Harper: Yankees' deal for troubled Chapman comes with stench

In trying to win championships the Yankees have always gone where other teams would not, but that was mostly in spending money for players. This is different.

In trading for Aroldis Chapman the Yankees acquired a player that at least some teams wouldn’t touch, at least not while he is under investigation by Major League Baseball for an alleged domestic violence incident.

“We’ll all do what it takes to win, I’m not trying to sound holier-than-thou,” a team executive said Monday. “But this is dicey for me. Domestic violence is a serious matter and it’s a hot-button topic right now too because of the NFL.

“Not knowing where this is all going, I don’t think we were the only ones who weren’t willing to do something like this right now.”

In fact, that appears to be the prevailing sentiment around baseball; how else can you explain Chapman being dealt at such a bargain price?

Even GM Brian Cashman acknowledged the Yankees didn’t pay full fare, after managing to acquire the hardest-throwing pitcher in baseball without giving up what could truly be called a top prospect in the package of four minor-leaguers he sent to the Reds.

“I think the price point on acquisition has been modified,” was the way Cashman put it on a conference call after making the trade.

In other words, at a time when the Yankees are caught in the middle as a franchise, keeping a lid on payroll while waiting out big contracts yet trying to remain a contender, they couldn’t resist taking full advantage of a potentially ugly situation, adding a difference-maker at minimum cost.

Does that make them MLB’s version of the Dallas Cowboys, signing Greg Hardy?

Remains to be seen.

You know how this goes by now: fans want to win and they’re willing to forgive just about anything from players who can make that happen. If Chapman is blowing away hitters next season, providing some much-needed star power with his 103-mph fastballs, and the Yankees ride their newly-formed super-pen to an AL East title, chances are he’ll be the toast of the town.

Hey, if Ray Rice hadn’t been past his prime as a running back when he knocked his wife out cold in that elevator, he’d be carrying the ball on Sundays for some team in the NFL.

Nevertheless, the Cowboys have become a target for national criticism this season over their signing of Hardy, whose own immature behavior on the field added to the firestorm. When pictures of the abuse he heaped on a woman were made public a few weeks ago, the fact that he wasn’t convicted for his alleged crime didn’t matter much in the court of public opinion.

Perhaps it won’t come to that in the case of Chapman. But does anyone know for sure? Cashman was careful to say the Yankees did their “due diligence”

on the matter of Chapman being accused of choking his girlfriend at his home in Florida on Oct. 30, then firing off eight gunshots in his garage.

Police say Chapman admitted to the gunshots, the result of frustration over an argument with the girlfriend. But he denied the choking accusation, and in the end, charges were not brought because of what prosecutors called “inconsistencies” in the woman’s testimony.

Still, news of the incident blew up a trade between the Reds and the Dodgers during the Winter Meetings a few weeks ago and prompted MLB’s investigation.

After that, according to a source, the Reds continued shopping Chapman, anxious to be rid of a potential headache as they’re committed to a complete rebuilding job, and steadily lowered the asking price when it was apparent that other teams were wary.

At the very least, it seems, some teams were willing to wait for some resolution. MLB, together with the Players Association, adopted a new domestic violence policy last summer that gives commissioner Rob Manfred the power to rule as he sees fit on such cases.

Now everyone is waiting to see how he rules on Jose Reyes, who was arrested for an incident in November, and Chapman. There is at least some feeling around the game that he’ll come down hard on these first cases as a way of setting an example.

Of course, that could actually benefit the Yankees in a way, for if Chapman is suspended for 40 games or more, he’d lose enough service time to push his free agency back a year — making the deal that much more of a bargain.

So perhaps the real issue isn’t the punishment as much as the PR fallout, depending exactly what the investigation reveals. With that in mind Cashman was asked whether he was worried about how the deal might be received, and he mostly danced around the question.

“I would say these issues are serious and we understand that,” he said. “It’s a concern.”

Concern only goes so far, however, especially at a time when the Yankees were in need of a bargain.

Baseball – NY Daily News

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