Young, left-handed fire-throwing Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman is a very popular man this off-season. The word is that 15 teams have inquired about him and plenty of those teams have watched him throw his extremely fast fastball. Now it appears that Chapman is close to making his big decision, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Chapman supposedly "expects to sign within the next three or four days."
The Florida Marlins are apparently banking on the huge Cuban population that helps make up its fan base to assist in bringing Chapman to its roster. The Marlins originally offered Chapman
$13 million a season and have raised that number. The Boston Red Sox supposedly offered Chapman $15.5 million earlier this off-season.
But the finalists for Chapman are supposedly the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The rumor is that he'll make around
$21 million annually from one of them.
Bienvenido, Aroldis.