Chicago Cubs to acquire Aroldis Chapman from New York Yankees
By Tim Haberin
The Chicago Cubs will acquire Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees for a package headlined by top prospect Gleyber Torres.
The non-waiver deadline is a week away, but the Chicago Cubs are not wasting any time in nabbing one of this season’s most prized trade targets. According to Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball, the Cubs have agreed to acquire relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees in exchange for Gleyber Torres, Adam Warren, Billy McKinney and likely one more player. CSN Chicago’s Patrick Mooney reports that it will be Rashad Crawford going to New York to complete the deal.
If you didn’t know the Cubs were really going for it this year, consider this an overdue wake-up call. They paid the Yankees rather handsomely for one of the best relievers in the game of baseball. After missing the first month of the campaign due to suspension, Chapman has re-asserted his status as one of the league’s most dominant closers. He has converted 20 of 21 save opportunities for New York along with a 2.01 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 12.6 K/9 ratio in 31.1 innings.
Chicago’s bullpen has been fairly middle-of-the-road so far in 2016, posting a 3.83 ERA as a unit, good for 14th in MLB. Closer Hector Rondon has put up very good numbers, including a 1.95 ERA, 0.73 WHIP and impressive 9.6 K/BB ratio in 37 frames. He has blown four saves in 22 chances, however. Overall, the Cubs have managed a 65.5 percent save percentage, which ranks them in the bottom third of the league (22nd).
With Chapman presumably taking over the ninth inning, the Cubs will hope to effectively put the end of the game on lockdown. Rondon should be a potent eighth-inning weapon in his own right, with Pedro Strop (2.87 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 11.7 K/9) handling the seventh. That will be a daunting bullpen to face in October, which is exactly why the Cubs pulled the trigger on this move.
From the Yankees’ perspective, they have flipped an impending free agent for a highly-touted prospect in Gleyber Torres. The shortstop was just ranked #27 in Baseball America’s midseason prospect rankings, and he has been praised for his mature approach at the plate and his strong arm in the infield. He was slashing .275/.359/.433 with nine homers and 49 RBI this year at Advanced-A Myrtle Beach. Torres is only 19 years old, meaning he still has plenty of room to grow as well.
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The Yanks now have somewhat of a glut of talented shortstops in their organization (in the post-Jeter era, no less), what with top prospect Jorge Mateo and the continued emergence of Didi Gregorius at the major league level. Current second baseman Starlin Castro (a former shortstop himself) is also under contract through 2019. They might have to get a bit creative in the next few years, but given the natural positional versatility of most shortstops, they should be able to figure something out.
21-year-old Billy McKinney also heads to New York in the deal. A former first round pick of the Oakland A’s in 2013, the outfielder is presently ranked as the #5 prospect in the Cubs system by MLB Pipeline and was named the overall #74 prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus prior to the season. McKinney has demonstrated an ability to get on base throughout his minor league career, posting a .364 OBP in four minor league campaigns. He had been playing at Double-A Tennessee this season.
Adam Warren is a very familiar face to the Yankees and their fans, as he spent four seasons in the Bronx before being sent to Chicago in last offseason’s Starlin Castro trade. Though he has struggled with the Cubs this year (5.91 ERA), the 28-year-old right-hander was a solid swingman for the Yanks who could pitch out of the rotation or bullpen. With Warren back in the fold, New York should use him to shore up the middle innings or start in the event of an injury or another trade.
Rashad Crawford, a 22-year-old outfielder, had been batting .255/.327/.386 with three home runs and 30 RBI at Class A-Advanced Myrtle Beach. Noted for his speed, he had also swiped 22 bags this year and collected eight triples.
Given how relatively little the Yankees gave up for Chapman to get him from the Reds last December, they should feel very satisfied with how this situation has played out. Cubs president Theo Epstein has been known to hold on to his young talent (indeed, Kyle Schwarber was reportedly off-limits despite how much the Yanks coveted him), but given the organization’s abundance of position player prospects and their ability to compete right now, he decided to pay the price to make the move.
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On the surface, it appears that both teams get what they want out of this deal. The Yankees receive one of the better prospects in baseball to help set themselves up toward the future, and the Cubs get an elite reliever who should be an invaluable asset in the postseason. Chapman might be a three-month rental, but the longest World Series drought in history can be a compelling motivator.