For now, Chapman on hold
October 25, 2009, 9:00 am by iYankees · 18 Comments
On Wednesday, Jorge Arangure Jr. reported that Aroldis Chapman, the prized Cuban prospect with serious stuff and a golden left arm, had arrived in New York to meet with officials from a number of Major League organizations, including the hated Red Sox and the beloved Yankees. However, on Friday, Arangure noted that Chapman’s meeting with the Yankees had been postponed due to the pesky nature of the Angels and a prolonged ALCS (I bet Chapman is a Yankees fan). Apparently, the two parties—Chapman and Yankee officials—will meet after the ALCS is over.
Hopefully, by then, the Yankees will be able to boast about the way in which they vanquished a group of Angels to get to the World Series and sell that aspect of the club—i.e., a winning reputation—to Chapman, his family, and his representation (I’m sure this stuff will help, too).
Props to RAB
Re-posting the comment under the proper blog post:
Sounds line a win-win situation no? Win the championship would highly increase the odds of signing Chapman.
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As long as they pay up, they’ll get him, but a shiny new WS trophy can’t hurt in proving that you’re a winning organization.
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Hey, Kamal, let me know what else you’d want to see on the site. I’m still trying to add more features and am open to anything, really.
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Apparently the Yankees are also inviting Chapman to be a “special guest” and he will be in attendance for game 6 tonight… Looks like he Yankees have not only a lot of interest in Chapman but also a lot of confidence in Andy because if they wait one more game no matter the outcome you could have Arolids come to a game and watch CC pitch, but I guess if we wrap it up he can get a taste for the life he wants in the MLB. What I have read it sounds like if the Yankees want him, they got him and it sounds like they really want him!
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I think they’ll get him. They’re in a good bargaining position given the history surrounding their franchise and the financial ability they have. Thanks for that bit, Chris. I’ll have a quick pre-game post up with that info.
I wonder if FOX will show him during the broadcast.
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They will show him if they get a shot of him, if he is at the game as a guest he might be hidden up in a suite with Cashman and Yankee brass…
One thing I have noticed amongst foreign born players they seem to almost have a loyalty or preference with joining teams that have a history of signing players from their home countries… Maybe this has something to do with following your heroes foot steps or feeling comfortable with an organization helping you assimilate I don’t know but the Yankees have had a history of signing Cuban born pitchers and maybe that will help as well.
I think the Yankees were a little to quick with the hook when it came to Contreras and shipping him out of town, he struggled mightily but they traded him for a bag of beans and even though he wasn’t the best in Chicago he did maintain great stuff, I know Chapman is younger so it should help but I just hope the Yankees show patience with this kid as to not over expose him to New York criticism or success to early and focus on his development rather than rushing a paycheck to the bigs.
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Agree with everything you said, Chris. I think the Yankees will take all the time they need with Chapman, if he signs. He’s younger than Contreras was, as you said, so that goes a long way. I mean, players with a lot of stuff, especially lefty power pitchers, will get all the time they need to develop.
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As a lefty you can throw 87-88 and be an effective pitcher, if he can harness his command and mechanics and level out his fastball anywhere in the neighborhood of 94-99 MPH you could have something really special…
I have watched as much video as I can find on the internet thus far of Chapman (mostly WBC clips) and he seems to have the basics of a slider and a curve to go along with his fastball so that is a good start and he throws his curve in the 76-78 MPH range which is a huge decrease from the 100 MPH fastball he can throw in at least certain situations. I don’t believe I have seen him throw a change and if he did it wasn’t good enough for me to recognize right away and look at so that could be a majors hold up in his development or a major break through with his numbers if he can actually get a working change down.
If you have seen his hands, he has natural pitching hands! He is no where near as Sabathia but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had the same size hands with real long fingers which should give him the ability to manipulate the ball and snap off breaking pitching like CC does…
Chapman almost looks like Edwar Ramirez with the way his body is built, real long and lean but he looks like he can put more weight on than Ramirez but with those long limbs he is really going to have to work on Command… He really is like a Cuban version of Randy Johnson and it took Johnson until 24 or 25 until he really started going.
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I think Chapman will be something special. He’s compared to Strasburg and Darvish for a reason. If the Yankees could manage to land him and Darvish, down the road, what an awesome combination that would be (if they both work out, of course).
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I wonder if Darvish will ever come to America? He seems like the type of guy who doesn’t care about what Americans think and he is fine with just being the best pitcher in Japanese baseball… I don’t think Dice-K being a glorified third pitcher helps much either.
