Aroldis Chapman comes of age the hard way
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Though at first glance, Chapman's six-year, $30.25 million deal with the Cincinnati Reds appears stout, the reality is that the contract is heavily team-friendly.
"Smoke and mirrors by Hendricks," said one high-ranking team executive. "They have phonied up a deal."
Chapman received a $16.25 million signing bonus, but that money wasn't paid immediately to him. Instead, Chapman received only $1.5 million of that bonus upfront, with the rest being paid to him in installments over the next several years. By comparison, Jose Iglesias, the Cuban shortstop who signed with the Boston Red Sox this offseason, received a $6 million upfront signing bonus. It will take Chapman two years to match what Iglesias received at the moment he signed.
Even though the contract is technically structured for six years, Chapman will receive almost a third of the contract's total money -- and half of his total bonus -- in deferred payments from 2014-2020. As any financial expert can tell you, the buying power of an amount of money in 2010 will be drastically different than it will be in 2020.
In the best-case scenario, Chapman will make the major league team out of spring training this year and will pitch well enough so that he remains on the major league roster for the next three seasons. If that's the case, then Chapman's contract years in 2013-14 become a bonus and he will head into arbitration. But even in that situation, Chapman will only have received $15 million through the first three years of the contract. And an important distinction needs to be made: Chapman's official annual salary in 2012 will be two million -- remember that the other payments owed to him that year will be bonuses. That $2 million would be the number used to determine Chapman's 2013 salary in arbitration.
Let's not forget also, that it's the Reds who in essence control when Chapman makes his major league debut, and ultimately, how quickly he gets to arbitration.
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Regardless, one can assume that any 21-year-old will grow out of immaturity. Most concerning for some was Chapman's unfamiliarity with major league baseball and the seeming lack of pitching acumen that was a result. Simply put, Chapman does not appear to be a baseball fan. Chapman has admitted he did not know anything about the Cuban-born Tony Perez, the former Reds Hall of Fame first baseman, who is well known and well regarded in his home country. It's understandable that Chapman may not be familiar with current stars such as Albert Pujols or Derek Jeter (as he admitted to ESPN The Magazine last summer), but you would think a Cuban baseball star should be familiar with Perez.
His lack of baseball knowledge was a sign to some that Chapman would have a difficult time mastering the art of pitching, which ultimately will determine his success in the majors, regardless of how physically gifted he might be. Nobody around Chapman would say that he does not train hard enough. But many question whether he actually loves baseball and cares enough to be a student of the game.
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