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The Cubs want Aroldis Chapman (and maybe Andrew Miller, too)
Wednesday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes the Cubs’ interest in a pair of relievers, Ichiro vs. Pete Rose, and the need for an eventual Red Sox prospect trade.
Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images
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The Cubs lead the majors in wins and are on pace for 113 of them, but that’s apparently not enough. There have been whispers that Chicago is interested in trading for reliever Aroldis Chapman, and they’ve only intensified in the past couple of days. Phil Rogers at MLB.com went as far as to lead off a column with “the rumors are true,” and that the Cubs might not just want Chapman, but also Andrew Miller. Interest in Miller isn’t a shock: Theo Epstein, back when he was in charge of the Red Sox, traded for Miller when he was at a career low point, and post-Theo, Miller turned it around to become one of the game’s most dominating relievers. Miller and Chapman, though, is something else entirely.
The bullpen, which already has Hector Rondon and three other relievers whose ERA sit at 2.66 or lower, would be essentially unstoppable were it to add Miller and Chapman. Which makes the whole adding both of them thing seem unlikely, for a number of reasons. The Cubs probably wouldn’t want to give up what it would take to get both, the Yankees might not even want to give up both, and oh, Aroldis Chapman is also a possible goblin person so why would Chicago want to attach that to their feel-good season when they don’t have to?
That Yankees point might end up being the strongest of the bunch — Chapman might be a goblin, but baseball teams like winning regardless of who helps them do it. Ken Rosenthal reported that the Yankees believe they’ve weathered the worst part of 2016’s storm, and are now set to feast on a weaker portion of the schedule. If they succeed during that, who knows if it changes their mind about selling? Chapman might still end up available if the Yankees aren’t clearly in it by late July, but Miller is under contract for two-plus years, so the return would need to be massive. On the bright side, Cubs, you’re on pace for 113 wins already and are 9.5 up on the Cardinals. So, yeah.
- Skateboarding dog at a baseball game.
- The controversy over who is baseball’s Hit King — Pete Rose or Ichiro Suzuki — is completely manufactured. That being said, both me and Grant Brisbee are all in on it, and also pro-Ichiro.
- Jameson Taillon is back in the majors, which is good! He’s up because Gerrit Cole hit the DL, which is bad. Taillon did carry a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his second MLB start, though, which, you guessed it: is good!
- Bartolo Colon might have broken James Shields.
- The Red Sox are going to have to trade prospects eventually. The major league roster is young and much of it is in place for years, so some of the kids will need to be dealt to fill the other holes.
- Mark Teixeira’s injury hurts one potential Yankees deadline sale.
- It’s time for draft picks to start signing, and you can keep track with MLB’s updated signing page.
- Pitchers have stopped throwing Michael Conforto as many fastballs, and not coincidentally, he’s in a slump.
- Teams have slowly gone back to the way closers are traditionally used after some early experimenting this spring.
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