Aroldis Chapman, who was unable to secure a satisfactory free agent contract after a disastrous season last year, has been traded from the Kansas City Royals to the Texas Rangers.
“The Kansas City Royals have completed a trade that sends power reliever Aroldis Chapman to the Texas Rangers,” MLB.com reported on Jan. 1 (ET). In exchange for Chapman, Texas sent Cole Lagans and Ronnie Cabrera, who were playing in the affiliated minor leagues.
The “Cuban Missile” made his debut with the Cincinnati Reds in 2010 and went on to play for the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. However, Chapman’s career began a downward spiral in the 2020 season. After going 1-1 with a 3.09 ERA and three saves in 13 games in the 2020 shortened season, Chapman went 6-4 with 30 saves in 61 games the following year, but his ERA rose to 3.36.
The “nightmare” season was last year. Chapman struggled mightily, going 4-4 with one shutout and nine saves in 43 games with a 4.46 ERA. The problem is that this included an incident. Chapman underwent a tattoo procedure at a time when his game was showing signs of decline, and he had a freak accident that landed him on the injured list (IL) as the area deteriorated. He was stripped of his “pride” of closing, and his position was narrowed.
At the time, local media outlets were speculating that the Yankees would release Chapman, but he finished the season with the Yankees and was eligible for free agency. However, interest in Chapman on the free agent market was tepid. Chapman didn’t sign a one-year, $3.75 million deal with Kansas City until Jan. 20, after most of the “big fish” had signed.
But the desperate Chapman bounced back. In 31 appearances this year before Game 1, Chapman was 4-2 with a 2.45 ERA and eight saves. He didn’t have a closer’s role in Kansas City and didn’t have many opportunities to accumulate holds due to the team’s dismal record, but he’s made a comeback by improving his declining velocity.
Because of this, local media reported that Kansas City was receiving multiple trade offers for Chapman, and he quickly became a hot commodity. And then the trade happened. “There was a lot of interest in Chapman, and Texas seemed to be the most aggressive team in pursuit of his talent,” Kansas City general manager J.J. Piccolo said, according to MLB.com.
The Texas Rangers are in first place in the American League West with a 49-32 record and a .605 winning percentage after one day. They are separated from the second-place Houston Astros by five games. Having recently bolstered its lineup with an astronomical amount of money in free agency, Texas has its sights set on the “big time. And this year, they added a resurgent Chapman to strengthen their back door.온라인카지노
Chapman, who signed a short one-year deal with Kansas City, could be in line for a big contract after the season if he continues his breakout season in Texas.