coast Bias” fans.
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Yep, Gammons was never at all biased. Or Jon Anderson shooting “BOLI BOLI BOLI” when ARod hit the walk-off to the beat the Red Sox last season, no bias there. Or Kruk’s article before the post-season about how the Red Sox were the ONLY team without any concerns heading into the play-offs because they had a staff “full of aces”, no bias there.
It’s not a persecution complex, it’s reality. ESPN = espNESN
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I hate Peter Gammons. He was a joke on ESPN. Glad he left.
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Your critical reading skills appear to be on the unicellular level. The aim here is at least a few cells. In any event, WHO CARES IF SOME MORONS AT ESPN FAVOR THE RED SOX?
I don’t believe it’s some sort of conscious media-directive—it happens ESPN had a panel of Kruk (a man, who, if left to his own devices would have swallowed one of his fingers whilst eating finger food. He’s fortunate the state provides him assistance), Gammons (an unabashed Sox fan, but a well-informed reporter) and some other guys in freakin’ Connecticut. The Sox are also a team with a great backstory, strong resurgence and tie in higher ratings due to the rivalry and many “bandwagon” fans they’ve attracted within the last decade. It stands to reason they’d appeal.
We’re the Yankees, we have the most history, prestige, money, fans, and are the reigning World Champions. We’re going to elicit strong feelings, especially when media is taken into account. ESPN survives on conflict-based ratings, not “real” analysis. When you yap about ESPN this, Boston favoritism/bias that, you sound whiny, and it appears you’re looking for an excuse to complain about some perceived slight from media Neverland.
Again, even if the bias is there, you have no real grievance since our team is freakin’ awesome. Don’t pay attention to ESPN.
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Exactly – enjoy the Yankees forget about Boston bias. Good points jmk – no need to insult Jim though.
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Grabbing Chapman for around $20 million on a 5-6 year deal would seem to fit with the philosophy of grabbing high-impact, high-risk international players, but ultimately, if they feel he will not be able to command his pitches effectively or develop a solid repertoire, that’s a lot to spend on a guy with reliever potential.
Throwing 100 MPH does not ensure success—though as a lefty he’d at least profile well as a good closer, set-up, or at worst, LOOGY—but if the Yanks had some notion that he could develop into a front line starter, they’d definitely stay in this.
There must be serious questions they have about him. Also, remember that for $20 million, they can get A LOT of quality players in IFA, a few that have a good chance of panning out.
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” throwing 100 mph does not ensure success “… how true ..perfect example :… charlie sheen ? LOL
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“The Wild Thing” just need glasses and he drove everyone crazy because I think they loved him. LOL.
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Good points jmk.
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OUT and should stay out! Mark my words, Cashman is one bat and one bullpen arm short for 2010. There will be a summer long search to find a reliever AND an OF. Seeing Capps and Cust sign for a combined 1 year $6 million, disgusts me. The Yanks are going to miss the bargains now and have to pay through the nose in salary, contract, and/or prospects during the season. iYankees please start a new piece on this “bargain hunting & needs shopping.”
As for this Reed Johnson nonsense, fine 1.5 m and sign Johnny for 6.
Will Cashman find BARGAINS via FA or trades? He had better.
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Good post CJ – I wish Yankee fans would stop worrying about chapman and think about a bat to protect Arod! But maybe Tex is the protection – in 2011- when Yanks get Mauer.
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Or Posada, you know the guy with borderline HOF offensive numbers, could protect ARod. Or Granderson, the guy who hit 30 HR in an extreme pitchers park, could protect ARod. Or Swisher, the guy who hit 29 HR last season and hit 35 HR a couple seasons before that, could protect ARod. Or we could acknowledge that “protection” is over-rated and only really relevant if you ended up with someone like Freddy Guzman hitting behind ARod for some reason.
