USA TODAY International Edition
Cubs land Chapman
Trade for elite closer should seal deal
With eyes on the playoffs, baseball’s top team loads up with fireballing reliever
“Every chance to win is sacred. ... There’s an obligation to be aggressive, especially if you can get a game- changing- type pitcher.”
OK, maybe it’s a little early to plan the parade route. The champagne bottles can’t go on ice without it melting, and there’s plenty of time for the Wrigleyville bars to stock up on their liquor supply.
There have been too many billy goats, black cats and Steve Bartman- like incidents in their past for the Chicago Cubs to get too comfortable. But it’s time to get real. The Cubs, for the first time in a century and eight years, are going to win the World Series. You know it. I know it. Chicago knows it. And like it or not, all of their competitors in the baseball world are going to have to accept it, even their crosstown rival Chicago White Sox.
The Cubs didn’t start printing World Series tickets Monday, but the clubhouse atmosphere was euphoric after landing New York Yankees four- time All- Star Aroldis Chapman, baseball’s most feared reliever.
Let’s be honest, the Cubs didn’t make this move to reach the playoffs. They enter Tuesday with baseball’s best record ( 59- 39) and a seven- game lead in the National League Central. They were going to run away with this division, with or without Chapman.
This move is all about October. Chapman makes them the overwhelming favorites to be the last team standing, which would send this town into utter pandemonium.
“It’s the first time since I’ve been here that they’ve gone out and made a stand,” Cubs AllStar first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. “It’s exciting around here. It’s such a boost.
“We know we still have to play good baseball, but it’s nice to know that they ( the Cubs front office) see us how we see us, and that’s being a playoff team.”
Sure, it was a steep price tag. No front office executive wants to give up three young prospects — prized shortstop prospect Gleyber Torres and outfielders Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford — along with pitcher Adam Warren, for a hired gun.
But if the Cubs are playing in late October, when the air is cold and the ivy is brown, you think anyone in Wrigleyville will even remember those prospects’ names? None of them even fit in the Cubs’ short- term plans.
Cubs President Theo Epstein
“Every chance to win is sacred,” Cubs President Theo Epstein told USA TODAY Sports outside the visiting clubhouse at U. S. Cellular Field. “So if you don’t do it now, when? We have a healthy rotation, a healthy bullpen, two MVP candidates and a team that has built this big lead. You just can’t take that for granted.
“We still care about the future, but there’s an obligation to be aggressive, especially if you can get a game- changing- type pitcher. Maybe we wouldn’t be this aggressive in the offseason, but when 65% of the regular season is over and you have a team you believe in so much and the opportunity to acquire someone that really increases your chances of winning those postseason series, you have to look at the right now.”
Sure, the Cubs would have preferred to acquire the Yankees’ Andrew Miller, who’s under contract through 2018, or the Kansas City Royals’ Wade Davis, who’s under control through next season.
Yet every time they asked about them, the asking price started with injured power hitter Kyle Schwarber. No thanks, the Cubs said.
So they sought Chapman, the man who averages 100.7 mph on his fastballs, recently hitting 105 on a radar gun.
He has produced at least 30 saves and 100 strikeouts in each of the last four seasons, and his career rate of 15.2 strikeouts per nine innings is the best by any pitcher in history.
“When you’re on his team,” said ex- teammate Todd Frazier, now the White Sox third baseman, “you feel like the game’s over every time he steps into the game. And 91⁄2 times out of 10, it is. He just gives you so much confidence.”
Besides, now that he’ll be on the North Side of Chicago for the next 31⁄2 months, the Cubs don’t worry about having to face him in the postseason.
The Washington Nationals badly wanted him. So did the San Francisco Giants. And the Cleveland Indians and the Texas Rangers in the American League.
“Somebody was going to get him,” Cubs co- MVP candidate Kris Bryant said, “so it was great it was us, so we don’t have to face him.”
The Cubs might have Chapman for only a few months — and really only need his services for perhaps a dozen games in the postseason — but their future consists of October, not next season.
Chapman has no interest in signing a contract extension now, anyway.
The Yankees tried to engage in contract talks with him this summer but were rejected, a high- ranking executive with direct knowledge told USA TODAY Sports. The official was unauthorized to speak publicly because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.
It was Chapman’s decision to test free agency that triggered Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner’s decision to approve the trade.
No sense keeping Chapman if he was going to walk in three months anyway. The Yankees will spend the next week determining if they have any chance to compete for a playoff spot, and, if not, they could be at the epicenter of the Aug. 1 non- waiver trade deadline, with an assortment of goodies. “This isn’t a white flag,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “It’s a rearrangement.”
Call it what you want, but this time belongs to the Cubs.
This is a team with no real weaknesses and no major flaws, and — with Chapman aboard — they possess one of the most powerful bullpens in the game. They were 12- 15 in one- run games and 2- 5 when tied after seven innings, but that will change with Chapman.
He is going to be the difference between Cubs heartbreak and history.
He missed the first 30 games of the season after being suspended by Major League Baseball for domestic violence abuse with his girlfriend, but he has been lights- out since his return.
He has saved 20 of 21 games, going 3- 0 with a 2.01 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 311⁄2 innings.
Who can possibly stop the Cubs now?
“What we’re talking about is good in theory,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “It all looks good on paper, but you have to go out there and prove it on a nightly basis. There’s nothing that’s etched in stone just based on the fact he’s here.”
Too late. The Cubs have spoken, loudly and clearly. It’s World Series or bust, baby.
See you at the party.