Cubs pitcher Aroldis Chapman news, videos

[http://www.csnchicago.com] Blackhawks Bulls Cubs White Sox Bears Fire Notre Dame Big Ten Preps Video Golf Sports Business Inside Look Beer Money Horse Racing NASCAR NCAA Sky CSN Fantasy Sports CSN Talent TV Listings Channel Finder MORE TV Listings Channel Finder Alerts Contests Shop Tickets Rotoworld Golf Channel Comcast SportsNet Search Latest Video 0:34 Highlights: Fire lose at Real Salt Lake 3-1 0:51 Arrieta talks about his start in the Cubs win in Oakland 0:42 SNC: Favre on the Bears-Packers rivalry 0:48 Ventura on overturned replay: It's what it was meant to do 0:51 Eaton says hitting in the 3-hole is 'fun' 0:45 Narvaez on Rodon: We talked about him going with everything 1:11 Refs trade shoes with each other in Fire game 1:35 Ventura on Rodon: He 'kept a very good lineup off balance' Cubs: Joe Maddon figuring out how to deploy Aroldis Chapman Cubs: Joe Maddon figuring out how to deploy Aroldis Chapman By Patrick Mooney July 31, 2016 8:45 PM Latest Cubs Talk Arrieta dominates, leads Cubs to sixth straight win Soler homers in return to help Lester, Cubs beat A's Jorge Soler to start Friday, Cubs DFA Joe Nathan The Cubs are still trying to better understand Aroldis Chapman after last week’s win-now trade with the New York Yankees, lost-in-translation press conference and must-see debut at Wrigley Field. The Cubs made that blockbuster deal while envisioning mad-scientist manager Joe Maddon unleashing a 105-mph closer at the highest-leverage moments, changing the entire shape of their bullpen and shortening playoff games. Except Chapman doesn’t like to get four-out saves. “I didn’t know that,” Maddon said Sunday. “Not that it would matter, but I didn’t know that. I was not aware of that.” At least that’s what Chapman said through translator/teammate Pedro Strop after Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners, telling reporters “it’s not my favorite thing to do, but that’s my job. It’s the manager’s decision. I’m ready to do anything.” The Yankees essentially used Chapman one inning at a time after he served his 30-game suspension under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy, never deploying him for a four-out save and watching him go 20-for-21 in save situations. Maddon is an aggressive, outside-the-box thinker who already had Chapman get the final four outs last week against the White Sox for his first save in a Cubs uniform. Maddon’s outcome-bias radar started beeping after Leonys Martin’s two-out, two-run, go-ahead double off Chapman in the eighth inning on Saturday afternoon. “There’s nothing really tricky about it,” Maddon said. “If you choose to not use (Chapman) right there, and the lead goes away without having utilized him, then you’re really upset with yourself.” [SHOP: Gear up, Cubs fans! ] Maddon felt that Chapman had been well-rested and would be a better no-contact matchup than Hector Rondon. The Cubs saw the heart of Seattle’s lineup coming with Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager. This is why you acquire a game-changing lefty who has triple-digit velocity as a default setting and knows how to pitch. “Just say you utilize him right there and you score four or five runs the next inning, which is possible,” Maddon said. “Then you would take him out again, anyway, and just save him, because we have enough bullpen after that. So there are all these different moments. “Do you wait to use him the next inning, not knowing if the lead’s going to be there or not? You knew the lead was there. He’s the perfect guy in that particular moment. It just didn’t work.” The bigger questions revolve around how well the Cubs really know Chapman, and how to maximize his impact in October after that World Series-or-bust trade. Tags: Aroldis Chapman , Chicago Cubs Cubs preparing to hire new translator after Aroldis Chapman’s rocky start in Chicago Cubs preparing to hire new translator after Aroldis Chapman’s rocky start in Chicago By Patrick Mooney July 28, 2016 8:18 PM Latest Cubs Talk Arrieta dominates, leads Cubs to sixth straight win Soler homers in return to help Lester, Cubs beat A's Jorge Soler to start Friday, Cubs DFA Joe Nathan The Cubs are in the process of hiring a new translator for Aroldis Chapman, sources said, trying to smooth things over after a rocky introduction to Chicago that left the superstar closer feeling frustrated by his portrayal in the media. Chapman told Comcast SportsNet Chicago’s Siera Santos that he requested a new translator on Thursday, while a Cubs official said the team had made the offer earlier this week, responding to all the negative coverage from a press conference that made a bad first impression and national headlines for the wrong reasons. The Cubs understood trading for Chapman – who began this season serving a 30-game suspension under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy – would immediately spark controversy. But the Cubs still didn’t seem completely prepared for the moment, or quite as thorough as advertised, watching Chapman look disengaged on Tuesday, not remembering anything specific about what chairman Tom Ricketts had told him over the phone about off-the-field conduct – a precondition that president of baseball operations Theo Epstein sold as an essential part of the deal with the New York Yankees. With a large group of reporters gathered before a Cubs-White Sox game, Chapman sat in U.S. Cellular Field’s visiting dugout next to Henry Blanco, the quality-assurance coach and former big-league catcher who’s approved under the new joint program between MLB and the players’ union that requires every team to have a full-time, Spanish-speaking translator this year. Blanco has built-in credibility and communication skills after playing for 11 different teams across 16 big-league seasons, but he found himself in a difficult position, given the sensitive nature of the questions and what’s at stake for a World Series favorite and an image-conscious organization. Chapman later did a one-on-one interview in Spanish with ESPN’s Pedro Gomez. The team’s public-relations department circulated that transcript, with Epstein saying Chapman had been nervous and something got