Rumor: Dodgers Close to Landing Aroldis Chapman
After missing out on re-signing Zack Greinke, it seems likely that the Dodgers are about to have a very active week as the winter meetings begin. In fact, they might be checking one big item off the list before the meetings even officially begin.
Sources: #Dodgers in talks to acquire Aroldis Chapman from #Reds for prospects.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 6, 2015
Source: There is growing confidence in the Dodgers organization that they're going to be able to finish Aroldis Chapman trade.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 6, 2015
Sources: #Dodgers making progress on Chapman deal with #Reds.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 6, 2015
The Dodgers already have one of the best relievers in baseball in Kenley Jansen, but adding Chapman would instantly give them the best two reliever combination in baseball — with all due respect to Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller, who are fantastic themselves — and would allow the team to avoid many of the 8th inning issues they struggled with in 2015. That is, assuming Jansen doesn’t mind being demoted out of the closer’s role; the Drew Storen narrative will certainly be brought up if Jansen doesn’t pitch as well in the 8th inning as he did in the 9th, and we don’t know enough to say that it absolutely isn’t a factor. But it’s probably better to assume that Jansen’s cutter will still be ridiculously difficult to hit, even when he’s pitching in non-save situations.
The Dodgers have a lot of prospect depth to trade from, and with Chapman being highly likely to receive a qualifying offer at the end of next year, the return for him should be significant, even though it’s just one year of team control.
Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.
I think the rumor is that the Dodgers are willing to take on Brandon Phillips’ contract to reduce the amount of talent they would have to give up in return for Chapman. I don’t think that’s a bad idea for the Dodgers since he’s right-handed which means he can platoon with Utley, and Peraza should probably be given regular playing time in AAA.
Phillips as 10-5 rights and could veto the trade.
could veto and would veto are two entirely different things. Utley could have vetoed his trade, but chose not to. If Phillips is told he’s installed as starting 2B on a powerful LA squad, then he might decide he’d rather play relevant baseball and chase a ring. Not like taking the trade costs him any money, right?
The natural conclusion to the Chapman sweepstakes as the Dodgers are the team that it most makes sense to be willing to part with prospects for a 1 year reliever rental I’d say.
Is it entirely crazy to assume that the Dodgers wouldn’t think out of the box and Wainlowe him into a starter?
I approve of the verb “to Wainlowe”
It’s the antonym of Reveckersly.
The Reverse Eckersley–not to be confused with the tabloid union nickname that would be given if Ben Revere Dennis Eckersley were a hot item.
Better than the tabloid couple Larry Bigbie and Chien-Ming Wang — BigWang.
Chapman has in the past stated he prefers closing, and might get especially grumpy about transitioning because he is an elite closer entering his walk year.
I think they would be co-closers, each doing 8th or 9th depending on match-ups.
I really wish the save stat would go away. It’s clear that it affects bullpen usage, with relievers having real, financial incentive to be locked into the 9th inning. It’s like if there was a stat for being a team’s #1 starter, and so teams could never adjust the rotation or acquire multiple aces because pitchers who have earned the #1 starter role never want to give it up.
It’s probably too much to hope that they’d go to shut downs and melt downs instead, but it would be easy enough to replace saves with “holds+saves” which at least shares credit with the 8th inning guy.
Maybe if we pointed out often enough that pitchers with no chance at all at a save are currently being “credited” with blown saves people would see that the current stats are broken.
Just a small note, but why do you think the Chapman/Hansen duo would be better than Miller/Betances? Projected war actually likes the Yankee guys more. Obviously that’s pretty nebulous, but I’m not sure how you could convincingly argue that the former duo has been meaningfully better the last few years than the ladder. Seems if wash if not a slight advantage to the Yankees based on Betances’ total domination.
Yeah I’m better than those guys!
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jabo-the-dodgers-cheap-excellent-bullpen/
This apparently would be the latest example of how Freidman builds bullpens “on the cheap” and in an unconventional manner.
Odd that a guy with such an established skill ans reputation would bother trading all that much of value for 1 year of a proven closer.
You definitely aren’t biased against Friedman or anything
While it’s not “on-the-cheap”, trading for one of the best closers in baseball when you already have one of the best closers in baseball could certainly be called “unconventional”.
I like how ‘proven closer’ has become a dogwhistle insult like ‘high character’ or ‘RBI guy’.
I suppose it’s addressing the elephant in the room a bit, but in the time since this post went up, some terrible allegations have come out about Aroldis Chapman.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/aroldis-chapman-s-girlfriend-alleged-he–choked–her–according-to-police-report-023629095.html
Just sad for everyone involved.
I feel no sympathy for Chapman who assaulted his girlfriend.
I do
choking? guess he’ll fit right in with the dodgers
“firing eight shots. Seven went into the garbage, while an eighth was fired out the window and into a field. ”
This doesn’t just describe one reliever on my team, it’s the whole bullpen.