APPLAUSE & EFFECT
PLAYERS THRILLED TO HAVE CHAPMAN; NOW THEY CAN’T LET HIM GO TO WASTE
Cubs reliever Joe Nathan remembers the ‘‘positive vibes’’ in the Tigers’ clubhouse two years ago after they landed the best pitcher on the market at the trade deadline: David Price.
Two months later, the Tigers’ five-game lead in the American League Central had shrunk to one. They eked out a playoff berth before losing in the first round to the Orioles, despite Price pitching well in his playoff start.
‘‘Obviously, you’ve still got to go get it done on the field,’’ Nathan said. ‘‘But when you see something on paper and see what it can be, it’s pretty exciting.’’
For all the non-baseball headlines Aroldis Chapman has made this week, that’s where the players in the Cubs’ clubhouse are when it comes to the acquisition Monday of the 105 mph closer.
‘‘He’s a difference-maker,’’ said right-hander John Lackey, a key member of eight playoff teams. ‘‘It gives confidence to the clubhouse, for sure.’’
‘‘Huge,’’ catcher David Ross said, praising the front office. ‘‘They’re making a statement.’’
Next up — and the most important part of the biggest acquisition of the summer trading season so far — is how the Cubs respond to that statement.
The Cubs have made high-profile in-season trades in the past with exceptional results (Rick Sutcliffe won the National League Cy Young Award in 1984) and mediocre results (Nomar Garciaparra was a non-factor in 2004).
Neither of those teams won the World Series, of course. The 2004 team didn’t even make the playoffs.
‘‘Regardless, it’s up to us,’’ said catcher Miguel Montero, who had seen the Cubs lose 20 of their last 32 games before their 8-1 victory Wednesday against the White Sox. ‘‘It’s up to us to win this. We’ve got to play better baseball. [The front-office execs] don’t play for us. They’re not going to score runs for us. So it’s up to us.’’
Montero has lived both sides of the trade-impact spectrum. In 2008, his Diamondbacks made a splashy move to acquire outfielder Adam Dunn, who hit well down the stretch for a team that didn’t reach the postseason. In 2011, Montero said under-the-radar acquisitions of infielders Aaron Hill and John McDonald were big parts of the Diamondbacks’ playoff run because ‘‘they fit perfectly.’’
It’s hard to see Chapman as anything but a perfect fit in the baseball sense — a shutdown closer who transforms a so-so bullpen into a potential force, with Hector Rondon moving to the eighth inning, Pedro Strop to the seventh and so on.
‘‘Once you put him at the back and kind of move the other guys down, everybody looks a little bit better in that other role,’’ Lackey said. ‘‘I think we’re in a great situation right now.’’
As long as Lackey and the rest of the starters can trend closer to their early-season performances than to their midseason performances and Montero and the rest of the lineup can score more than the combined three earned runs they had managed against starting pitchers in the last four games entering Wednesday, that is.
‘‘There’s definitely no guarantees,’’ Montero said. ‘‘ And in the playoffs, it’s whoever gets hot at the right time. Right now, we’re not even in the playoffs yet. We’ve still got a long way to go.
‘‘I don’t want players to take anything for granted. From my own experience, playing against the Cardinals, they’re a good team in August and September. That’s when it really counts because they carry it over to the playoffs. Same with the Giants.
‘‘So you don’t take anything for granted. We have a good lead, but let’s keep it up. And keep on going.’’
No matter how much greater the assumptions or how much higher the expectations are after adding Chapman.
‘‘Expectations are whatever,’’ Lackey scoffed. ‘‘I’m trying to win it all.’’