Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN The Magazine reported today left-handed pitcher Aroldis Chapman has defected from the Cuban national team.
According to the report, Chapman defected from the team while they were in the Netherlands competing in a tournament, walking right out of the front door of the team’s hotel in Rotterdam.
“I walked out easily, right through the hotel door, and I hopped in a car and left,” Chapman told cubaencuentro.com, a Spanish web site. “It was easy. Now the plan is to sign with a Major League team.”
Chapman is scheduled to fly to Miami on Thursday, according to a source.
This is huge news on this winter’s free agency front because, depending on who you ask, Chapman is the most-hyped player to defect from Cuba since Jose Contreras, but appears to have a ceiling far beyond that of the Chicago White Sox veteran right-hander.
Chapman, 21, is a menacing southpaw who brings a fastball that has been clocked as high as 102 mph to go along with a slider and a curveball. Arangure’s report suggests that Chapman may need some development time in the minor leagues because his secondary pitches are “only average.”
But Buster Olney, also a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine, wrote in his blog Thursday morning that some scouts have labeled Chapman’s slider and curveball as both “plus” pitches. Olney said that some talent evaluators even see Chapman as a “left-handed (Stephen) Strasburg.” That’s how insanely talented this kid is.
I saw some of Chapman in this year’s World Baseball Classic, and he was nasty. His fastball explodes on the hitters — I guess anything will explode at 100 mph — and when he throws his secondary pitches for strikes, hitters have no chance.
Chapman posted a 4.03 ERA in 118 1/3 innings last year as a 20-year-old pitching in the National Series in Cuba. Unlike other defectors, Chapman’s baby face actually gives some sort of evidence that he is as young as he claims to be.
The one knock on Chapman is his maturity. He has been known to show too much emotion and frustration on the mound — with the umpire’s strike zone, for example — and doesn’t always give his manager, coaches, and teammates the respect they deserve. But at 21-years-old, that isn’t all that surprising. But that alone would make it absolutely necessary he apply some polish in the minor leagues.
How does this effect the upcoming free agent class? Well, the two biggest fish in the market were supposed to be Oakland A’s outfielder Matt Holliday and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher John Lackey.
But with only s mediocre season thus far in Oakland, a little hype has come off of Holliday and if free agency were to open today, he wouldn’t be commanding the dollars that he and his agent Scott Boras were expecting.
Lackey, on the other hand, is set to cash in with a healthy season. But that’s the hold up. Lackey has battled early season elbow issues for the last two seasons, and I’m not sure if anybody is completely confident in the health of his elbow.
Nonetheless, with teams so starved for quality pitching, Lackey will get his money if he stays off of the DL for the remainder of the season.
But if Chapman is part of this winter’s bidding, he will undoubtedly be the big fish in the pond. Estimates are already coming in between $30 million and $60 million for Chapman, but there is no real precedent for a pitcher this young and this talented who has already pitched on the national stage and has been relatively exposed.
You can expect big market clubs such as the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Angels, and Cubs to be interested in Chapman.
The Red Sox should be in the mix, too, but I wonder how eager they are to spend exorbitantly on another international product that comes this hyped, considering that they paid a total sum of $103 million to get Daisuke Matsuzaka to Boston and he hasn’t met expectations.
The A’s probably won’t be players but the White Sox could be, as both clubs have been known to make dents in international signings (although signing Chapman would not be like signing a 17-year-old prospect).
One issue facing Chapman’s stay in the United States is that all Cuban players are required to hand over their passports to Cuban officials when making an appearance outside of Cuba. Assuming Chapman followed regular procedures, he may have a difficult time establishing residency in the U.S.
Teddy Mitrosilis is the author of Ballpark Banter. He also writes for Bleacher Report. You can reach him at tm4000@yahoo.com.
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Chapman será uno de los mejores pitchers del mundo.Mi primer amigo en Cayo Mambí fue un familiar del.francisco Agustin ChAPMAN BENNETT(BUTY)
He creado un blog para desde ahora resaltar sus exitos http://aroldischapmancayomambisero.blogspot.com/ viva Cayo Mambí