Yankees acquire Torres for Chapman
The Yankees have acquired Cubs top prospect Gleyber Torres as part of a prospect-laden deal for Aroldis Chapman, according to MLB.com.
Torres, MLB.com's No. 24 overall prospect, will be shipped to the Yankees along with outfielder and Cubs No. 5 prospect Billy McKinney (No. 75 overall), Class A Advanced outfielder Rashad Crawford and former Yankees righty Adam Warren in return for the hard-throwing closer. MLB.com's Carrie Muskat confirmed the deal Monday afternoon.
A 19-year-old shortstop, Torres is batting .275 with nine homers, 47 RBIs, 19 stolen bases and 23 doubles in 94 games with Class A Advanced Myrtle Beach this season and is coming off a year in which he was a Midwest League All-Star and the league's Prospect of the Year. He originally signed with Chicago out of Venezuela in 2013.
Torres, currently ranked the No. 8 overall shortstop in baseball, joins another elite shortstop prospect in Jorge Mateo, who's ranked No. 10 at the position. Torres becomes the Yankees' top prospect, sliding Mateo to No. 2, according to MLB.com.
McKinney, a 21-year-old right fielder at Double-A Tennessee, is batting .252 with a homer and 31 RBIs in 88 games. The 2013 first-round pick, who becomes the Yankees' No. 5 prospect, has seen his numbers dip this season after the lefty hit .300 with seven homers and 64 RBIs in 106 games across two levels last year as an MiLB.com Cubs Organization All-Star.
Crawford was the Cubs' 11th-round pick in 2012 and has spent the entire season with Torres at Myrtle Beach, where he hit .255 with three homers and 30 RBIs in 83 games. The lefty-swinging outfielder was a Northwest League All-Star in 2014 with Class A Short Season Boise.
Warren, 28, was originally drafted by the Yankees in 2009 but was sent to the Cubs last December in a deal for Starlin Castro. He's struggled this year in the Majors, going 3-2 with a 5.91 ERA in 29 games, mostly out of the bullpen.
Pelicans manager Buddy Bailey recently praised Torres for his plate patience and baserunning.
"He's been more patient at the plate. Earlier, he was trying do too much. He was swinging at pitches out of the zone, the way a lot of players get into trouble," Pelicans manager Buddy Bailey told MiLB.com earlier this season. "That's why his numbers are getting better and his average is up because he's taking walks, which in turn lets everybody know he's getting selective in the pitches he's swinging at.
"He's still [learning] in every area," Bailey said in May. "He's an aggressive baserunner and that's a good thing, but there have been some times when some of those decisions haven't been correct. There have been some errors along the way, but the kid's 19 years old and he's playing [Advanced] A-ball."
Chapman has dominated for New York in the wake of his suspension for domestic abuse. The Cuban closer is 3-0 with a 2.01 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings this year but became the focal point of trade rumors as the Yankees' fate in the AL East has become clouded.
Danny Wild is an editor for MiLB.com. Follow his MLBlog column, Minoring in Twitter.
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