The Chicago Cubs have made another huge splash on the trade market one week ahead of the MLB trade deadline, acquiring Aroldis Chapman in a massive swap with the New York Yankees.
The deal was confirmed by the team Monday afternoon.
Chapman, who recently threw a 105 MPH fastball and routinely tops 100 MPH on the radar gun, has a 1.93 ERA with 44 strikeouts in 31 innings of work this season.
Long thought of as one of the best closers in baseball, Chapman has had a strong season for the Yankees this year, with 20 saves as he served as a major piece of the team’s bullpen.
In exchange, the Yankees will get a good crop of prospects from the Cubs, including highly touted shortstop prospect Gleyber Torres.
A top-50 prospect in baseball according to Baseball America and MLB.com, Torres is batting .275 with nine home runs and 47 RBI for the Class-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans this season, and the 19-year old has also stolen 19 bases on the season.
The Yankees will also get back pitcher Adam Warren, whom they traded to Chicago during the 2015 offseason in a swap that sent Starlin Castro to the Big Apple. Warren has pitched both as a starter and out of the bullpen for the Cubs, but has struggled as he racked up a 5.91 ERA with seven home runs allowed in just 35 innings of work.
The Cubs also traded away another prospect, as Billy McKinney is reportedly part of the deal. McKinney dealt with a knee issue that ended his 2015 season prematurely, and he's struggled in 2016, hitting just one home run and registering a .252 batting average in 298 at-bats so far this season at Double-A West Tennessee.
