New York Yankees Rumors: Aroldis Chapman Agrees To Monster Contract
New York Yankees rumors state that Aroldis Chapman has agreed to a five-year contract with the team. A report by the MLB website has been posted on Twitter that has the deal worth $86 million over the next five seasons. This huge deal would reunite Chapman with the Yankees, where he pitched the beginning of the 2016 MLB season. The Yankees dealt Chapman to the Chicago Cubs before the trade deadline and he ended up winning a World Series ring with his new team.
While he was with the Yankees for half a season, Chapman pitched 31 and one-third innings over 31 appearances. He had 20 saves, a 2.01 ERA, a 3-0 record, and a 0.894 WHIP to his credit. Chapman was even better with the Cubs, helping the team easily clinch the National League Central and make it all the way to the World Series. That improvement as the season went on may have added some more money to the contract that he may now have in place with the Yankees.
These New York Yankees rumors have not yet been confirmed by the team, which means there may be some final negotiating going on behind the scenes. It has been reported that one of the contingencies in the deal is that Chapman receives a no-trade clause for the first three years of the contract. This seems to be an insurance policy against having the Yankees deal him mid-season again. That took place last year because he was in the final year of a deal and the Yankees didn’t want to simply lose him to free agency.
Over seven seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, and Chicago Cubs, Aroldis Chapman has pitched in 383 games, posting a 2.08 ERA and 0.992 WHIP for his career. He has also averaged 15.2 strikeouts per nine innings and has saved 89.7 percent of his opportunities. He missed part of the 2016 MLB season due to a suspension but ended up the season pitching extremely well for the Cubs. Now the Yankees likely hope he can remain one of the best closers in the game for the next five years.
An updated report by ESPN confirms the New York Yankees rumors that Aroldis Chapman has indeed received a contract offer of $86 million over the next five years. That works out to about $17.2 million per season, making him the highest-paid closer in the history of Major League Baseball. Prior rumors had stated that Chapman was looking for a deal of six seasons worth more than $100 million, but it appears that the Yankees got a “discount” with this free agent signing.
It was no secret that Yankees general manager Brian Cashman wanted to bring back Chapman, despite having traded him to the Chicago Cubs last season. Cashman made signing Chapman his top priority during the MLB offseason, stating that to the press any time reporters asked him about what the team was looking for in free agency. Now the Yankees have a consistent closer again, setting the team up to be really good in a year or two, with the younger players further developing during the 2017 MLB season.
Chapman was traded to the Chicago Cubs midway through the 2016 MLB season in a deal that netted the franchise Rashad Crawford (minors), Billy McKinney (minors), Gleyber Torres (minors), and pitcher Adam Warren. Now Cashman looks like a genius because he got a group of prospects and still wound up with Chapman on the roster the following season. Expect for these New York Yankees rumors to get confirmed at some point on Thursday (Dec. 8), with Aroldis Chapman getting introduced to the local media (again) shortly after that.
[Featured Image by Mike Stobe/Getty Images]
