Red Sox addition of Aroldis Chapman leaves many yet unanswered questions
As the Boston Red Sox continue to double down on their pursuit of Juan Soto The Athletic reported earlier this week that all remaining contenders have made offers above $600 million the club made a surprising move on Tuesday.
To bolster their bullpen, the Red Sox made an agreement with reliever Aroldis Chapman on a one-year, $10.75 million deal, pending a physical .
The left-hander, who turns 37 in February, was once one of the most dominant relievers in the game with a high-octane fastball and currently is third on the active saves list behind Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel.
Advertisement But there are areas for concern about the signing, specifically with his recent on-field performance and perhaps even more so with his character, begging the question, why did the Red Sox sign him and why now? Some thoughts on the signing: How thoroughly have the Red Sox vetted his past? The Red Sox are attempting to build up goodwill with their fans after years of mediocrity on the field.
The pursuit of Soto seems like a step in the right direction in that sense.
The signing of Chapman feels like a step backward.
At the start of the 2016 season, Chapman was suspended 30 games for violating MLBs Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse policy .
Chapman had been arrested, though not charged, after allegedly choking his girlfriend and firing a gun in the garage of his Florida home following an argument.
The Yankees had acquired Chapman from Cincinnati in a trade that winter and then traded him to the Chicago Cubs at the 2016 deadline, and he helped the Cubs win a World Series.
Chapman then re-signed with the Yankees in free agency in the 2016 offseason.
In an interesting tweet , former Red Sox assistant GM Zack Scott, who now owns a sports consulting company, revealed Bostons pursuit of Chapman prior to his suspension.
After 2015, we agreed to send (Manuel) Margot and Marco Hernandez to the Reds for Chapman, but it fell apart when we discovered disturbing details about his domestic dispute.
We actually informed the Reds about it.
We pivoted to Kimbrel, and Chapman went to the Yankees.
I guess enough time has passed without incident for the Sox to be ok with it now.
After 2015, we agreed to send Margot and Marco Hernandez to the Reds for Chapman, but it fell apart when we discovered disturbing details about his domestic dispute.
We actually informed the Reds about it.
We pivoted to Kimbrel, and Chapman went to the Yankees.
I guess enough...
https://t.co/gVkFoRIsgd Zack Scott (@ZackScottSports) December 3, 2024 It should be noted that while chief baseball officer Craig Breslow wasnt in the Red Sox front office at the time (he was still playing), several high-ranking Red Sox front office members who were with the team during that 2015 offseason are still with the club in decision-making roles.
While Chapman has not had any further suspensions related to the incident, its not an easy accusation to dismiss even a decade later.
Advertisement At the end of his tenure with the Yankees, with whom he was named an All-Star three times, Chapman skipped a team workout in the 2022 postseason and was sent home, effectively ending his time with the team .
Given its the start of the offseason where several relievers remain on the market and might be available on comparable contracts, its curious why the Red Sox chose to sign Chapman so quickly.
The Chapman deal is not yet official so the Red Sox have not yet commented on any further investigations theyve done on Chapman, but its certainly a topic that will be asked.
Chapmans velocity is undoubtedly a piece the Red Sox bullpen has been missing Without dismissing the concerns surrounding his arrest, from a purely baseball perspective, Chapman remains an effective reliever in many aspects.
Last season he posted a 3.79 ERA and 3.04 FIP in 68 appearances for Pittsburgh while taking over the closers role late in the year, recording 14 saves, his most since 2021.
Chapmans calling card is his velocity and swing-and-miss stuff, something the Red Sox sorely missed from their bullpen last year.
Both Breslow and manager Alex Cora mentioned on more than one occasion adding those elements to the Red Sox bullpen in 2025.
Chapman currently owns the two fastest pitches thrown in the Statcast era with a 105.8 mph fastball in 2010 and a 105.7 mph fastball in 2016.
Hes thrown a pitch of 100 mph or faster in each of the last 15 seasons .
Chapman has a 38.5 percent career strikeout rate and still maintained a 37 percent strikeout rate last year, ranking in the top 1 percent in the league.
For context, the Red Sox did not have a reliever with a strikeout rate over 30 percent last year.
Jansen led Red Sox relievers with a 28.4 percent K rate.
While hes not the hardest thrower in baseball anymore, hes still in the top tier with a four-seamer that averaged 97.8 mph last year and a sinker that clocked in at 99.8 mph.
Advertisement How much of a concern are his walk issues? Chapman is a flame-thrower, but hes also always had command issues.
His 14.4 percent walk rate was, remarkably, his lowest in a full season since 2019, but still ranked in the worst 1 percent in baseball.
Chapman had the highest strikeout rate among mid-to-top-end free agents this offseason but had the second-highest walk rate.
Walks mean base runners and for an infield defense as porous as the Red Soxs infield has been the last two seasons, it seems like a recipe for trouble for any balls put in play.
While Chapman strikes out a ton and walks a hefty amount, he still allows balls in play and with a 5.7 walks per nine innings, the defense figures to be busy and the Red Sox need to figure out how to solidify that portion of the roster.
On a related note, the speculation of moving Rafael Devers to first base if theres a trade to upgrade third base would mean an inexperienced first baseman tasked with holding on runners.
These are all things the Red Sox have to consider.
Will Chapman be the closer? Chapmans 335 career saves likely give him an upper hand on the closers role, but its not a foregone conclusion.
In Pittsburgh last year, Chapman served as the setup man for much of the season for closer David Bednar before Bednar lost his job late in the year.
Chapman finished with 14 saves, his most since he was last a full-time closer in 2021 with the Yankees, recording 30 saves.
Could the Red Sox hand the closer job to Justin Slaten with Chapman as a backup? It certainly seems possible.
Meanwhile, Liam Hendriks spent last year recovering from Tommy John surgery and missed most of 2023 recovering from non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
He hasnt pitched regularly since 2022, but is another former All-Star closer who could be in the mix.
Will the Red Sox add more to the bullpen? Top free-agent relievers Tanner Scott and Jeff Hoffman remain on the market, as do several strong arms who could improve the bullpen.
So far the Red Sox have added two lefties in Chapman and Justin Wilson but there figures to be room for more.
Given Chapman will earn around $10.75 million and Wilson about $2.25 million, the Red Sox still have about $60 million to spend before hitting the $241 million luxury tax threshold, though CEO Sam Kennedy suggested to the Boston Globe recently the team would be willing to spend beyond $241 million.
In an interesting comparison of Chapman and Scott, the RedSoxStats account posted on Bluesky a look at some key numbers between the two lefties.
Obviously Scott is much younger, entering his age-30 season, but still has a 12.2 percent walk rate, not all that far off Chapmans 14.4 percent rate.
Their FIP and xERA are not all that dissimilar.
Again, its something worth considering given the roughly four-year, $56 million deal Scott is projected to earn.
Sticking to pitching for a moment, Tanner Scott and Aroldis Chapman in 2024.
[image or embed] Red Sox Stats ( @redsoxstats.bsky.social ) December 3, 2024 at 9:18 AM (Photo: Joe Puetz / Getty Images).
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