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I’d pitch around arod everytime up in clutch situations to get to a 38 year old slow running posada, a 160 k grandy, a 150k / .240 Swisher. Godzilla was the feared clutch RBI man they needed. If you don’t think protection is important why do you think St. Louis overpaid so much for Holliday. Watch how many times Arod is going to get hit with pitches this year – I promise at least 3 bench clearing brawls.
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3 bench clearing brawls? We have had what 1 in the past 3 years? Please!
A .240 average means nothing when it comes to Swisher and it means nothing to protection, you want someone who will get on base and hit HRs behind Alex and a .371 OBP and a 29 HRs fits that bill.
Granderson struckout 155 times hitting leadoff, drop him to the 6th spot and you will see those strikeouts cut in half and if you do walk Arod everytime to get to Granderson you better have a left handed pitcher for him everytime because you give up the righty righty match up to take the disadvantage of a power lefty against a right handed pitcher. You are also talking about someone who has posted a .913 OPS 2 years and in our park you should see numbers much closer to 2008 and 2007 than you will 2009.
Posada speed means nothing to protection either… Is someone stealing 1st base? Posada posted a .363 OBP with 22 HRs in only 383 ABs and his 522 SLG is very handy as well in the 5th spot.
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Oh now you are projecting brawls on historical trends? Protection is about fearand nobodys afraid of an obp guy, a strikeout Guy and an old slow posada.
PS – slow does matter – you walk arod so you can double up speedster posada.
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You are predicting Brawls on your own imagination, at least mine is based on some fact…
Protection in the 5th hole is overrated, Matsui isn’t a god of gods and his numbers were actually worse than Posada’s and he would have put up less numbers in the course of 162 games so get your facts straight.
Matsui’s line .274/.367/.509/.876
Posada’s line .285/.363/.522/.885
Matsui with his bad knees is slower than Posada so you fail in your own argument with speed, adding someone slower than Posada behind Arod doesn’t make any less risk of a double play.
Oh Matt Holliday was only signed to protect Pujols so that Albert doesn’t leave when his contract is up BTW, they needed a show of good faith they would spend to win.
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Ahhhh come on cj you said speed doesn’t matter when it comes to protection (you meant in general ” you can’t steal 1st base”. But I brought up a good point – I would walk arod if I knew the guy behind was slow so I could more likely get the doubleplay. You’ve got to concede I got u on that one.
As far as matsui vs posada there are very few teams in baseball that would rather face matsui then posada.
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What is Phil Hughes to you? I would much rather have Hughes as my setup man rather than fatty Matt Capps who posted a 5 ERA with the Pirates in the NL last year, the AL East tends to be a little harder and Capps gets crushed power wise by lefties.
As far as a bat go yeah we need one bench bat who preferably bats right handed but hell Xavier Nady or Reed Jonson does that, Granderson and Posada can protect Alex well enough to win in 2010, I swear CJ you are the roof is on fire fan man, just relax the team is upgraded over last year in almost every way.
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Team is worse. CJ’s right. Be afraid , very afraid. 95 wins – wild card – out in first round to Seattle.
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WOW! Twasp, I thought you were better than “the sky is falling Yankee fan”.
Last years rotation… Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte, Joba, Mitre
This years rotation… Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte, Vazquez, Joba
Winner? This years rotation, you add a 200 inning pitcher and kick out Mitre it’s a clear upgrade by 100 percent and we don’t have to have a 3 man rotation in the playoffs yet at the same time Javy only has to start 1 game which he can handle and then some.
Jeter
Damon
Tex
Arod
Matsui
Posada
Cano
Swisher
Melky
Jeter, The same
Johnson, .400 OBP for 130 games better than Damon in the 2 hole.
Tex, The same
Arod, The same
Granderson, more power less contact only real decrease in skill and he could be an upgrade with a good year.
Posada, The same
Cano, The same
Swisher, The same
Gardner, better defense, faster than Melky, steals more than Melky with a platon to add power he’s better a better option by himself it’s a draw.
