Aroldis Chapman signing with Royals is hilarious offseason twist for Yankees fans

Your three-year nightmare is over, New York Yankees fans. Though it was a foregone conclusion Aroldis Chapman would be playing elsewhere in 2023, nobody was going to believe it until he actually signed with a new team.

And that he did. On Thursday, the veteran left-hander agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles D … nope! The San Diego Pa … nope! The Miami Marl … nope! It was the KANSAS CITY ROYALS that brought in Chapman. What a twist! Even we weren’t that mean in our predictions!

The Royals finished 65-97 in 2022, good for dead last in the weak AL Central. They made almost no moves this offseason, with Chapman serving as the biggest name alongside Jordan Lyles and Ryan Yarbrough.

The terms of the deal are undisclosed at the moment, but regardless of what they are, we have a hard time believing adding Chapman to the 27th-ranked bullpen in MLB last year (4.66 ERA, 1.48 WHIP) is going to help matters!

Chapman’s been, progressively, the worst version of himself ever since the 2019 postseason. The shortened 2020 signaled the decline, 2021 put it in motion, and 2022 confirmed it. The Yankees stood by him, even though fans wanted him gone after the 2019 ALCS.

Former Yankee Aroldis Chapman signs with the Kansas City Royals

Chapman earned a ridiculous $89 million over the course of 6.5 seasons with New York. While he held his ground (for the most part) during the regular season, he crumbled in the playoffs and essentially got the Yankees booted (or at least played a big role) in 2017, 2019 and 2020.

Even in the regular season, he was responsible for the viral Rafael Devers home run on Sunday Night Baseball. The unthinkable meltdown against the Mets in the shortened 2020. The rain delayed nightmare against the Angels in 2021. Need we go on? We could make an entire lowlight video of how Chapman ruined Yankees games.

Oh wait … someone did!

By the end of his tenure in New York, he lost all control and eventually abandoned the team ahead of the postseason when manager Aaron Boone wouldn’t guarantee him an ALDS roster spot. And don’t forget about the tattoo infection that sidelined him in the second half of last year, too!

Officially, three years too late, Aroldis Chapman is somebody else’s problem. Though it might be hard to call him a “problem” in Kansas City given the laundry list of issues the Royals have at the moment, he’ll no doubt help the chaotic merry go round keep churning.

Predicting landing spots for 4 former Yankees still stuck in free agency

There are several former New York Yankees still stuck in free agency. Here's how we project their landing spots, from Gary Sánchez to Aroldis Chapman.