Aroldis Chapman is returning to the Yankees. Photo Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Aroldis Chapman is headed back to the New York Yankees.
Five months after trading the left-handed closer to the Chicago Cubs, the Yankees reportedly have brought him back on a five-year, $68 million free agent deal.
“I love the (Yankees), they welcomed me with open arms, and that’s why I decided to go back,” Chapman told ESPN’s Marly Rivera. “I was hoping I had a chance to go back, and it happened.
“Every player dreams of being a Yankee, and if they don’t, it’s because they never got the chance.”
The agreement was first reported Wednesday night by FOX’s Ken Rosenthal, and multiple media outlets also confirmed it.
It is the most lucrative deal for a reliever in baseball history. Chapman can’t be traded to a California team for the length of the deal and can’t be traded anywhere for the first three years.
“I just didn’t want to go that far from my family,” he told Rivera. “I did have the opportunity to stay here near my house (in Florida, playing with the Miami Marlins) but no, I leaned more towards (going to) New York.”
Those terms should help Chapman settle in after he was traded from the Cincinnati Reds to the Yankees last winter and then from the Yankees to the Cubs at the deadline in July. He then helped Chicago win the World Series.
Chapman, 28, went 4-1 with a 1.55 ERA and 36 saves last season for the Yankees and Cubs. He struck out 90 in 58 innings.
In the postseason, Chapman went 2-0 with four saves and a 3.45 ERA. He blew a save chance in Game 7 of the World Series when Cleveland Indians center fielder Rajai Davis belted a game-tying, two-run homer in the eighth inning. However, Chapman stayed in to toss a perfect ninth inning, and he got the win when the Cubs prevailed in the 10th.
One of the hardest-throwing pitchers in baseball, Chapman was a four-time All-Star with the Reds, though he never led the league in saves.
Chapman served a 30-game suspension at the start of last season stemming from a domestic-violence investigation. He never faced criminal charges, though Davie (Fla.) police alleged that he choked his girlfriend and fired gunshots during the incident in October 2015.
