Aroldis Chapman, Gary Sanchez, and Giancarlo Stanton all have one thing in common; they are the three most polarizing players on the New York Yankees to the fan base. Don’t believe me? How many times have you heard “Gary Sanchez can’t block a ball to save his life?” or “Well Giancarlo is up, here is an out.” or “Fingers crossed, here comes Chapman.” Compare the amount of times you have heard that with the number of times you have heard “Torres can’t make the easy play.” I rest my case. For those Yankee fans who are not the biggest supporter of Aroldis Chapman, it just got worse for you as he decided to stay with the New York Yankees, signing an extension through the 2022 season.
The hate for Chapman among the fan base is at an all-time high after serving up a hanging slider to Jose Altuve that ended up over the wall and eliminating the Yankees from the playoffs. I don’t think I have ever seen a pitcher as dominant as Chapman be so scrutinized and vilified at most times throughout a season. The bottom line is Yankee fans were spoiled with Rivera and sometimes Chapman’s worst quality is that he is not Mariano.
Despite not being Mariano Rivera, the return of Chapman indicates the Yankees will presumably have a deep bullpen yet again containing guys who can close on most teams. He also would have been the best bullpen pitcher on the free agent market this offseason by far. If he went into free agency, I do not think he would have come back as a Yankee because some team would make an offer that he could not refuse.
There was some speculation that the Yankees may not have even wanted Chapman to come back and whether they would be better off saving that money for someone else, perhaps Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg, and promoting Britton to the closer role, a role he flourished in during his time with the Baltimore Orioles. Those conversations on sports talk shows throughout the New York metro area definitely got the Chapman doubters excited and also made the fan base believe the Yankees were definitely going to be in on the big time starter. I am here to say that extending Chapman actually makes me believe more that the Yankees are going to look to make that big splash in the starting rotation the fan base has been clamoring for. I think the Yankees are going to go for the kill shot this offseason, similar to when they brought CC, Tex, and company aboard for 2009; they are going to spend whatever it takes to win.
