Buster is out with his Saturday morning blog post, and the topic of the day is Cuban pitching prospect Aroldis Chapman. Here is what he wrote about Chapman:
But in Chapman, one camp sees greatness, and the other camp sees great potential for high-risk disaster.
One group of talent evaluators believes that Chapman is an extraordinarily gifted pitcher, with the kind of skill set you see once in a generation. Some compare his arm to that of Randy Johnson -- and they're in awe of what he could become. And while they acknowledge there are questions about his command and his maturity, some raise the R.J. comparison again. "Where was Randy Johnson when he was that age?" asked one scout rhetorically. "He is still a very young pitcher and he needs time."
But the opposite view on Chapman goes something like this: His command problems probably mean that he is destined for the bullpen, and for some teams, there is no chance they would consider giving $20 million to someone who projects as a reliever. And some talent evaluators doubt whether his on-field demeanor will improve.
Olney goes onto to compare Chapman to former pitching prospect Robbie Beckett who was known to be very wild and pitched only 7 innings in his major league career.
Did someone get in Olney's ear to lower Chapman's contract demands?