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Aroldis Chapman doesn't recall talking to Cubs about his behavior

The Chicago Cubs will do anything to win a World Series. They made that much clear when they went all-in to acquire New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman in a blockbuster deal.

Chapman’s on-field contributions are clear. He’s been one of the best relievers in baseball for multiple seasons, and immediately makes the team better.

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It’s Chapman’s off the field issues that made this trade cringe-worthy for some. Back in October, Chapman was involved in a domestic incident with his girlfriend. He allegedly choked her, and fired eight bullets into his garage. Chapman was not charged by police, but accepted a 30-game suspension from Major League Baseball for his actions that night.

During Theo Epstein’s run as Cubs president, he and his staff have preached bringing in players with good character. Epstein and the Cubs stood by that sentiment Monday, after the trade become official. Epstein said the Cubs have done domestic violence training since he joined the organization, and it was reported that various members of the front-office spoke to Chapman about their off the field expectations for him.

Problem is, Chapman doesn’t seem to remember anything like that during his phone call with the club.

No matter how you interpret that quote, it looks pretty bad. Either Chapman has no memory of speaking to the Cubs about a very important issue, or the Cubs simply never brought up their expectations for him during that call.

If it’s the former, Chapman looks pretty awful for tuning out a serious issue like domestic violence. If it’s the latter, then the Cubs lied to everyone about the whole thing.

Given that Chapman’s words were translated, there’s some margin for error here (and that’s what Epstein is maintaining). For what it’s worth, Chapman did tell ESPN’s Pedro Gomez in Spanish that he did remember talking to the Cubs about his behavior, but that came after he told the media he was too tired to recall the conversation.

That somewhat complicates the situation. It’s certainly possible Chapman always remembered the conversation, but wanted to keep it private. That could explain why he chose to offer the nap excuse when a translator was present. Even if that was his line of thinking, saying a nap caused you to forget a conversation about domestic violence looks awful.

The Cubs knew the risks in acquiring Chapman. While they can say they did an in-depth investigation and are happy with his character, Chapman’s Tuesday interview is not going to sit well with fans who were already questioning the move.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik