tony, besides being ridiculously handsome, and strong, and funny, and talented and wise beyond your years, you know a lot about baseball, particularly about the Cubs, who just traded away their #1 minor league prospect and two other minor leaguers for Aroldis Chapman.

Chapman is a unicorn in baseball, a tall, strong, lefthanded hurler whose fastball has been clocked as one of the fastest in baseball history

of the last 61 fastest pitches recorded over the last two years, how many do you think Chapman threw?

all 61, tony. ALL 61.

but because nothing comes easy for the Cubs, their signing came with a catch. two of them actually. the first is easy, his contract ends at the end of this year, meaning he could fly away to another team at the end of this season and the Cubs would have merely “rented” him for this home stretch. 

but the second isn’t so easy. he comes with baggage. Aroldis Chapman was accused by his girlfriend of choking her. he denies it and she never went forward to charge him. but he also admitted to and was later suspended by Major League Baseball for firing his pistol at trashcans inside his garage, alone, after a dispute with his girlfriend (who was inside the house at the time). the police came out but nothing ever was made of it.

until now that he is in Chicago. some within the Friendly Confines say this “taints” the feel good squad that includes the bromance of Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant (and his dreamy eyes).

what say you? how do you feel that someone accused of being a girlfriend beater is on your favorite team?

Curious But Skeptical

well thats an odd way of framing it, but I’ll bite.

the last time i checked we still live in the United States of America where not only are you innocent until proven guilty but once you are formally accused you have the right to Due Process, meaning you go to court, and all the evidence comes out and a jury decides whats what.

the interesting thing about court cases is they sometimes bring about omg facts that were missing in the original account of the alleged crime.

if you think i am being soft on Chapman because he is a Cub and is probably the missing ingredient for my beloved Cubs finally winning the World Series, you would be way off.

i was raised in a house of three people: my mom and my sister. if i found out that any man, including a left handed closer with a 105 MPH heater laid hands on either of them I would probably murder the man. on Periscope.

likewise I think condemning someone without Due Process is also evil. we have a process. it hurts me that more battered women do not always participate in that process, and i do understand why they dont, but we do not have a justice system of “Fuck It He PROBABLY DID IT”. other civilizations have that one and it’s a way bigger nightmare than ours.

because this is a sensitive situation and we do have SOME evidence, let’s review it and see what we can see.

Less than a year ago cops came to Chapman’s home in Florida. Lots of people were at his house including his girlfriend and her brother.

When police got there the girlfriend said that she FOUND SOMETHING ON HIS PHONE that they started arguing about

he retrieved the phone and walked to another part of the house. she followed him, still arguing — all of this is her testimony.

finally he pushes her against the wall and her brother separates them.

she runs off, hears one gunshot.

ok from that account is that domestic abuse? domestic violence? or something a little less horrible?

luckily we have his take too

he agrees that they were arguing about his cell phone and its contents.

he says he poked her pinched her and she dramatically fell to the ground and started yelling, which prompted the brother to come in and push Him to the ground.

Chapman got up and wanted to drive away but his friends wouldnt let him leave.

so in the passenger seat, he grabs a gun, locked himself in the garage and starts shooting inside in the garage.

his friends lock him in his room and the cops came.

things he’s guilty of:

you should never put your hands on a woman

you should never have things on your phone that your girlfriend is gonna get pissed at

you should never own a gun in florida because those are known to go off – especially during heated arguments

why are you shooting at things in your garage? bullets ricochet!

things he is not guilty of:

when we think of domestic abuse, none of what was written in the police report rises to the level of domestic violence.

unlike me, Cubs President Theo Epstein is a genius and cares just as much about Team Chemistry as speed of a fastball.

i seriously don’t think that with all of the talent that the Cubs have to trade for a strong arm that Theo would have traded for Chapman if he thought a) Chapman could actually become a domestic abuser b) thought Champan ever did anything illegal or immoral to his girlfriend or c) is emotionally unstable

Indeed here is what the young man said yesterday about his girlfriend, who STILL is his girlfriend and who still lives with him

so enjoy this team and enjoy the Cubs march to many years of triumph.