1B- same D
2B- same D
3B- Arod should have more range a year away from surgery
SS- same D
C- better D because Ceervelli will get more games and at this point is better than Molina
RF- same D
CF- highly improved D
LF highly improved D
We upgraded or stayed the same in all but at max 3 lineup offensive production spots if you don’t believe in Johsnon and even at that point we have such an upgraded defense from last year we don’t need to score as many runs and we have an upgraded rotation so we need to score less runs there as well. Is Javier Vs the Sox worse than Joba Vs The Sox? No it’s not based on career numbers and Joba’s lack of velocity.
Want to look at the pen
Last years…
Mo
Hughes
Marte
Robertson
Coke
Aceves
Bruney
This years pen
Mo- The Same
Hughes- The Same
Marte- Have him for a full year
Robertson- have him for a full year
Logan- Coke had a 4.5 ERA he isn’t much better than Boone if at all
Aceves- same as last year
Mark Melancon- last man out of the pen doesn’t matter but he has a lot more potential than Bruney and Bruney also had no control but Melancon is younger and has more pitches.
So how is that a worse team? How is that a Wild Card team? How are we losing to Seattle?
Felix Hernandez Vs CC Sabathia
AJ Burnett Vs CLiff Lee
Pettitte Vs Rowland Smith
Vazquez Vs Ian Snell
You really think Rowland Smith and Ian Snell will turn the Yankees lineup upside down? It’s highly unlikely and they have to beat the Rangers and Angels to even make it and don’t get me started on the Angels rotational flaws.
Weaver Vs Sabathia
Saunders Vs Burnett
Kazmir Vs Pettitte
Santana Vs Javier
We have an advantage in almost every game and we could sweep that series easy, we beat them in 6 with Lackey.
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Anyone who is actually panicking over next season really needs to take a chill pill, Boston added a pitcher and defense they didn’t get over the top better, the Angels took a step back even with Matsui and if they play him in the field they’ll lose him for good. The Phillies upgraded but only at 3B and there Ace and we lost to Cliff Lee last year anyway, the only way I would be scared of them is if they had both Halladay and Lee but as is we can beat Halladay and even if we lose to the ace of the other team we have proved we can win the world series in 6 games anyway.
We got younger, better defensively and better pitching wise how are we worse?
I expect as much from CJ, all his posts are filled with overreaction and panic for the pure enjoyment of starting a frenzy but come on Twasp we just saw the team win the world series and you act like we are the Royals or Nats just trying to get to the dance.
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Shoot if we traded for DeJesus and put him in the 9 hole we would have one of the best offenses in baseball…
Jeter, SS
Johnson, DH
Tex, 1B
Arod, 3B
Granderson, CF
Posada, C
Cano, 2B
Swisher, RF
DeJesus, LF
DeJesus provides well above average defense and a .350 OBP in the 9 hole from a left handed bat with 12-15 HR power, I don’t expect him to be traded for but it just shows you how little offense we really need from LF. If a platoon with Gardner could have a .340-.350 OBP like DeJesus with 8-12 HRs we would more than be a top 5 offense.
There is a lot of underestimating of Nick Johnson on this site, the guy has a career .400 OBP, has played in New York before with the Yankees and has the power to belt 20 HRs if healthy that’s more than Damon can do and he is 6 years younger than Damon and unlike Damon he can actually take the field and play a position with above average defense. He’s one bad swing from the DL this is true but Damon has bad legs and probably should have been put on the DL last year anyway with his injuries that kept him out of the lineup, slowed him down, took away even more defensive range and limited his bat.
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TO – I just wanted to see some passion. Not enough commentors here. You and I I dominating the leaderboard and there are only a handful of others jumping in. I really have no idea what’s going to happen this season.
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PS CJ knows his stuff too.
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On the Chapman noise I heard Noel Arguelles signed a major league contract so if he got one then so will Chapman which means there is absolutley no chance the Yankees sign the kid. It would count against the budget and there would be pressure for him to appear to soon and he could be over exposed before he can handle it, let someone else groom him and if he is as good as he is suppose to be he will be a Yankee in 6 years anyway.
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