Red Ink: Cincinnati Reds Sign LHP Aroldis Chapman for $30 Million

That's right. The hype, drooling, bickering and agent-firing is finally over. Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman has signed with the Cincinnati Reds for upwards of $30 million dollars and is committed for a reported 5 years.

First it was Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan, then came a tidal wave of articles. Here are some of them:

From The Washington Post

From TSN

From Bleacher Report

From NESN

From Boston.com

Although Chapman is just 22 years old, he is considered to be the most talented international free agent pitcher since Daisuke Matsuzaka and even more intriguing than the Athletics' Michael Ynoa--last year's most discussed international free agent. Chapman posses a running fastball that reaches 100 mph, and sits in the 93-97 mph range. The young lefty also offers a plus to plus-plus power slider that is often clocked in the mid 80s. While he is currently a two-pitch pitcher, Chapman is also developing a average/plus curveball and a passable changeup.

Stephen Strasburg is still heralded as the supreme talent among MLB pitching prospects with a running fastball that is consistently clocked between 94-98 mph, a devastating power curve, a plus changeup and plus command. However, Strasburg is often touted as a once-in-a-decade prospect, and draws comparisons to Josh Beckett, Mark Prior, Todd Van Poppel and other former elite pitching prospects. While Chapman doesn't feature the talent that Strasburg possesses, he does feature a ceiling higher than any young lefty pitcher in the minors. Considering Martin Perez, Madison Bumgarner, Brian Matusz and Casey Crosby are part of a crop of young, supremely-talented lefty starters, Chapman certainly has considerable work in his future if he wants to match these other elite talents.

5-years and $30 million is far more than the four-year, $15.1-million-dollar deal that Strasburg and agent Scott Boras struck with the Nationals last August. However, the Nationals held exclusive rights to Strasburg after drafting him first, overall, last June. Strasburg could have commanded $50+ million on the open marker--a point that Scott Boras had often reminded Nationals GM Mike Rizzo in the months leading up to Strasburg's August signing. Still, $30 million for a prospect--one that has little experience pitching in the United States-- seems like a ridiculous number. Maybe it is a ridiculous number, but for MLB teams, who consider young pitchers--especially those that throw left-handed-- a valuable and volatile commodity, $30- mill, for a possible future ACE (or closer) is relative bargain. A relative bargain when the money invested in IFA's like Kei Igawa and Hideki Irabu by the Yankees, or the slew of fruitless signings of 16 year old Domincans and Venezuelans, each for millions of dollars, come to mind. Talent like Chapman's and the attention that he will draw, for $30 million, just isn't half-bad.

Chapman and his agents Randy and Alan Hendricks, struck a deal with the Cincinnati Reds--a team that hadn't made an audible amount of noise throughout the past few months of bidding on the young pitcher. First, the Red Sox offered Chapman about $14.5 million to sign with Boston, a number that was turned down by Chapman and his previous agent, Edwin Mejia. Then, after a pitching session that was attended by representatives from the Yankees, Angels, Red Sox, Rangers, Reds, Athletics, Marlins and others, Chapman and his agents--once again--received a number of large offers. Chapman's pitching session wowed his audience with fastballs consistently in the mid-to-upper nineties, devastating sliders, and a 6'4", athletic build. His show dragged a number of teams that don't regularlry involve themselves in bidding wars for gold-plate free agents. Recently, the Marlins made the front page of the Miami Herald, with their statements about "opening their (small) wallets" to sign a talent like Chapman. The Marlins' front office offered the free agent about $16.5 million to play in Miami-- a city with a strong Cuban presence. Soon however, the Marlins were nudged out of the race by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Angels were the front runners to sign Chapman until this late move by the Reds--who offered a number almost %20 higher than that offered by the next highest bidder.

More on Chapman later.

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