Imrem: Will Cubs become likable winners with Aroldis Chapman?
Better sort out your thoughts on Aroldis Chapman quickly, Cubs fans, because your team acquired him from the Yankees on Monday.
The Cubs sent the Yankees a four-player package that includes prize shortstop prospect Gleyber Torres.
It might take dozens of showers, but I'm resigned to accepting this move in the name of second chances … though not in the name of winning a World Series.
The Cubs couldn't care less about the idealism of second chances. They're into the pragmatism of postseason success.
I'm pretty certain that Chapman's past will cross my mind every time he closes out a game.
Chapman was suspended at the start of the season based on baseball's new domestic-violence policy. Accusations were that Chapman hit and choked his girlfriend and discharged a firearm in the garage of his Florida home.
Make no mistake about it: Acquiring Chapman is disturbing.
On the one hand, Cubs fans will be thrilled if Chapman records the final out in the final game of the World Series.
On the other hand, there still will be the long shadow of Chapman's ugly transgressions last October.
On the third hand, Chapman served his time, and that matters if you believe as I do in multiple chances.
On another hand, a good case could be made for one-and-done in cases where a woman is physically abused.
On the fifth hand, it's comforting for Cubs fans to know their team is trying to finally win a championship.
On another hand, it's unsettling that the Cubs are willing to try to accomplish it with the slimy, smarmy, skunky baggage Chapman brings.
I'm out of hands, but suffice it to say that this is a pressing issue in sports as well as society.
(Sidebar oddity No. 1: The Cubs reportedly drew the line at trading Kyle Schwarber for Yankees reliever Andrew Miller but didn't draw it at trading four players for a reliever with Chapman's off-field history.)
MLB has sorted out its thoughts on Chapman: The Cubs were only one of a large number of playoff contenders pursuing him.
Character counts in sports rhetoric but not so much at the moment of truth.
Cubs management, which preaches “good people,” must have rationalized that this deal is OK because Chapman wasn't charged, much less prosecuted and convicted.
(Sidebar oddity No. 2: Sammy Sosa isn't welcome at the Cubs Convention, but Chapman is welcome in the Cubs' clubhouse.)
Look, sports are all about winning games and championships. If O.J. Simpson escaped from prison in his prime, NFL teams would line up to sign and harbor him.
Just last week a speed gun registered a Chapman pitch at 105 mph. The oohs could be heard in New York and the ahhs all the way out in Los Angeles, none of them interrupted by murmurs of “domestic violence.”
Last October is in the past. The fastball is in the present. The Cubs hope the World Series is in their future.
(Sidebar oddity No. 3: How strange it would be if Chapman was the piece that put the Cubs over the top after 108 years.)
The Cubs aren't lovable losers anymore; the question is whether they can be likable winners after acquiring Aroldis Chapman.
It's like the presidential race: To remain a Cubs fan, just hold your nose and hope the stench isn't too much worse come autumn.
mimrem@dailyherald.com