The end of the innocence

The end of the innocence

How do you react when your favorite baseball team trades for one of the most dominant closers in recent history?

Do you text all of your buddies and buy a brandnew t-shirt jersey?

Do you get on Twitter and troll fans of opposing teams?

Maybe you decide to turn into Goldilocks while trying to decide whether your team gave up too much, too little, or jusssssssssst enough.

If you’re a fan of the Chicago Cubs, you probably know by now that it’s never quite that simple.

Yesterday, a trade for New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman was finalized and he will be with the Cubs today, assuming all players involved pass physicals.

On the field, it makes perfect sense: Chapman is a great closer and the Cubs already had a decent option there in Hector Rondon, but an upgrade is an upgrade and if there’s an improvement to be made, then good on the front office for getting it done. Right?

But then you consider the extra “fun” that Chapman brings with him from The Big Apple and Cincinnati before that.

It wasn’t even a year ago that Chapman was accused of domestic abuse and firing eight shots inside his garage. The chargers were later dropped, but it’s not a great look, for anybody.

The trade for Chapman was the final death blow to the innocence that everyone loved about the 2015 Cubs. Remember them? The team that routinely came up with walk-off wins, and had celebrations every time that they got on base, earned a win, really everything, when you think about it.

They had a disco ball posted up in the clubhouse for crying out loud. It was just a fun team that won 97 games, topped Pittsburgh in the Wild Card Game and erased the hated Cardinals in the NLDS.

Perhaps more significantly, they did it with a bunch of guys that you liked. Anthony Rizzo and Jon Lester were cancer survivors, Jake Arrieta lived up to his considerable potential, Addison Russell, Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler and Kyle Schwarber had awesome rookie years. Pedro Strop wore his hat crooked to the left, which caused hoards of St. Louis fans to get mad online. What wasn’t to like?

Now Chapman has emerged as a potential heel for the 2016 Cubs, and not just to fans of other teams, but to fans of the Chicago National League outfit, as well.

Will I still cheer for Chapman when he charges in from the Wrigley Field bullpen to lock down a onerun game?

Sure, I will. But it’ll be more complicated than it was last year when times were simpler.

With apologies to the great Don Henley, the Chapman trade is the end of innocence for Cub fans. I just hope that the result is worth it.

Chuck’’s Corrnerr

By Chuck Livingston