Yankees, Red Sox, Mets expected to create huge bidding war for Aroldis Chapman

While the Roy Halladay sweepstakes is the talk of baseball for now, word from the NY Post is that the talk of the winter could be surrounding Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman.

The Post is reporting that we should expect a huge bidding war to occur for the services of the 21-year-old lefty with a golden arm. And to nobody's surprise expect the usual suspects to participate in the bidding. That of course would be the Yankees, Red Sox and the Mets. Rumor has it that the Yankees will be bidding hard for Chapman, which is not all too surprising. The Yankees have done similar bidding in the past for the services of Jose Contreras, and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, both of whom they acquired.

Chapman is believed to be an extremely raw prospect, but given the fact that he throws from the left side, and reportedly can top off at 100+ I would expect him to land a substantial contract.

Earlier this week it was reported that Chapman signed on with Athletes Premier International, and more specifically agent Edwin Leonel Majia. The two are believed to be hiding out somewhere in Europe. Various reports have them in either the Netherlands or Spain.

Chapman is expected to take the same path as several of his predecessors. He will establish residency outside of the United States and eventually become a free agent available to all 30 major league teams.

In a statement Monday Chapman had the following to say.

"I am very excited to be starting a new chapter in my life and have Edwin and the rest of the team at Athletes Premier by my side to help me realize my dreams."

At least we know we have something to look forward to in the winter, but for now it's going to be all Roy Halladay up until the July 31 deadline.