Yankees Rumors: Aroldis Chapman wants to stay in New York

Despite Ken Rosenthal’s recent report that Aroldis Chapman would “one million percent” opt-out of his current contract, the Yankees closer reportedly prefers to sign an extension to stay in pinstripes.

It’s always a slippery slope when a report is released saying that a particular player fully intends to leave guaranteed money on the table to instead opt-out, in hopes of securing extra years, even at a lesser AAV. Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman is the latest player to be linked with such findings.

Though the Cuban Missle refuted Ken Rosenthal’s article, stating that a source close to the six-time All-Star would “one million percent” opt-out of his five-year, $86 million contract with the Yanks to secure another hefty payday — on Friday, Jon Heyman wrote that Chapman would actually prefer to work out a contract extension to stay in New York.

Whether re-working the language and figures in the contract comes after a formal opt-out remains to be seen, but doing so is standard operating procedure these days.

Just this past offseason, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw canceled out his remaining deal to solidify a three-year, $93 million contract.

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Taking a look at the upcoming free-agent reliever market, it’s understandable that Chapman believes he can further pad his guaranteed money.

Aside from Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, who can also opt-out of the remaining two-years, $38 million left on his deal ($18M in 2020), other intriguing late-inning arms include Will Smith of the Giants (possibly on the trade block), the Nationals Sean Doolittle and his $6.5 million club option for next season and first-time All-Star Liam Hendriks of the A’s.

Fellow Yankees reliever Dellin Betances is set to hit the open market. However, he’s yet to throw a  single pitch thus far in 2019 due to a right lat strain.

And although the club hopes to have him back sometime in August, it’s far from a sure thing that we see the right-hander at all this season — which doesn’t bode well for his future in the Bronx, unless he were to take a team-friendly deal.

Chapman, 32, features a 2.50 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 26 saves and a 56:17 K:BB ratio across 39.2 innings pitched.

July hasn’t been all that kind to Chappy, as he’s blown three out of five saves while allowing eight earned runs and eight walks in 5.2 innings. Though his fastball velocity only reached 95 on Tuesday night versus the Twins, Chapman refuses to blame the left knee tendinitis he’s dealt with since last season.

Should Chapman return to the form he displayed through June (only five earned runs allowed and eight walks in 33 innings), it won’t come as a surprise if he does opt-out indeed.

However, if his future performances mimic what we’ve seen this month, he’ll need to tread carefully, especially since the Yanks already have several readily available closers like Zack Britton and Adam Ottavino in their bullpen.