Aroldis Chapman and Yankee Talks are Heating Up

By Djack

Almost a month ago to the day I blogged that Brian Cashman and Aroldis Chapman were having discussions about a possible reunion. At the time I was very excited about the possible return of Aroldis Chapman to the Yankee bullpen, but I'm beginning to have second thoughts. With the reality of the situation hitting me when I saw Bryan Hoch, Yankee reporter for MLB.com, tweet that the Yankees are still pursuing Chapman, I began to realize why this may not be the best acquisition.  Obviously every Yankee fan at first is going to be hyped to get the flame throwing lefty reliever back. If you know baseball though, this might not be the best business decision in the world.

Chapman will be 29 by the start of next season, it'll be his seventh full season in the league, and he'll be coming off a postseason where he was clearly overworked. A few red flags shot up for me when I really started thinking about this, a guy thats prides himself off being able to overpower the batter with a 100+MPH fastball, is something we've never really seen in the MLB before. At least not to the velocity that we've seen Chapman throw. How long can his arm truly hold up throwing this hard, for this long. Most closers last about 7 years at the top off their game to begin with, most of those closers also don't rely on a freakishly fast fastball to get batters out either. If it were a 3 year deal I'd be able to live with it, but Chapman wants a 6 year deal, and anyone that thinks he can do what he's doing for 6 more years you've got some serious faith in a guy thats ligaments in his elbow are bound to tear at any moment. Maybe he'll be one of the greats like Rivera and Hoffman, who just dominate the final inning of baseball games for nearly two decades. Only difference is those guys weren't flamethrowers like Chapman, it's a different style, and I don't think Chapman's style allows him the longevity of those guys. Also, if I'm paying a guy $100 million over 6 years to be my closer, he better be top 3 best closers in the league all 6 years, which I don't think Chapman will be able to do. Too high risk with not enough reward for my liking. We're just getting out of the huge long term deals, let's not get right back into old habits with this signing.

Now, the part I didn't mention about Bryan Hoch's tweet was that he said the Yankees were still also in talks with Kenley Jansen. Give me Kenley Jansen over Chapman. A lot of people might say it's a similar situation because it kind of is, but the difference is Jansen has a number of filthy pitches in his repitore. He uses mostly a cutter, does that remind you of any great Yankee closer, oh yeah only the GOAT Mariano Rivera. He also mixes in a sinker and slider to keep hitters off balance, whereas Chapman is mostly just trying to blow 103 MPH fastball by you. Jansen is made to last longer in this league, we could probably get him for a little cheaper than Chapman, and he doesn't have a history of domestic violence. Jansen along with Chapman is being pursued by probably every team, let's be honest though, were the fucking Yankees, if we really want somebody, we're going to get them. I'm sure we're at the top of most free agent's dream destination anyway. Either way, we'll probably get one of these guys, when we do it'll return our bullpen back to it's once dominate status. Let's just hope it's Jansen, I can see him being elite for 6 more years, and for the sake of our future dynasty, we're going to need him.