Brian Cashman Just Pulled Off A Great Trade With Aroldis Chapman

We’ve been hearing rumors all night but it looks like this deal is finally done.

There was one major obstacle and that appears to be out of the way.

Personally I think this is a great move on both sides. The Cubs have a hole in their bullpen that Chapman will help close and even though he only plays a few times a week, this could be the move that puts them over the edge and brings the first WS to the North Side in 108 years. If you’re a Cubs fan, this is big and you should be really happy that your team is going all in since you’re so close.

For the Yankees, this is a GREAT deal by Cashman. Essentially what Cashman did was turn 4 bums and Brendan Ryan (5 bums) into Starlin Castro, 20 saves from Chapman (merch sales) and at least 2 top 100 prospects. As I said last night, Gleyber Torres is going to be a very good major league player. He has all the tools to make it to the bigs but the Cubs had nowhere that they could put him because of all the talent in their farm system. The Yankees now have a surplus of shortstops in their minor league system as well, but not all of them will pan out, and the way the game is played with shifts today, a position change for someone isn’t that crazy. Gleyber is the main piece and a great pickup for us but Cashman was able to get a few more pieces.

The first piece Cashman got was Adam Warren. Warren should have been in the Yankees rotation last year but got screwed over because of other people’s contracts. The Yankees had almost no choice but to ship him out of town to fill the huge hole we had at second base with Starlin. Thanks to our good fortune of Warren struggling though, we are able to get him back to a place where he performed well, while adding bullpen depth and an extra starter if needed.  There are rumors flying around about Pineda, Nova, Eovaldi and even CC, so having the extra arm to give quality innings will be smart.

On top of those two guys we have an unnamed player (possibly Rashad Crawford) and Billy McKinney. McKinney was a first round pick in 2013 and on a fast track to the big leagues until he got injured last year and underperformed so far in 2016. Still ranked high in most experts’ top minor league player rankings, it appears the Cubs have soured on him. The Yankees have a good amount of OF depth within the system as it is but with many of those “prospects” getting older of get the call up, McKinney give good organizational depth.

Overall, this is a good deal for both sides. The Cubs are going to make a real run at this and the Yankees are building a future. Whether Chapman comes back or not, I don’t know. I know many in the Yankees organization think it will be easy, but we saw how that worked out for Lester and the Red Sox. Chapman is a great player but brings off-field issues with him so getting clear of that may not be the worst move for the Yankees.

But what’s the best part of this whole deal? Andrew Miller is going to get his FIRE entrance back.