For me, the weeks leading up to the annual winter meetings between the general managers is one of the most exciting periods of time in offseason baseball. And one of the biggest movers this offseason is expected to be the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds finished with an abysmal record of 64-98 last season and have already sent off many of their biggest pieces, including Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake, and are still expected to send away more of their top-talent players, including, potentially, Brandon Phillips, Jay Bruce, and Todd Frazier. But the star they are most likely to move in the coming weeks is their flame-throwing closer, Aroldis Chapman.
Many around baseball were insistent that Chapman would be moved by the end of last week, and the most likely candidate to get Chapman would be the struggling Boston Red Sox. Ken Rosenthal reported last week that the Red Sox were among the teams interested in Chapman and were in the process of doing background checks on him.
But the deal between the Reds and Red Sox of course did not come to fruition, and won’t happen now that the Red Sox have acquired another premier closer, Craig Kimbrel. In the deal for Kimbrel, the Red Sox traded away four prospects, Logan Allen, Carlos Asuaje, Javier Guerra and Manuel Margot. The haul that the Padres received was quite impressive as MLB.com ranks Margot (outfield) and Guerra (shortstop) as the 25th and 76th best prospects in baseball, respectively. The leftt pitcher Allen is ranked by MLB.com as the number 18th best prospect in San Diego’s system. And Asuaje, a utility man, could be in the fight for a bench job in spring training next year.
So in the deal for Kimbrel, the Red Sox dealt two top 100 prospects, a lefty starter, and a utility guy for a one-inning reliever. The Reds have to be excited seeing the haul that the Padres received for unloading Kimbrel. Yes, the market for Chapman just shrank by one team, but regardless, relievers are valued very highly these days, and there are very few that are on the level of Chapman and Kimbrel. Following the announcement that the Red Sox had acquired Kimbrel, reports surfaced that a deal was never all that close between the Reds and Red Sox.
So although a deal was never too close with the Red Sox, will the Reds still be ambitious in dealing Chapman? My best guess is yes. Chapman could still bring in a huge haul for the Cincinnati Reds, as he is truly a one of a kind pitcher. No one in baseball can throw the kind of heat that Chapman can, and his strikeout numbers are incredible. In addition, keeping him on a team that lost nearly a hundred games last year might not be in the Reds’ best interest, especially considering that they should be using this time to rebuild for the future.
There is certainly still a market for Chapman, as well there should be. Teams that could be interested or have been connected to Chapman include the New York Yankees, Houston Astros, Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers. The Reds have also recently asserted that they are still willing to trade Chapman for big league ready assets.
Sending away Chapman would undoubtedly be a big blow to the Queen City’s bullpen, but receiving a big return for him could be the Reds’ first big step towards rebuilding their franchise.
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