lost in translation. But the damage had been done, with a visibly upset Chapman initially refusing to speak to the media on Wednesday night after making a spectacular debut in a Cubs uniform, unleashing 13 pitches from his left arm that registered at least 100 mph on the big Wrigley Field video board. It became an awkward scene after what was supposed to be a feel-good 8-1 victory over the White Sox, creating a new tension in a laid-back clubhouse. Chapman showered, listened to his associates and ultimately agreed to two minutes of questions, with catcher Miguel Montero becoming his translator. “What I’m trying to do right now is to really build a relationship with this guy so he starts trusting me,” manager Joe Maddon said. “I believe once that occurs, I’m really going to be able to understand exactly what he’s about and what he’s thinking. “I know there’s been some reticence or pushback regarding him to this point. However, understand where he’s coming from right now. We don’t know him. He doesn’t know us. And he really doesn’t even know the language.” Chapman – who grew up in Cuba and is now in his seventh season in the big leagues – should be motivated to acclimate given the possibility of a World Series ring and a big free-agent contract this winter. “I’ve spoken to him only once, at length, just trying to get him to relax,” Maddon said, “(and) have him understand me and what we’re all about here. “As we all develop better relationships with him, the conversation’s going to flow a lot more easily and you’re going to maybe get the kind of information you’re looking for. But to put myself in his shoes, coming into a new venue, a new city, new everything, it’s a pretty heavy moment to immediately be scrutinized that way. I can almost understand why it’s been difficult for him.” Tags: Aroldis Chapman , Chicago Cubs With Aroldis Chapman in the fold, do Cubs now have a bullpen that rivals world champion Royals? With Aroldis Chapman in the fold, do Cubs now have a bullpen that rivals world champion Royals? By Tony Andracki July 28, 2016 8:02 PM Latest Cubs Talk Arrieta dominates, leads Cubs to sixth straight win Soler homers in return to help Lester, Cubs beat A's Jorge Soler to start Friday, Cubs DFA Joe Nathan Aroldis Chapman firing 103 mph fastballs past hitters is going to send the sellout crowds at Wrigley into a frenzy on a nightly basis in the season's final few months. It also gives the Cubs bullpen a completely different look, something Joe Maddon has referenced several times since Theo Epstein's front office pulled off the blockbuster for the most dominant closer in the game. With Chapman slamming the door in the ninth, Hector Rondon and his 1.89 ERA now move up to the eighth inning. Pedro Strop — who is having arguably the best season of his career with a 2.79 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 11.4 K/9 — now slots in as a seventh-inning guy, which is exactly how it played out Thursday night at Wrigley Field . It has the look of a trio of relievers that could rival the dominant Kansas City Royals bullpen over the last two World Series runs. Cubs second baseman/outfielder Ben Zobrist got a firsthand look at the back end of the Royals' bullpen last fall, watching Kelvin Herrera, Ryan Madson and Wade Davis combine for only one unearned run against the New York Mets in 12 World Series innings. Zobrist isn't ready to crown the Cubs' bullpen in the same category, but he could see how the comparisons could be made. "I don't know; it just started," Zobrist said before Thursday's Crosstown finale. "I'm not gonna say it's exactly like it. It's different. It's different guys, but it's the same type of makeup. "You got really hard-throwing guys that know how to spot their pitches and they're really tough pitchers. That's the way it felt last year in Kansas City. "When you get a guy like Strop or a Kelvin Herrera or whatever that's coming in in like the seventh, you're going, 'This guy can be a closer on just about any other team and yet he's coming in this early in the game.' "That spells doom for other teams. It's tough to overcome that later in the game." [RELATED - The Aroldis Chapman Show comes to Wrigley ] With all the days off built into the posteseason, teams can roll with their best relievers on a nightly basis. Maddon likes to play matchups and ride the hot hand, but come October, he will have three very good options, as Chapman's presence has a domino effect on the rest of the relievers. "That shortens the game," Zobrist said. "For the other team, when they're going up against that, they know that they only have so much time before the game is over in their minds mentally. "If we have a lead going into the sixth, seventh inning, they're in trouble because they're going to have to face some of the best relievers in the game the last few innings. "What [Chapman] does to our bullpen is just takes it to that next level where the game is at least an inning shorter." Cubs fans got to see that play out in front of them at Wrigley Field Wednesday night as Rondon came in to throw a perfect eighth before Chapman blew the Sox away in the ninth. And then again Thursday night against the White Sox as Strop pitched the seventh, Rondon got two outs in the eighth and then Chapman got the final four outs without any drama. "You see the velocity that’s there," Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "It’s tough, too, because you get one guy that’s right-handed and one guy that’s left-handed so you can use that to your advantage. You can flip it around if you want depending on who’s coming up. It’s a pretty good [bullpen]." "They just know that it's hard to come back from a game when you're winning late in the game like that," Zobrist said. "It seems like an insurmountable lead when you got a couple guys at the back end of the bullpen like that." Tags: Aroldis Chapman , Ben Zobrist , Chicago Cubs Load more Cubs: Joe Maddon figuring out how to deploy Aroldis Chapman Cubs preparing to hire new translator after Aroldis Chapman’s rocky start in Chicago With Aroldis Chapman in the fold, do Cubs now have a bullpen that rivals world champion Royals? 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