Sunday, July 3, 2016

Please Don't Let Aroldis Chapman in the Bronx End


It's the kind of opportunity that you don't particularly think is going to happen, because it's so outlandish and perfect that it can't possibly. And when it does...you don't want it to end.

I never thought the Yankees were gonna get Aroldis Chapman, primarily because the Dodgers kind of signed him last year, and I sort of assumed that was the end of the story, and started holding out for a trade bringing Kenley Jansen to us instead.

But then, somehow, the Chapman in LA deal fell through, and the field was open, and the Yankees grabbed him...which was insane, and I relished every moment of. And they announced they'd use Betances-Miller-Chapman like a three-man stronghold after 6. And that's been going pretty perfectly, if I may say so.

Yet, with the Yankees not especially competing full-on this season, the talk is that the Cubs, or at least somebody, want to make a trade that would throw some prospect our way (which is crazy, because we're usually the ones giving up the prospects), in exchange for ONE of our closers. While it'd be nice to think they want Andrew Miller, and while there's as much of a chance of Miller going...yeah, I'm not gonna lie and say Chapman's name hasn't come up.

I understand why the Cubs are doing this- Hector Rondon's been tanking in the closer spot this season, and that's been one of their few less-than-bright spots lately. I understand why they'd need Chapman or some closer, but if I were Theo Epstein, I'd want to keep a serious handle on as many of those farmhands as possible, to keep the insane youth movement in Chicago going.

Also, Chapman has been so good in the ninth for my team that I really, really don't want his tenure in the Bronx to end. This guy may be one of the best working closing pitchers in baseball- he steps on that mound and throws fire every damn time, and it's INSANE. Nobody does what he does as well as he's doing right now- i've made the Mariano Rivera comparisons in the past, and I wanna keep making them.

Maybe I'm just being kinda stubborn because I don't want to see this guy leave, but he's one of the greats, and I want to take in as much of him on the Yankees as I can. I don't really want it to be a footnote, like 'Reds forever, Yankees half-a-season, Cubs til the end'.

So yeah. Keep up the good work, Aroldis. I'd just prefer said good work to be done for my Yankees.

Coming Tonight- For the first time since 2013, it looks like this guy's gonna stay in one place for the whole year...and it's a hell of a place for him to be, as the right field wall's been awfully kind to him.

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