If you were to just view the number of names then, it’s easy to say the Yankees got one over but if you’re the Cubs this is exactly what you wanted. On Monday, the best team in baseball strengthened their bullpen, adding Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees for their top prospect Gleyber Torres, Billy McKinney, former Yankee Adam Warren, and Rashad Crawford. He acquired left-handed reliever Mike Montgomery last week in a trade with the Seattle Mariners. He was the first player penalized a finite number of games under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy. The 31-year-old Miller, who is under contract through 2018, has a 1.45 ERA in 43 1/3 innings with seven saves and 74 strikeouts. With Chapman’s addition, it’s expected that right-hander Hector Rondon will shift from his closer’s role to being a setup man. The right hander will be returning back to the Bronx after struggling mightily with the Cubs after posting a 5.81 ERA. Really good. But what this does is lock down the eighth inning for Chicago, who has been relying on Pedro Strop, Travis Wood and Mike Montgomery in as the bridge to the ninth. Being traded halfway into the season is not as comfortable as starting there. At one point, it appeared the Cubs wanted both Chapman and Andrew Miller.
Advertisement
The amount of talent the Cubs gave up for Chapman – two top prospects, a major league reliever, and a solid minor league throw-in – will help set a very high bar for this year’s deadline market, especially since Chapman is a free agent after this season.
So what does it all mean for the Red Sox (besides a potentially more hard path to the World Series if the dream matchup with the Cubs does come to fruition)?
Are the Yankees sellers?
Warren was part of the deal that brought infielder Starlin Castro to NY in the off-season, shipped to the Cubs along with infielder Brendan Ryan, but faltered with his new team.
Advertisement
Chicago now has a 7 ½ game lead in the NL Central over the St. Louis Cardinals. Torres, mckinney, Warren and likely 1 more to NYY. With Torres surfacing atop New York’s farm system, fellow shortstop Jorge Mateo moved into the No. 2 spot with outfielder Aaron Judge heading to No. 3. Whether it is a position change or another trade, another move is coming.
