I should be applauding Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees, today.
The conversation, from a baseball perspective, should be about how the Yankees General Manager flipped one of the best Closers in Major League Baseball in July for one of the best young prospects in the game, further strengthened a system that now ranks among the best in baseball, and turned around and signed that very same best closer in the offseason to make them an impact team in the division.
That should be the conversation. But it’s not.
Aroldis Chapman is that closer mentioned as one of the best in baseball; he also received a 30-game domestic violence suspension from 2016 stemming from one of the uglier incidents you’ll hear of.
Late Wednesday night Chapman was awarded the richest contract ever given to a closer in baseball history from the New York Yankees.
I’ve mentioned a number of times how sports has made it difficult to just be a casual fan because of the behavior of some professional athletes and the lack of administrative competence when handing out penalties. So here we are again, what does it say when in October, the Yankees say this:
Then turn around and announce they’ve brought back Aroldis Chapman?
Some will say it’s in the past, get over it. Move on and recognize it for what it is: a good BASEBALL move. Okay, I recognize it’s a good baseball move. Now understand that I don’t care if he throws 200+ miles per hour, at this point it’s tiring to see on-field performance overshadowing what’s going on off the field.
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