Aroldis Chapman, the Cuban Missile Crisis, traded to the Yankees.

Aroldis Chapman

• December 28, 2015: Traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the New York Yankees for Rookie Davis (minors), Eric Jagielo (minors), Tony Renda (minors) and Caleb Cotham.

Year	Age	Team	Salary	ServTm(OpnDay)	Sources	Notes/Other Sources
2010	22	Cincinnati Reds	$1,000,000	?
2011	23	Cincinnati Reds	$3,835,772	0.034
2012	24	Cincinnati Reds	$2,000,000	1.034	contracts
2013	25	Cincinnati Reds	$2,000,000	2.034	contracts
2014	26	Cincinnati Reds	$5,000,000	3.034	contracts
2015	27	Cincinnati Reds	$8,050,000	4.034	contracts
2016 Status		3rd-Year Arb Eligible, Earliest Arb Eligible: 2014, Earliest Free Agent: 2017
Career to date (may be incomplete)			$21,885,772

Aroldis Chapman March 12, 2010 by SD Dirk via Wikimedia Commons

Chapman had been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers a few weeks ago but that deal fell through when a report surfaced about Florida police investigating a possible altercation between Chapman and a live-in woman and her brother, which led to Chapman firing a gun in his garage but apparently not at any people.  You can read about that elsewhere.

The phrase "domestic violence" then quickly became attached to the incident and the Major Baseball League (MBL) commissioner, Manfred the A-Rod Slayer, felt obliged to not become vulnerable as his National Football League counterpart had been.

Bravo Brian Cashman, Yankee general manager, for making a bold move in a limited area.  2011-2015 innings (rounded up) for lefty reliever Chapman: 50, 72, 64, 54, 66.  What makes Chapman compelling are his strike outs: 71, 122, 112, 106, 116.  Including 13 innings in 2010: 546 SO in 319 innings.  Hence Chapman being known as the Cuban Missile.

Chapman may be suspended, although that may be difficult if his woman friend does not cooperate with MBL investigators.  Then the primary issue would be Chapman's gun play, which is, of course, the most serious.

Have there been recent gun problems with New York players other than Plaxico Burress of the New York Football Giants?  And Burress shot himself Nov. 28, 2008 and went to prison for 20 months for criminal possession of a handgun.  Yanks can have A-Rod frisk Aroldis.  If he's armed, the Yankees will have the Cuban Missile Crisis, which should be resolved in 13 days.  

Red Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees: which improved? Saturday, December 12, 2015

Red Sox:
- Signed starting pitcher and 2012 Cy Young award winner David Price.
- Traded for relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel:

• November 13, 2015: Traded by the San Diego Padres to the Boston Red Sox for Logan Allen (minors), Carlos Asuaje (minors), Javier Guerra (minors) andManuel Margot (minors).

... If the season started tomorrow, I'd say that the 2015 American Conference East champion Blue Jays would be favored to repeat with the Red Sox as their primary competitor.
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Boston traded for Kimbrel, then signed Price.  Two bold moves.  The Red Sox needed both a dominant relief pitcher and a dominant starter.  They got both.

The Yankees already had two dominant relief pitchers: lefty Andrew Miller and righty Dellin Betances.  While I do not accept the three headed bullpen monster idea, those three (Chapman, Miller, Betances) would still be compelling, especially in the tournament.  But three pitchers throwing at most 70 innings each can combine in only 70 games.  What about the other 92?

Would Aroldis Chapman make Babe Ruth faint? Sunday, March 8, 2015