Cubs embrace arrival of electric closer

CHICAGO — Hector Rondon may have been the happiest player in the visitors clubhouse at U.S. Cellular Field on Monday, and he had just lost his job as the Cubs’ closer with the arrival of Aroldis Chapman.

“I don’t care if I pitch in the seventh, eighth, I just have to do my job,” Rondon said. “I’m really happy.”

Rondon now finds himself as a late-innings pitcher after the Cubs acquired the hard-throwing Chapman from the Yankees for four players, including top prospect Gleyber Torres and pitcher Adam Warren.

“He’s a unique pitcher,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said of Chapman. “He’s unique in the history of the game. His ability to throw the ball that hard regularly, he’s very resilient, he can pitch more than three outs. He’s got all these different things about him that are unique to him.”

And the timing was right for the Cubs, who boast the best record in baseball.

“You can’t take for granted the position we’re in right now,” Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said. “We have a healthy pitching staff, a talented bullpen, two MVP candidates moving into their prime, a lot of talented hitters up and down the lineup, and they’ve worked their tails off to build up this nice lead heading into the stretch. We believe in these guys. We feel like we have a chance to do something special, but there’s a lot of work ahead.”

Epstein said the Cubs felt the club would benefit from a “game changing” type pitcher like Chapman, especially in the postseason.

“As you get down the stretch into big games and …

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