I like Chapman as well and I think at worst he is your next left handed Jonathan Broxton for the Yankees, I just hope he doesn’t let himself get out of control being in New York and having everything coming from nothing… it’s a lot to handle for any 21 year old never mind one who has barley seen an Iphone before.
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That is true. I’d probably go nuts if I were him and try to sample everything. He seems to have the work ethic and desire needed, though, so hopefully he’ll be alright.
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Here is a quick bio that his agent prepared for teams and fans about Chapman…
Albertin Aroldis Chapman de la Cruz
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Height: 6′ 4″
Weight: 185 lb.
Born: February, 28, 1988 in Cayo Mambí, Frank País, Holguín, Cuba
* Has a wife and young daughter as well as parents and two sisters still living in Cuba
* Holds the Cuban National Series record for fastest pitch thrown in a game at 102 mph.
* Has a fastball (two seam or four seam), sinking fastball, curveball, slider, changeup and a forkball
* Led the Cuban National Series twice in strikeouts in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009.
* Was recognized as the top left handed pitcher in Baseball World Cup in 2007.
* Defected from the Cuban National Team on July 1, 2009 while participating in the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands
* Signed a representation agreement with Athletes Premier International (API) for contract negotiation and marketing on July 13, 2009
* Obtained provisional passive residency status in the country of Andorra on September 21, 2009
* On September 25, 2009 was declared a free agent by Major League Baseball following their investigation and the United States Department of the Treasury licensed Chapman as an unblocked National of Cuba
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2009/10/mets-meeting-with-cuban-defect.html#ixzz0UzYqbr4H
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Great bio. Maybe, since he has a wife and child, he’ll be more inclined to just focus on pitching when he arrives on the scene. Then again, maybe I’m just being naive.
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He had to leave his wife while she was still pregnant (I read an article on it) he said it was actually a driving motive for coming to America because he wants to be able to send money home to Cuba and provide a better life for her… O also like his goal which is to be the greatest pitcher in the MLB, he has a long way to go and his biggest competition is his possible future team mate in Sabathia but he has the stuff and ability to be that sort of pitcher (but obviously that doesn’t mean he will come close to that level).
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He seems to have a quite over stated repertoire… I am sure he does know all those grips but I highly doubt he has them all down (and I have only ever seen the fastball and curve) however hearing he has a two seam does help explain some of the velocity drop and could mean the 90-93 fastball is just a 2 seamer and his 4 seamer sits in the 94-100 range. The forkball is the interesting pitch to me because this is exactly what Contreras calls his “vulcan change/splitter” which has always been a nasty pitch with him and he used it well to off set his sinker and riding 4 seamer, if Chapman also has this pitch in his weapons that raises his value to me because it is in essence a change up just more of a strike out change.
I still doubt that 102 and assume he was probably somewhere closer to 99-100 but hey how can you really complain about a guy only throwing 100…?
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Agreed. That repertoire does seem a bit loaded. Last I heard, he didn’t throw nearly as many pitches. Of course, if you’re his representation, you’re going to talk him up a bit (you wouldn’t be doing your job if you did otherwise).
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If he just developed the two fastball grips along with either a curve or slider and his forkball/change he could more than be a dominate pitcher, if he can develop both breaking balls along with one of the two off speed pitches you could something seriously special from the left side, along the lines of Felix Hernandez but from the left side.
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quick run down on Cuban stats
(18 Years old)2005-06, 4.33 ERA, 54 IP, 48 H, 56 Ks, 54 BBs…. .240 OBA
(19 Years old) 2006-07, 2.77 ERA, 81.1 IP, 59 H, 100 Ks, 50 BBs… .207 OBA
(20 years old)2007-08, 3.89 ERA, 74 IP, 55 H, 79 Ks, 37 BBs… .200 OBA
(21 years old)2008-09, 4.03 ERA, 118 IP, 109 H, 130 Ks, 62 BBs…. .252 OBA
2009 Playoffs, 3.21 ERA, 14 IP, 14 Ks, 7 BBs… .235 OBA
When you look at them like that he didn’t have as bad a numbers as peole tried to say he had when you simply look at total stats, but that shows some progression year to year with the jump in ERA usually rising as the innings total rises for the first times. He has never had higher than a .240 OBA which is pretty good and his numbers seem to show a level of play you would be happy with from a developing player in the minors, especially at his age.
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