Old-school Etiquette

Once and current Yankee Aroldis Chapman told reporters on Friday that Cubs’ manager Joe Maddon “abused me a bit on how he made me pitch, and sometimes he made me pitch when I didn’t need to pitch.”  You don’t say?

For openers, let’s enjoy the irony here of Chapman, who served a 30-game suspension for violating MLB rules on domestic violence, saying he was abused.  Aroldis, what goes around comes around.  Secondly, let’s count up the number of unwritten rules Chapman broke with his remarks, starting with “Don’t second guess your manager” followed by “Keep it in the clubhouse.”   

I happen to think that Chapman is absolutely right; Maddon did misuse him in the postseason, especially bringing in his closer with a seven-run lead in game six of the World Series.  Only it’s not the player’s job to call his skipper a Bozo—that’s for the sports-writing establishment to do.  Old-school rules, never written down, hold that you do your best and let others handle the criticizing.  Unless, of course, by abuse Chapman means an overuse so serious that he was injured.

Oh wait, the closer’s comments were part of his signing a five-year, $86 million deal to return to the Yankees, so it would seem that the extra pitching didn’t hurt him.  In that case, put a sock in it, pal, until you retire.  That’s when you get to write a tell-all book.