Aroldis Chapman - Hero or Headache?

[RickD]

OK I am not sure what to make of Aroldis Chapman.

The kid has so much potential but seems to be his own worst enemy. The Reds seem ill prepared to handle him efficiently. They blink at big issues and go ape over little ones.

There is no arguing the kid can bring the heat...literally. He started off well this season and up until 2 weeks ago, seemed to be firing on all cylinders on the field.

Off the field - Not so much:



Chapman was arrested for speeding -- going 93 mph on an interstate -- and driving with a suspended license in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, in the early hours of May 21. Of course, it was his fourth speeding arrest in less than two years.
During a series in Pittsburgh a week later, an exotic dancer claimed she was tied up by an unknown assailant in Chapman's hotel room and robbed of $6,000 in jewelry while the pitcher was away. She has been charged with filing a false police report. Police said some of Chapman's items were stolen from the room.
Also, Chapman has been sued for $18 million by a Cuban-American who claims that before the pitcher defected from Cuba, he made false statements that resulted in the man being imprisoned.


The Reds don't seem to have a handle on dealing with his off-field issues but by gosh, he better not do a somersault after winning a game.


http://youtu.be/zxdqc33jE8w

The Reds come out and address this issue and talk about how they have made sure this will never happen again! Stop the on field antics but ignore the off-field ones?

My question is, what's next? I feel that Chapman is on a course out of MLB if his off-field issues continue.

Thoughts?

[Old Sweater]

Thanks for posting the clip. I had just read about it after seeing some members hot about it in chat........LOL, that is so wrong in every way. Way to much 'me' in the kid but I hope he grows up.

Eat your heart out Ozzie!

[RickD]

Yeah I see a lot of immaturity and if he doesn't grow up fast he may find himself on the wrong side o the law or MLB.

[Baseballnum3er0]

Chapman was arrested for speeding -- going 93 mph on an interstate -- and driving with a suspended license in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, in the early hours of May 21. Of course, it was his fourth speeding arrest in less than two years.
During a series in Pittsburgh a week later, an exotic dancer claimed she was tied up by an unknown assailant in Chapman's hotel room and robbed of $6,000 in jewelry while the pitcher was away. She has been charged with filing a false police report. Police said some of Chapman's items were stolen from the room.
Also, Chapman has been sued for $18 million by a Cuban-American who claims that before the pitcher defected from Cuba, he made false statements that resulted in the man being imprisoned.


The Reds don't seem to have a handle on dealing with his off-field issues but by gosh, he better not do a somersault after winning a game.

This first one I only see as a an issue because his license was suspended. 93 is obviously well over the speed limit, but the speed itself I see as not a huge issue. All in all, I don't really see much of a reason for the team to do more than slap him in the wrist for being stupid.

The second, I'm not quite sure on what happened but again I don't see any reason at all that the team would need to do anything about Chapman. Chapman believes that she was in on the robbery and if so that makes sense why she was charged with this. I'm seeing this as, Chapman got robbed. Could he be a better judge of character? Certainly, but this isn't something for the team to get involved in.

The last one had all incidents occurring over 3 years ago. The lawsuit is new but I don't see a reason for the team to deal with this issue as there is due process to come. I think the lawsuit in general sounds fishy and probably would not be around if Chapman was making league minimum.

In all, I don't see much in these 'off field' issues that need the Reds to get a handle on so I think they are doing fine at dealing with them. The double somersault was obviously something that should not happen again, but I do have to admit I got a laugh out of it.

[RickD]

Aroldis Chapman made a statement via his translator regarding his somersault fiasco:


"It's not something I typically do. I'd had four bad outings in a row and after one of them I said, 'If I get out of this rut, I'm going to do a cartwheel to shake it off.' So I did it after saving the game, but not everybody saw it the way I did.


I understand it's something I shouldn't have done. A lot of people were upset about it, and they were right. I apologize to the Brewers. I didn't mean any offense. It's just something I did as a way to snap out of that bad stretch.

[Mudge]

He's young.

He's rich.

He's in a new world, navigating his way in a new language.

Someone needs to take the Chapman under his wings and help him along. If it's not someone from the Reds organization, I don't know who it is.