SAN FRANCISCO — About 24 hours before the Cubs announced their acquisition of Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, Bobby Evans’ phone rang. A Yankees front office member spoke with the Giants general manager to deliver the bad news, and perhaps expected news.
Chapman was going to be a Cub, not a Giant. The Yankees were overwhelmed by Chicago’s package, a four-player deal headlined by top infield prospect Gleyber Torres. The Giants likely couldn’t compete with such an offer unless they opened up their major league roster for the taking.
So Evans stood in the Giants dugout on Monday afternoon, gripping his iPhone with white earbuds drooping over his shoulder, he and his staff had already moved onto other trade avenues. There’s no time to dwell on the competition’s moves, even if it’s one that could impede the Giants’ path to the World Series.
“You can’t ever be concerned with what happens outside the club, whether it’s in the division or out of it,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “There’s nothing you can do about it. If it happens, it happens.”
Well, it happened. Now the Giants have to deal with ramifications outside of a potential postseason matchup. Evans said he’s been surprised at the high price tags across the trade market, and the Cubs’ ransom for Chapman does the Giants no favors. Every trade is intertwined with past and future deals, so as Evans continues to comb through the relief pitching market, there’s quite possibly a surcharge on players that didn’t exist three days ago.
Bigger names like Andrew Miller and Wade Davis are still floating on the market, but the Yankees and Royals have every right to command exorbitant returns. After all, the Yankees already got one for a pitcher that might throw 20 more innings before entering free agency. ESPN’s Jayson Stark reported that the Cubs’ package for Chapman “wouldn’t get it done” for Davis.
But that’s a moot point for Chicago, who cemented a deal the Giants couldn’t.
“(The Cubs) got a premier closer,” Bochy said. “That’s going to make any team better.”
Such a move would certainly inject life into a Giants team that needs it, even if Chapman’s arm couldn’t halt the Giants’ slide on its own. The team is still likely to dip into the trade market, but Evans is left to choose between less heralded pitchers like the Brewers’ Jeremy Jeffress or Phillies closer Jeanmar Gomez.
But the difference now, post-Chapman trade, is that the less heralded arms are now heralded, at least relative to the price tags attached to them. Evans and the Giants have the Cubs to thank for that.