In a past article, I wrote about New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and the great moves he has made. I continue to have faith in his deals and the future of this team.
I am not sure signing Aroldis Chapman to a 5 year/86 million dollar deal is one of them. After last night’s loss to the Boston Red Sox, many Yankees fans were shaking their heads after a tough defeat. Chapman entered the game in the top of the 9th inning and quickly disposed of Hanley Ramirez on three pitches – fastballs clocked at 100, 102 and 102.
The next man up was 20 year-old rookie sensation Rafael Devers. Chapman, ever so proud of his heater, pumped two fastballs by Devers. By this time, the excited crowd at Yankee Stadium was buzzing, as all of Chapman’s pitches were 100 mph and above. The third pitch, also a fastball — a 102.8 mph fastball — was right down the middle and the baby-faced rookie barreled it up well enough to put it over the wall to tie the game. The excited crowd quickly grew quiet, like letting the air out of a balloon.
Chapman finished the inning without further problems, and went back out for the tenth inning. After quickly striking out Mitch Moreland, Jackie Bradley, Jr. was hit by an errant fastball and the following batter, Eduardo Núñez walked and by that time, Joe Girardi came out to hook Chapman. Reliever Tommy Kahnle later gave up a hit to score JBJ with the deciding run.
Illustrated below are Red Sox hitters’ numbers vs. Chapman in 2017. The numbers aren’t pretty. An on base percentage of .484, nine walks and six strikeouts.
As Dennis Eckersley might say, “YUCK!” I’m pretty sure Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi and all Yankees fans didn’t have this in mind when Chapman put his signature on that five year contract. A top-flight closer is supposed to lock down games against division rivals in the heat of a pennant race, not wilt like flowers in a dry, hot summer. But Girardi reiterated in his postgame interview, “Chapman is my closer”.
As if his performance alone wasn’t bad enough, it appeared Chapman smirked in response to a reporter’s question asking how frustrating this stretch of less than ideal outings has been for him. It’s roughly around the 1:10 mark in the video in the link below, courtesy of YES Network.
I can understand that players might find some questions dumb, annoying and any other adjective you want to use. In my humble opinion, losing a tough game to a division opponent is not a great time to laugh/smirk/whatever. I guess we better get used to it, because Chapman is here for the duration.
The Titanium Spine 