Yankees and Aroldis Chapman agree to a one-year, $18M extension

The Yankees and closer Aroldis Chapman have reportedly agreed to a one-year extension that will keep him in New York through the 2022 season. The deal is worth $18M so the Yankees will owe him $48M over the next three seasons.

Chapman had until 12:01 AM on Sunday to decide whether or not he was going to opt-out of his contract but even if he did the expectation was he would return to the Yankees. He made it clear throughout the season that he didn’t want to leave New York and the Yankees definitely didn’t want to lose him. According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the left-hander was hopeful he could get a two-year extension but he settled for one after the Yanks gave him a $3M increase in salary.

The 2019 season was another All-Star campaign for Chapman and one that earned him the Mariano Rivera Award for best reliever in the American League. In 60 games he had a 2.21 ERA with 85 strikeouts in 57 innings and was 37 for 42 in save opportunities.

In the postseason he only pitched 2.2 innings and served up a season-ending walk-off two-run home run to Jose Altuve in Game 6 of the ALCS. It was a heartbreaking ending for Chapman and the Yanks to what was otherwise a very successful season for the 31-year-old.

If the Yankees were unable to bring back Chapman than Zack Britton would’ve replaced him as closer but now he’ll remain as the primary setup man for what should be one of the best bullpens in baseball again. All their top relievers from a season ago will be returning and there’s still a chance they resign free agent Dellin Betances.

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The Yanks and GM Brian Cashman can now shift their focus to pursuing either Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg, the top two aces on the free-agent market. Cole will be the most sought after free agent starter in recent history and should break records with his new deal while Strasburg should cash in big as well after winning the World Series MVP.

They’ll also likely try to re-sign OF Brett Gardner and possibly SS Didi Gregorius. Gardner seems like a sure thing to return to New York now that we know Aaron Hicks will miss a large chunk of next season recovering from Tommy John surgery. It’s hard to predict what’s going to happen with Didi and it will be interesting to see whether or not he would accept a qualifying offer from New York worth one-year, $17.8M.

It remains to be seen if the Yankees will offer him one, but if they do he’ll have until the November 14th deadline to accept it or decline and enter free agency.