Aroldis Chapman Stays In New York As He Reworks His Deal With The Yankees And Avoids Opting Out

Advertisement

The opt out deadline came and went on Saturday night and all we heard was nothing. For almost a half hour past midnight all we heard was radio silence. Then out of nowhere Aroldis Chapman broke the news himself on Instagram. He's staying in New York. A man of his word after saying he'd stay despite Ken Rosenthal reporting during the summer that he would opt out "one million percent." The end result? An additional year added onto the original two years and 30 million remaining. Chapman's new deal will be 3 years for $48 million. I wrote this blog a few days ago detailing why I would let Chapman walk if he opted out. I still stand by it, but I'm pleasantly surprised at the value they got by keeping him. 

My main reasoning for wanting to move on? His fastball has declined over the last four years and the money used on him should be spent elsewhere on an ace. Two pretty good reasons if I do say so myself. My reasoning had NOTHING to do with Game 6 of the ALCS. That shit just happens. You don't say good bye to someone because of one moment like that. Chapman has been great in his time as a Yankee. My call to say "see ya later" to him had nothing to do with his results with the team. He's the best closer in baseball. Period. 

Now I will say, I didn't see Chapman agreeing to only add one year for $18 million to his original deal. I thought we'd at least have to rework it to 3 years $60 million or go over 3 years. I'd be furious at either of those options. At the end of the day, 3 years $48 million for the best closer in baseball is pretty good value assuming he doesn't fall off the face of the Earth physically.  

I'm fine with this deal if it means we're still going to be right in the middle of the running for Gerrit Cole. If we hear from Hal or Cash that bringing back Chapman prevented them from going 100% at the best free agent pitcher since Randy Johnson I'll lose my mind. They were perfectly equipped to let him go and have a strong pen going into 2020. Now that pen is going to be as legit as humanly possible, especially if Dellin is back on the cheap too, but they could have survived as far as I'm concerned. 

TLDR: This deal is way cheaper than I thought it would be. I'm fine with it as long as we're still full go at Cole/Strasburg.