Tuesday afternoon, one day after being traded to the Cubs, Aroldis Chapman met with the Chicago media during an introductory press conference at Wrigley Field. It did not go well.
Through a translator, Chapman said he had no recollection of a talk with president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and team chairman Tom Ricketts about expectations off the field. Both parties got together for a conference call to make sure everyone was on the same page before the trade went down.
Naturally, Chapman has been getting crushed for his comments in the wake of his offseason domestic violence incident, which resulted in a 30-game suspension. He came off as unapologetic and seemed to simply blow it off when asked Tuesday about whether he's changed over the last few months.
Chapman's comments during the press conference were not presented accurately, however. Spanish-speaking reporters in attendance confirmed the translator did not provide literal word-by-word of Chapman's comments. Instead, the translator seemed to put his two cents in.
Chapman spoke to ESPN's Pedro Gomez one-on-one in Spanish following his press conference to clarify things. From Gomez:
"I knew that no matter where I was traded to, this would resurface -- that the controversy is going to follow me," Chapman told Gomez. "But I'm with my girlfriend. Our family is together. We're working toward making things better in our lives. And really, it's going to be with me."
...
"And now that I remember -- because they just asked me in the previous press conference what the owners asked me -- one of the things they did ask me was about being a better person and being a better neighbor to people. And that's something that I think that I am now, much more so."
Epstein told Gomez he thinks "there is a lot to be said that he was nervous and not speaking his native language and being translated." He added the team was satisfied by what they heard from Chapman during the conference call, otherwise they would not have agreed to the trade.
The "lost in translation" excuse is a convenient one and many will overlook it, but this seems like a case where Chapman's comments were clearly not translated to English accurately. Spanish-speaking folks in attendance confirm that. Chapman's taking an unfair hit here.
As of this season, MLB requires all clubs to carry a full-time Spanish speaking translator. Coach and former MLB catcher Henry Blanco fills that role the Cubs and he was at the podium for Chapman's press conference Tuesday.
