Yankees: Will Aroldis Chapman opt out of his contract after the season?

Aroldis Chapman has been dominant as the Yankees closer since he signed a five-year, $86 million deal to return to New York prior to the 2017 season. However, after next season he has a clause in his contract that allows him to opt out and become a free agent. Will he stay and opt-in or will he try to cash in on another big deal?

So far this offseason, the Yankees have improved what was an already great bullpen in 2018 by signing RHP Adam Ottavino and re-signing LHP Zach Britton. They did lose free agent David Robertson after he agreed to a free agent deal with the Phillies but essentially replaced him with Ottavino.

Chad Green will be back after he had another strong season following his breakout year in 2017 as will Jonathan Holder who had a breakout campaign of his own during his first full season in the big leagues. Tommy Kahnle really struggled last season because of injuries and a decrease in velocity but if he can regain his form from 2017 he can be another big weapon in this year’s pen.

As I mentioned earlier Betances is going to be a free agent for the first time in his career next offseason and should command a huge contract as the top reliever on the market. The same goes for  Chapman if he opts-out and should he have another All-Star caliber season this year I expect that he will enter free agency.

If that happens it’s unlikely that the Yankees will be able to resign both guys even though they’ve shown a willingness to invest a ton of money on relievers in recent years. It wouldn’t surprise me if they tried to bring back both but if they fail to bring back one of them I fully expect them to be able to resign the other.

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The good news is that if Chapman does opt out and he or Betances sign elsewhere the Yankees bullpen should still be a major strength. They’d still have Britton who was arguably the best closer in baseball just two years ago to slide right in and fill that role if Chapman leaves.

If Betances leaves he could also take over as the primary set-up man in front of Chapman and then either Ottavino or Green could fill that seventh inning role. The Yankees bullpen is so deep with power arms that guys don’t really have to have defined roles but the point is they’re still well positioned to be among the best in the game for years to come.

The hope is that Chapman doesn’t opt and rides out the rest of his contract because then the Yanks would have an easier time bringing Betances back. However, I have a hard time seeing that happening because he’s only 31 years old so there’s a good chance he’ll be able to garner at least a four-year deal with an average annual value similar to the one he’ll make this season ($17.2M).

Even though Chapman has already made a ton of money in his big league career I wouldn’t blame him if he decides to opt-out because from a financial standpoint it makes sense. Although the fan in me hopes being a part of a championship caliber team means more to him and he stays to help the Yankees chase multiple rings.