Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
I know information is scant, but has it been confirmed that we're giving him a ML deal with a spot on the 40 man roster? IMO, $30M speaks for itself and hopefully we don't needlessly have to hamstring the roster. Of course, if he progresses quickly, it's a matter that will have to be resolved anyway.
BTW, Chapman's agents are the same as Homer Bailey's.
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
I am so excited about this. I have to admit didn't see us in the mix. Watching him in the WBC and a few other international competitions, I have to say his stuff is darn impressive. This is just the type of move this FO needed to make me believe.
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
I had to make sure yesterday wasn't April 1. When it wasn't, about all I could get out for a solid 5 minutes was, "Wow!"
With that said, if it is indeed a Major League contract, I think we can all agree on who needs to go in order to make room.
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
Quote:
Originally Posted by
redsmetz
I know information is scant, but has it been confirmed that we're giving him a ML deal with a spot on the 40 man roster? IMO, $30M speaks for itself and hopefully we don't needlessly have to hamstring the roster. Of course, if he progresses quickly, it's a matter that will have to be resolved anyway.
BTW, Chapman's agents are the same as Homer Bailey's.
Yes it is a Major League deal and it is an upgrade to anyone on the roster no matter who you have to release or DFA
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MikeS21
Got a few thoughts about all this:
While I am happy to see the willingness on the part of the Reds to get into a bidding war with the big boys, I do have to wonder if other teams saw something in Chapman that caused them to back off. While this is a huge amount of money the Reds are giving him, other teams could have shelled out more, and I have to wonder if they realized the talent would never live up to the hype?
Assuming Chapman develops into at least MOR, I'm thinking the best young rotation the Reds can field is Cueto, Chapman, Bailey, Woods, and a healthy Volquez. Plus you still have Leake if one of those five go down to injury.
I would send Chapman to start at Low-A in Dayton. If he dominates, it only helps his confidence. Move him on to High-A, and then AA. By the time you get to late July, the trade deadline is approaching. If he has a WHIP under 1.00 and a K/9 of 9.00+ over 80-90 minor league innings, you have the option of sending him on to AAA, or having him skip AAA and bringing him straight to Cincy. I would shut him down around 140-145 innings, regardless.
Finally, this does open up some options for trades. I could live with trading Arroyo or Harang (or both), provided they could fetch a good young SS or a young LF with some pop.
I'm satisfied that the usual bidding war winners were not crazy about shelling out money for someone who is not proven and ready to step in immediately. They are willing to shell out premium dollars to veteran talent ("Finished Goods") and let teams like the Reds spend the R&D dollars. That seems to be a reasonable and plausible explanation.
Of course, once the Reds get him to the Finished Goods stage, the "big boys" will be very interested and pay him big $ through his prime, all things being equal to the current business of baseball. But if history has taught me anything, every dog has his day and it seems like it will go on forever. Maybe by then there will be new rules and power structures.
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
Quote:
Originally Posted by
traderumor
I'm satisfied that the usual bidding war winners were not crazy about shelling out money for someone who is not proven and ready to step in immediately. They are willing to shell out premium dollars to veteran talent ("Finished Goods") and let teams like the Reds spend the R&D dollars. That seems to be a reasonable and plausible explanation.
Of course, once the Reds get him to the Finished Goods stage, the "big boys" will be very interested and pay him big $ through his prime, all things being equal to the current business of baseball. But if history has taught me anything, every dog has his day and it seems like it will go on forever. Maybe by then there will be new rules and power structures.
If it helps, the Red Sox and Yankees both seem reasonably serious (at the moment) about attempting to limit their 2010 luxury tax obligations. If they could have signed him to a minor league deal, sort of like going way over slot in the draft, it might have been different.
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
Quote:
Originally Posted by
traderumor
I'm satisfied that the usual bidding war winners were not crazy about shelling out money for someone who is not proven and ready to step in immediately. They are willing to shell out premium dollars to veteran talent ("Finished Goods") and let teams like the Reds spend the R&D dollars. That seems to be a reasonable and plausible explanation.
