THE DEAL

Yankees Acquire: OF Billy McKinney, SS Gleyber Torres, RHP Adam Warren, and OF Rashad Crawford 
Cubs Acquire: LHP Aroldis Chapman

The Cubs want to win their first World Series since 1908. They are going for broke as they say after 108 years without a World Championship. Theo Epstein is dealing some impressive talent to get a piece he believes will push them over the top in Chapman. It’s a perfectly fine baseball move, and the addition of Chapman to the Cubs bullpen might just put them over the top.

The Yankees, who it sounds like wouldn’t have been able to keep Chapman, get a massive talent in fusion with this deal.

McKinney, a 21 year old outfielder, came into the 2016 season ranked as the 74th best prospect in baseball according to Baseball Prospectus and 88th by MLB.com. His 2016 performance at Double-A has been underwhelming with a .252/.355/.322 line, one homer and two steals, but he still has a bright future, though he’s a couple of years away from realizing those talents at the big league level.

Torres came into this season as a top-50 prospect in baseball according to Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and MLB.com. A 19 year old with less than 400 at-bats in High-A ball, who was batting .275 with nine homers, 19 steals and 62 runs scored in 94 games at Myrtle Beach this season. The only offensive tool that doesn’t stand out is the power, but he’s young enough that might change as he works to fill out his leanish frame. He’s sometimes too aggressive, though many attribute that to his youth, but he certainly barrels up the ball frequently, uses the whole field, and has a nice two stroke approach at the dish. This is a player who could be a fantasy force for a decade once he arrives at the big league level (it might not be until 2018).

Warren, a 28 year old righty, can start or reliever. Warren made 17 starts last season, just one this year, and it’s likely that Warren will head back to the Yankees to fill a swing-man role (he was with the Yankees from 2012-15). He has a 5.91 ERA, 1.43 WHIP and sickly 1.42 K/BB ratio this season and bares no attention at all in fantasy leagues.

Crawford is the least known of the players in this deal. He has some speed with 22 thefts this season, but he’s hitting .255 with a mere three homers.

CUBS BULLPEN OUTLOOK

Well, Chapman is closing that kills the outlook of Hector Rondon who has pitched at an elite level this season. Here are the numbers for Rondon since the start of last season.

2015-16

IP

W-L

SV

Holds

ERA

WHIP

K/9

K/BB

Rondon

107.0

7-6

48

8

1.77

0.91

9.84

5.85


As great as those numbers look, he’s been even better this season.

2016

IP

W-L

SV

Holds

ERA

WHIP

K/9

K/BB

Rondon

37.0

1-2

18

0

1.95

0.73

11.68

9.60

 

I’m not going to say you should drop Rondon in mixed leagues, you certainly shouldn’t in NL-only leagues, but his value went from elite to barely rosterable in mixed setups. He’s the biggest loser of this season without question.

YANKEES BULLPEN OUTLOOK

Chapman, Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances were composing the most dominant trio of relievers on one team in league history until today. With Chapman gone, the situation causes us to look at Miller and Betances again. It would appear that the duo will fall into the roles that they filled last season with Miller working the 9th and Betances the 8th. At least that’s the sense as of this writing.

If Chapman isn’t the best lefty reliever in baseball it’s Miller. Look at his production. Hell, let’s look at his work and that of Betances the past few years. There ain’t a more dominant lefty/righty duo in the game.

2014-16

IP

W-L

SV

Holds

ERA

WHIP

K/9

K/BB

Miller

167.1

14-8

44

38

1.88

0.81

14.90

6.30

Betances

223.0

13-8

10

75

1.70

0.91

14.17

4.56

 

Neither guy should see his production slow just because Chapman is out of the mix. Miller should return to being an elite closer while Betances will continue to function as perhaps the best right-handed setup man in the game. For goodness sakes, if either is on the waiver-wire change that (both should have been rostered all season long). It’s even possible that Miller is also dealt and that Betances becomes the Yankees closer. Could happen.

A final note. It sounds like the Yankees are promoting Luis Severino to work out of the bullpen, at least until Adam Warren is ready to rock.

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).