Yankees: Aroldis Chapman shouldn’t see a save situation until he’s ready

Aroldis Chapman made his return to the Yankees on Monday night but it didn’t go well.

The New York Yankees are one of the few teams that have the luxury of having two closers. Aroldis Chapman has obviously been one of the most overpowering ninth-inning arms we’ve ever seen and Zack Britton was an absolute force during closing years with the Baltimore Orioles.

With Chapman missing the start of the season after testing positive for COVID-19, Britton slid right into the closer role and he’s currently leading the MLB in saves with eight and games finished with nine. We’ve got a good situation on our hands, Yankees fans!

Keep Britton as the closer until Chappy regains his footing. He was rusty on Monday night coming in for mop-up duty in the top of the ninth (it was a 6-2 Yankees lead against the lowly Red Sox), allowing one run on two hits (though he did strike out two).

He pumped 101 on the radar gun too, but his first official fastball of the 2020 season was 98.3 MPH. He threw 20 pitches, ended up getting back up to speed after his erratic start to the inning, and the Yankees won 6-3, but there’s no need for manager Aaron Boone to rush him back to high-leverage situations.

Keep Britton there for now, let Chapman work things out, and make the change when it feels right. The Yankees have an embarrassment of riches in the bullpen, as evidenced by the loss of Tommy Kahnle and the unit not really budging whatsoever.

Plus, Britton rediscovering his elite form as closer will make the back end of the ‘pen even more unstoppable when the games really start counting.

All told, the Yankees are 16-6 and just beat the Red Sox with their B-lineup. They’re without Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu. Everything will eventually come around and Boone needs to continue exercising patience when it comes to the myriad of trying circumstances he’s facing with many of his players.

He’s done a tremendous job of that thus far, but he’ll need to keep doing it, namely with Chapman, who looks like he’ll need a few more non-save situations to get his job officially back.

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