Tom Ricketts: Cubs Comfortable With Adding Aroldis Chapman, Who's Been 'Model Citizen' Lately
(CBS) While making clear the Cubs take domestic violence seriously and expressing an understanding as to why some fans may be sensitive to and upset with Monday's acquisition of closer Aroldis Chapman, chairman Tom Ricketts said the organization was at peace with bringing in a player who's had a string of off-the-field incidents in his career, most notably a domestic violence incident last October.
In explaining why the Cubs were comfortable with adding Chapman, Ricketts cited MLB's new domestic violence policy, which Chapman violated and was thus suspended 30 games to start the season. Chapman and his girlfriend were involved in an incident last offseason, one that included him firing gunshots in a garage in the Miami area.
The Cubs acquired Chapman in a five-player trade with the Yankees on Monday.
"I respect and appreciate all the different opinions on this," Ricketts said in an interview on the Mully and Hanley Show on Tuesday morning.
"The platform the league has, the program includes not just suspensions but other things -- treatment and counseling programs. There's a big program behind us. But ultimately when it comes down to it, they gave Aroldis a 30-game suspension. He acknowledged it in public statements -- both months ago when he came back to the game and yesterday -- that he exercised some poor judgment and regrets the events that happened. We've been told since he's come back, he's been pretty much a model citizen and a very good teammate.
"That said, we were very, very thoughtful and careful about whether or not he would be a good fit for our club."
Tom Ricketts on the Mully and Hanley Show
Ricketts and president of baseball operation Theo Epstein took the unusual step of getting permission from MLB and the Yankees to chat with Chapman on Monday morning before completing the trade. They wanted to see if Chapman was sincere and also lay out their own expectations.
The Cubs wouldn't have gone through with the trade if they weren't satisfied in that conversation, Epstein said Monday.
"We expect high standards of them on and off the field, and we assume he'll live up to those standards," Ricketts said. "I can certainly be sensitive to how some people would look at the situation, but we feel like he's gone through the process, he's respected the process, he's said and done the right things, so we're willing to bring him into the clubhouse and hopefully he helps us win some games."
Over the weekend, Ricketts also discussed the addition of Chapman with his siblings in the ownership group, saying they were all supportive of it.
Ricketts shed more light on the discussion with Chapman.
"I wouldn't characterize it as true soul searching," Ricketts said. "It isn't like we sat down and spoke for hours on this issue. It was more along the lines of when you become a Cub, we expect you to have the best behavior both on and off the field. And before we close the deal, we have to know you're committed to that. And he agreed to that. That's about as far as it went. The fact is we laid out our standard, and he acknowledged it's his responsibility to meet it."
Regarding the amount of fan feedback he's heard on adding Chapman, Ricketts said he's received "a handful" of emails expressing displeasure with the move. For context, he pointed out he regularly gets "a lot" of emails about the logistics and decisions surrounding rainouts.
"We obviously have an obligation to a lot of different constituencies," Ricketts said. "We do need to be careful and thoughtful for how we make these decisions for all the fans, not just the fans who are looking to win the World Series but the fans who are also sensitive to these issues. We think we were sensitive to all the past issues, but we're also sensitive to the fact that we need to do everything we can for our players and all of our fans to try and put the best baseball team on the field, particularly when we have a real opportunity here with a couple months to go."
Chapman has a 2.01 ERA and 0.89 WHIP this season. The Cubs are an MLB-best 59-39 and have a seven-game lead in the NL Central.
