Back to the Chicago Cubs Newsfeed

Not open for interpretation: Cubs need to hire Spanish translator

On Tuesday, new Cubs pitcher Aroldis Chapman met the media and through his translator Henry Blanco, struggled to answer questions about a seemingly pivotal phone call between him, Cubs president Theo Epstein and Cubs owner Tom Ricketts.

“He was sleeping when they got in the meeting with him on the phone,” Blanco said in translating Chapman’s answer. “So he’s trying to remember what they talked about.”

IMG_4652
New Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman meets with the media Tuesday, while coach Henry Blanco (right) translates his answers from Spanish to English. It didn’t go well. (Sahadev Sharma/The Athletic)

When given a summation of what Epstein told reporters, Blanco translated Chapman’s answer as, “He’s learned from a lot of mistakes that he’s made and he has learned a lesson.