2016 Fantasy BaseballFantasy Baseball

Chicago Cubs Acquire Aroldis Chapman From New York Yankees

The first major trade of deadline week went down this morning when the Chicago Cubs dealt a group of prospects to the New York Yankees for Aroldis Chapman. The Cubs will be sending top shortstop prospect Gleyber Torres, reliever Adam Warren, and outfield prospect Bill McKinney. Obviously, the deal will have a tremendous impact on the pennant race and on your fantasy teams. Let’s take a look at what each team is getting out of it.

Why the Cubs make this trade

Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein built nearly the perfect roster this season. They have a very deep and talented rotation. They have a powerful lineup with a talented young bench that has helped them whether the storm of some key injuries. They have a fairly deep middle relief staff that can bridge the gap to the ninth inning. Hector Rondon has been a decent closer this season. He was a decent closer the last two seasons too, but decent is not really what you are looking for when you are poised to make a deep playoff run.

Chapman will be a free agent after the season, but the Cubs are worried about 2016. When you haven’t won a World Series in over 100 years and you haven’t been to one since the end of World War II, you tend to throw caution to the wind. Chapman has about as dominant stuff as any pitcher in the history of the game. In a recent game, he had several pitches that eclipsed 103 MPH with a couple at 105. No one can compete with that.

With Chapman manning the ninth inning, Rondon settles into the 8th inning and everyone else gets bumped back. The recent addition of Mike Montgomery gives them two talented lefties to go along with holdover Travis Wood. They also recently activated former all-star closer Joe Nathan. It’s an entirely new bullpen in Chicago and it could be enough to take them all the way.

Why the Yankees make this trade

The Yankees already have two talented relievers in Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances. Getting Chapman always seemed like overkill in the first place, but there was a method to their madness. Brian Cashman probably hoped having a super bullpen would give them a chance to do what Kansas City did the past two seasons. Unfortunately, they couldn’t cobble enough pitching together to go along with those stud relievers.

So, unfortunately that didn’t work out for them this season, but they did manage to trade up on the prospects they got in return. Since Chapman was embroiled in legal trouble at the time of their deal with the Reds, they sent four middling prospects in exchange for Chapman. None of them have made an impact with the Reds and they aren’t likely to make an impact any time soon. In return, the Yankees get a reliever they already know will be an effective middle reliever and two better prospects than they sent out to the Reds.

So, they got almost four months of top notch performance and three better players than they sent out. Torres is a top 41 prospect according to all three major publication services. He could be a shortstop of the future and McKinney is a former first round pick. The two have bright futures and definitely justify the deal for the Yankees.

What this deal means for you

Again, we play the musical chairs game with the closers. Chapman’s value doesn’t really change much. He was an elite closer before and he’ll continue to be elite after the deal. Andrew Miller is probably owned in your league already, but his value increases. Obviously, Rondon’s value just went in the toilet unless your league also counts holds.

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