Contributor: Wally
Down-trodden White Sox fans, players and officials, the time for cautious optimism is at hand! Jose Contreras, Alexei Ramirez, Dayan Viciedo...pick up your telephones and call Kenny Williams. Ask him for Aroldis Chapman's phone number, for he hath defected in the Netherlands, and has stated that he is ready to sign with a Major League team. And where better than the Cuban defector refugee camp that is the Chicago White Sox franchise? With Jake Peavy sitting at home in a walking boot, and Oswalt refusing to waive his no-trade clause, who could've imagined a pitcher would become available with more upside than either of them!
A long, lanky southpaw featuring a violent arm action and a high release point, Chapman sits in the mid-nineties (93-96) with his fastball, reaching 100 at times (in fact, he was reported to have hit 102 during a Serie National game). He also features a changeup, slider and curve, none of which are plus-pitches yet, but all of which have shown frequent glimpses of becoming out-pitches in the future (especially the overhand curve). Think Ubaldo Jimenez from the left side, sans a refined breaking pitch but with a more explosive fastball and a higher ceiling. Obviously, at age 21 (or thereabouts), Chapman has not fully realized his potential, nor can he be considered the least bit "polished." Nevertheless, scouts at the WBC commented that Chapman is "one or two simple mechanical tweaks away" from being a front of the rotation starter right now...and even if he isn't yet ready to start, whichever team he lands with can immediately boast a left-handed Marmol-esque relief ace. Good fucking gravy!
Minnfarction favorite Buster Olney went as far as to compare him to a left-handed Strasburg; no stranger to exaggeration, this is the same man who dubbed Strasburg the potential 'best pitching prospect ever!' In the interest of giving due credence to Strasburg's utter dominance, this comp should be disregarded as hyperbolical. Nevertheless, if such a sentiment were to permeate the industry, even to a limited extent, a bidding war would inevitably ensue (and it will). All it takes is two, especially if those two happen to be the Yanks and the Sox (or the Yanks and the Mets, the latter of whom might want to consider upgrading their rotation), but with each additional front office entering the bidding, the price will jump into entirely new strata. For a defector, that is; expect Contreras' benchmark four-year, $32 million deal to be easily topped, especially if teams see Chapman as the potential #2 prospect in all of baseball, and a big-league ready commodity. But let's be clear; he is not Stras. For one thing, Strasburg's success in international play (1-1, 1.67 ERA in the 2008 Summer Olympics) dwarfed that of the Chapman, who went 0-1 with a 5.68 ERA in two WBC games in '09 (all things considered, a pretty small sample size). Still, to say Chapman is not Stras is to say one thing: he is not the best pitching prospect of the past two decades (or, if you believe Buster, of all time). It is not to say he isn't the second-best, or possibly the third-best...still pretty damn high praise, even if former proponents of Darvish, Beckett and Prior don't share the sentiment. Most importantly, all this chatter doesn't amount to anything even remotely resembling a red flag. Boston and New York will be regarded as frontrunner, as well they should be. But doubt has to exist within these respective organizations, the debacles of Matsusaka and Contreras still fresh in the minds of ownership. So I say to you, Ken Williams, to White Sox ownership, players, fans, vendors and fair-weather, green hat-wearing, pink jersey sporting yuppies, lo', to any South-side Chicagoan that will lend me their ear, let's go get him!
Down-trodden White Sox fans, players and officials, the time for cautious optimism is at hand! Jose Contreras, Alexei Ramirez, Dayan Viciedo...pick up your telephones and call Kenny Williams. Ask him for Aroldis Chapman's phone number, for he hath defected in the Netherlands, and has stated that he is ready to sign with a Major League team. And where better than the Cuban defector refugee camp that is the Chicago White Sox franchise? With Jake Peavy sitting at home in a walking boot, and Oswalt refusing to waive his no-trade clause, who could've imagined a pitcher would become available with more upside than either of them!
A long, lanky southpaw featuring a violent arm action and a high release point, Chapman sits in the mid-nineties (93-96) with his fastball, reaching 100 at times (in fact, he was reported to have hit 102 during a Serie National game). He also features a changeup, slider and curve, none of which are plus-pitches yet, but all of which have shown frequent glimpses of becoming out-pitches in the future (especially the overhand curve). Think Ubaldo Jimenez from the left side, sans a refined breaking pitch but with a more explosive fastball and a higher ceiling. Obviously, at age 21 (or thereabouts), Chapman has not fully realized his potential, nor can he be considered the least bit "polished." Nevertheless, scouts at the WBC commented that Chapman is "one or two simple mechanical tweaks away" from being a front of the rotation starter right now...and even if he isn't yet ready to start, whichever team he lands with can immediately boast a left-handed Marmol-esque relief ace. Good fucking gravy!
Minnfarction favorite Buster Olney went as far as to compare him to a left-handed Strasburg; no stranger to exaggeration, this is the same man who dubbed Strasburg the potential 'best pitching prospect ever!' In the interest of giving due credence to Strasburg's utter dominance, this comp should be disregarded as hyperbolical. Nevertheless, if such a sentiment were to permeate the industry, even to a limited extent, a bidding war would inevitably ensue (and it will). All it takes is two, especially if those two happen to be the Yanks and the Sox (or the Yanks and the Mets, the latter of whom might want to consider upgrading their rotation), but with each additional front office entering the bidding, the price will jump into entirely new strata. For a defector, that is; expect Contreras' benchmark four-year, $32 million deal to be easily topped, especially if teams see Chapman as the potential #2 prospect in all of baseball, and a big-league ready commodity. But let's be clear; he is not Stras. For one thing, Strasburg's success in international play (1-1, 1.67 ERA in the 2008 Summer Olympics) dwarfed that of the Chapman, who went 0-1 with a 5.68 ERA in two WBC games in '09 (all things considered, a pretty small sample size). Still, to say Chapman is not Stras is to say one thing: he is not the best pitching prospect of the past two decades (or, if you believe Buster, of all time). It is not to say he isn't the second-best, or possibly the third-best...still pretty damn high praise, even if former proponents of Darvish, Beckett and Prior don't share the sentiment. Most importantly, all this chatter doesn't amount to anything even remotely resembling a red flag. Boston and New York will be regarded as frontrunner, as well they should be. But doubt has to exist within these respective organizations, the debacles of Matsusaka and Contreras still fresh in the minds of ownership. So I say to you, Ken Williams, to White Sox ownership, players, fans, vendors and fair-weather, green hat-wearing, pink jersey sporting yuppies, lo', to any South-side Chicagoan that will lend me their ear, let's go get him!