Of course, once the Reds get him to the Finished Goods stage, the "big boys" will be very interested and pay him big $ through his prime, all things being equal to the current business of baseball. But if history has taught me anything, every dog has his day and it seems like it will go on forever. Maybe by then there will be new rules and power structures.
When the Reds get him to the "Finished Goods" stage they could keep him around for a few seasons and then (IF it looks like he won't ok an extension) trade him to whoever pays the highest price in prospects. The Marlins have done a pretty good job with that philosophy.
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
A symptom of a problem with the business of baseball is when one of the also-rans makes a significant signing, there is immediate suspicion that "there must be something wrong with him."
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
Quote:
Originally Posted by
traderumor
A symptom of a problem with the business of baseball is when one of the also-rans makes a significant signing, there is immediate suspicion that "there must be something wrong with him."
Maybe it should be the other way around (see Contreras, Jose and Irabu, Hideki, among other "sure things").
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
Quote:
Originally Posted by
edabbs44
Maybe it should be the other way around (see Contreras, Jose and Irabu, Hideki, among other "sure things").
I guess that is why I see this illogical conclusion as unfair as a reason the Reds landed Chapman. Maybe Chapman has received good advice that going to one of the media centers, while it may provide a short term financial bonus, will earn him less in the long run than if he goes somewhere where he can develop. Now, this isn't to say that the Reds are that program, but seems just as plausible a scenario as the lazy national media concludes, "oh, Yankees, Red Sox, Angels all say 'pass,' therefore he must not be all that."
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
There is also...maybe not much, but a little bit of consideration to be taken into account in the idea of defectors not always wanting to go to the highest-profile teams right off the bat.
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
Whoa.....I had all but given up on the team and hadn't really checked RZ for days. My father called to break the news. He had a surgical procedure recently and I figured he was still under the effects of the gas. Opened RZ while on the phone and, lo and behold, there's 26 pages of goodness.
Mercy. For those who claim people never admit to being wrong please archive this post. I've said for a while that if the Reds make any moves this off-season they would be ancillary moves. Rolen was the big 2010 off-season singing. Etc etc. I WAS WRONG.
Now, I'm not ready to print playoff tickets or buy jerseys (sorry OBM) since this guy could go all Eric Milton on us. Heck, I haven't even read the thread to see what the guys pitching numbers are to make any sort of projections or evaluations. Throwing fast is great but if he gives up homers at some huge rate or can't find the strikezone....Like I said, I just opened the thread.
But in the concept of the move they did the right thing. They thought outside the box. They did something bold. They took a step that has a high payoff and could be an organization changing event. I like that they took people by surprise, which could have some huge marketing/fanbase implications.
There's plenty of time before Opening Day so hopefully they don't screw this up with some boneheaded move before then. But in terms of the general concept I'm flabbergasted that the Reds did something like this.
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
Quote:
Mercy. For those who claim people never admit to being wrong please archive this post. I've said for a while that if the Reds make any moves this off-season they would be ancillary moves. Rolen was the big 2010 off-season singing. Etc etc. I WAS WRONG.
Yes, sir. I fully expected a very boring, do-nothing offseason. It's good to be wrong on that one! This is an exciting signing. Good to be a Reds fan today.
Re: Jeff Passan: Reds sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman to five-year, $25 million cont
I was SHOCKED! SHOCKED! when I saw this news crawling across the ESPNNews screen yesterday. I fully expected to see that he was signing with the Red Sox or Yankees when this blurb started going acroos my TV screen. I admit I don't know much about him other than he throws about 100 MPH, is left handed and had a pretty good WBC with Cuba. Even if he starts the season in AAA or AA I'm sure he would be with the Reds before long. This is just a shock for a Reds fan for the front office to do something truly positive in the off season. I'm just speechless.
