July 26, 2016: Are You Conflicted?

“I like the Sox better than the Cubs” said my nephew.  “I like the Cubs better than the Sox” replied my son.  Good boy.  They’re 5 and 4 years old respectively, they don’t seem too conflicted.  Are you conflicted?

Of course, it’s not always that easy.  The Cubs acquired Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees on Monday.  How do you feel about that?

There are a few angles here.  Let’s get the easy ones out of the way first.  Chapman is a phenom.  He is an awesome addition to the bullpen.  Did I prefer Andrew Miller?  Yes, because of the contract mainly, because he wasn’t a rental player, and because there was no baggage with him.  Who is the better player?  I think that answer is Chapman.  There isn’t a better player that the Cubs could have acquired to fulfill their biggest need in the bullpen.  Check.

Did the Cubs give up too much?  I will say they gave up a lot, but the answer is still no.  Who was the best player?  Torres is of course.  What position does he play?  SS.  Does it look like we’ll be needing a shortstop anytime soon?  No.  Well, maybe he could play 3rd base.  No opening there.  Well what about second base?  Ditto.  There’s nowhere to put him, so what good is he?  I know he was the #1 prospect in our system, and it does hurt a little, but you got to give something to get something.  We gave 3 other players.  The other guy in the Jeff Samardzjia trade, who hasn’t sniffed the majors yet; actually, to be fair, he is recovering from a hairline fracture in his knee.  How good will he be?  Then the return of Adam Warren, which makes it official; we gave up Starlin for nothing.  And finally, another single A prospect who has speed.  I’m sorry, but I’m not really conflicted here.  We know what we have in Chapman… at least between the lines we do.

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I think of other recent violent incidents… Ray Rice comes to mind.  We saw what he did to his girlfriend; OK, this did not happen.  I remember seeing other women with black eyes, victims of domestic abuse; did not see that here.  I think of another local star, Patrick Kane.  He was accused of a much more serious crime; he was not convicted.  No domestic violence is good.  To me, and maybe I will find more information as it comes out later, it seems like a heated argument between him and his girlfriend.  Did he put his hands on her?  Very possibly; I don’t endorse that.  Did he hit her?  Doesn’t sound like it.  What about that gun?  Let’s just be happy he wasn’t pointing at anyone.

So what am I saying?  I’m saying this incident cannot be overlooked, but at the same time, I don’t think it was that horrible.  Again, I am a little biased here… since he did sign with the Cubs.  If he signed with another team, I would talk crap.  Just like when Peralta signed with the Cardinals and Melky with the White Sox; different, not as serious a subject, but still looked down upon greatly.  At the end of the day, I have to trust Theo and company.  Do you think they want to bring a cancer in the clubhouse?  Do you think they want to jeopardize the chemistry of this ball club?  From talking to ex-teammates, ex-coaches, they have nothing but good things to say about him.  There are no prior incidents; there has been nothing since.  Is it a risk?  Sure.  Did the Cubs try to do everything in their power to mitigate it?

The key word today was conflicted.  Maybe you are conflicted…  I am not.  I really like this trade.  I trust in Theo and company.  I think this makes the Cubs a lot better; it vastly improves the weakest part of their team.  I do not think we gave up too much.  I do think everybody deserves another chance.  I’m ready to see how this pans out.  GO CUBS!