December 9, 2016

Chapman and the 1993 Marlins

Thursday I saw a number of stories complaining about the Aroldis Chapman deal, mostly about the Yankees spending a large percentage of their payroll on a one-inning pitcher.

They can’t take on much salary in a trade either. Paying $17.2M a year for a one-inning pitcher whose usage depends on the rest of the team is something you do when you’re a) ready to win the World Series, or b) operating with a seemingly unlimited payroll. The Yankees are neither at the moment.

Or when you want a young team to win games they should win.

In 1992, Dave Dombrowski, GM of the expansion Marlins drafted closer Bryan Harvey with his 10th pick.

The Rockies’ payroll appeared to be $4 million, less than what the Marlins would pay Bryan Harvey.

Criticism came in quickly for the move. Why were the Marlins, a team that would be bad, drafting a good closer? I’m sorry I’m doing this from memory, but Dombrowski’s said he wanted his team to be able to win close games. It was a psychological move, if you will. He didn’t want to see a group of young players work hard to take a lead into the ninth inning, only to see it disappear. The Marlins led the NL in save percentage that season, and finished five game ahead of the Mets. They were a bad team, but they held leads. Dombrowski wanted to instill some sense of winning in the organization.

Now the Yankees are rebuilding. Chapman will help a young team keep leads late, especially in tandem with Dellin Betances. The Yankees shouldn’t lose many close games in which they have the lead. They will be awarding the youngsters scraping for that extra run or two with wins. Unlike the Marlins of 1993, the Yankees are good enough that a few extra wins might put them in the playoffs, where anything can happen.

4 thoughts on “Chapman and the 1993 Marlins

  1. Ptodd

    Problem is the Yankees have a pretty good bullpen already. Chapman is not their 10th pick either, he is the 1st FA they have signed to multiple years since 2015, and after Jacoby Ellsbury and Tanaka the highest dollar commitment since 2009 during a time they are reducing payroll

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  2. James

    The Yankees think Betances doesn’t have the right psychology to be a closer. He’s a great pitcher, but maybe not a great closer.
    I have no idea whether this is true, but that’s what they think.

    I think David is on to something. Also, I suspect the Yankees believe that Chapman will draw some fans — some people will come just to see him. Not another 300,000 tickets, or whatever it would take to pay that salary, but maybe enough to make the rest of the money look like a reasonable price to pay for the extra wins he gets them.

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  3. David Pinto Post author

    Alex Hayes » I think the Cubs plan worked, but they went into the season with a known weakness in the bullpen. The Chapman acquisition was to shore up that weak pen so they could actually win a World Series.

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