Aroldis Chapman has been the face of both sides of deals as a free agent and as a trade asset. He net the Reds four players in the 2015 trade with the Yankees, which included #3 prospect Eric Jagielo, their first round pick from 2013 who still hasn’t reached the big leagues.
Nearly seven months later the Yankees dealt Chapman to the Cubs for one of the best prospects in baseball, Gleyber Torres, along with pitcher Adam Warren and prospects Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford. Chapman went on to win a World Series for the Cubs with a 1.01 ERA and 16 saves in 28 regular season games.
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New York turned around the following offseason with their prized prospects in hand and gave Chapman a five-year deal worth $86 million. Since signing that deal Chapman has a 2.83 ERA and 54 saves in 107 games.
The Chapman contract seems like one of the few big deals for a reliever that has panned out.
Take what you will from the history of these deals. Would the Cubs rather have their first World Series in over a century or a young player like Gleyber Torres who hit 24 home runs and finished third in the Rookie of the Year race?
To get a player like Edwin Diaz in a trade the Phillies would likely need to relinquish one of their top prospects to get a player under control for four years. Is a closer coming off the best year in his career worth a prospect like Adonis Medina, Adam Haseley, or Mickey Moniak?
Is Diaz worth four or five prospects, or should the Phillies keep their young players and spend stupid money on Craig Kimbrel?
Those are the questions being weighed at One Citizens Bank Way going into the Winter Meetings.