Chapman on the Way?

ARoldis Chapman, the 21 year old Cuban lefty with the electric stuff, will be in New York for the next few days meeting with officials from various teams. The reason he's meeting everyone in NYC is because that's where his agent is based. In any event, I expect him to be a Yankee. Not just because they're usually in on all the big defectors, but for probably three reasons.

First, he's an impact arm that won't cost picks or players to sign, like signing or trading for an MLB player would. It would be a money only deal and those appeal to the Yanks because - well - they have a lot of money. And having homefield adavantage hasn't hurt the bottom line.

Second, he is a power lefty, even in the new stadium lefty pitchers and hitters will come at a premium, espectially with the friendly right field wall. So the Yanks will be marginally more interested in Chapman than they would be in a comparable righty (though not much, electric arms are electric arms).

Third, the Yanks seemed to change their entire IFA strategy, on the run, the minute Chapman officially defected. Originally, the Yanks had planned to add a lot of IFA's between 7/2 and the end of the year, but since Gary Sanchez was signed, the Yanks have passed on all the other name IFA's that were out there and have only added a few low priced IFA's, nowhere near the number they had originally wanted. So, for the last few months it's been apparent that the Yanks have been marshalling their IFA money for something, probably Chapman.

So, in all, I expect Chapman to be a Yankee and for it to happen fairly soon, as his agent won't want him out there with the rest of the free agents. Go Yanks!


UPDATE: The Yanks will officially meet with Chapman next week. Maybe they'll have a game they can take him to.