On Sunday night, Aroldis Chapman essentially saved the Cubs’ season. He was tasked with holding a one-run lead and getting eight outs against a scrappy Cleveland team, with the pressure of an entire fanbase resting on his shoulders. He passed with flying colors.
I thought he was going to blow it when he came on in the seventh with one out and a man on second. I assumed Chapman was a creature-of-habit – he needs the ninth and the ninth only, his performance falls off tremendously after about 15-20 pitches. I was wrong.
Chapman’s last pitch, his 42nd of the night, was just as fast as his first. He had lost nothing on his stuff, evidenced by his four strikeouts and one hit allowed over 2.2 innings. He was perhaps in the most pressurized situation of his career and he barely broke a sweat.
The Yankees need this guy back.
Dellin Betances, who is clearly one of the best relievers in baseball, isn’t cut out for the ninth inning yet in my opinion. He’s more comfortable coming in with a clean inning – no men on base. If Betances allows someone to get on first, it’s an automatic double because of how slow he is to the plate, then things seem to snowball from there. Couple in Betances’ problems with throwing to the bases, and I just don’t trust him as a closer. He needs to own the eighth inning like he did before this year’s trade deadline. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Chapman proved on Sunday he can handle the big moment. Can you imagine Betances coming in to protect a one-run lead and being asked to get eight outs? I can’t, and that’s not a knock on Dellin. He’s found a niche for himself that he excels in in the eighth inning. Once he steps out of that and is asked to do something out of the ordinary, he becomes human.
At his end-off-the-year presser, Brian Cashman was asked about adding a top-tier closer in the offseason, whether it be Kenley Jansen (another guy who proved his mettle this offseason) or Chapman. Cashman said that his job was to acquire as much talent as possible, whether it be a big name free agent or “low hanging fruit” as he called it. To me, this was an indirect answer saying that yes, if given the chance to sign Chapman he’d definitely look into it.
Chapman won’t be cheap. He’ll likely command a record-breaking contract for a reliever. For the Yankees, who have some money coming off the books, it would be a good investment to sign him for about four years. They need to shorten games again since their starting pitching is still suspect. They need to move Betances to the eighth, Clippard to the seventh, and leave Warren as a jack-of-all-trades.
They need Aroldis Chapman back in pinstripes.
