Yankees: Latest roster move might make NYY bullpen unstoppable

The Yankees bullpen just got one step closer to being a megalith, adding Aroldis Chapman.

Welcome back to the New York Yankees, Aroldis Chapman!

After plenty of stretching at the ghoulish-sounding Alternate Site, Chapman has been activated by the Yankees, cleared in full from his coronavirus hiatus that began in mid-July.

In order to officially place him on the roster, the Yanks had to make a difficult move, but not one they haven’t made before.

Unfortunately, DFA King David Hale was the corresponding move. It was a necessary evil, however — Chappy is ready.

Seriously, even if you’re the No. 1 David Hale lover of all time (and those people definitely exist, Yankees Twitter is a dark and hoodie-centric place), you can’t argue with this maneuver. You wanted to see Luis Avilan gone? Fine. But he’s a lefty, and has clearly barked his way up the trust tree.

Hale pitched mostly in mop-up duty in 2020, and actually did a pretty good job replicating his 2019 numbers (3.11 ERA in 37.2 innings last year, 3.00 mark in 6.0 innings so far in ’20).

If you’re Hale’s biggest fan, though, you’re well aware that he’s been DFA’d before, and continually returns to the organization. We wouldn’t be shocked if Chapman left the front door open for him at his Scranton motel (JK, Chapman was commuting every day back to NYC like a savage).

Based on Aaron Boone’s press conference on Monday, Chapman will return to the “closer role,” but won’t be able to pitch in back-to-backs this week, allowing Zack Britton a clear opportunity to continue to add to his league lead in saves.

Britton’s “final” affair as closer featured a glove slap error at first base and some questionable Gary Sanchez blocking. Not his cleanest effort, but it worked.

Regardless of the specifics, the Yankees bullpen is back to the fullest level of strength it can be without Tommy Kahnle. Now, can we finally fix those middle innings and bump Jonathan Loaisiga and Michael King up another level?

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