First-Place Texas Rangers Tighten Bullpen By Landing Aroldis Chapman

The player many baseball insiders considered most likely to be traded was actually moved Friday night when the Kansas City Royals sent erstwhile All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman to the Texas Rangers.

The trade is a move from last place to first place for the left-handed Chapman, best-known for his productive years with the New York Yankees.

Chapman, 35, was in his first year with the Royals, who signed him to a one-year, $3.5 million free-agent contract last winter. Used mainly as a set-up man by Kansas City, he struck out 43.4% of opposing hitters, his best rate since 2020, with 53 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings.

The 6’4″ Cuban flame-thrower has saved at least 30 games in eight different seasons and has 317 career saves to go with a 3.25 earned run average over his 14-year career. His ERA this year was 2.45.

It’s a cost-cutting move by the Royals, who entered play Friday with a 23-58 record that left them 16½ games behind the front-running Minnesota Twins in the American League Central Division.

Kansas City received left-handed pitcher Cole Ragans and minor-league outfielder Roni Cabrera from the Rangers for Chapman, a seven-time All-Star who could be added to the 2003 AL All-Star pitching staff to be announced Sunday night.

Landing Chapman figures to help the Rangers in their quest to dethrone the Houston Astros as perennial champions of the American League West. The Astros entered the 2023 campaign as defending world champions, with four pennants in their last six seasons, while the Rangers had not reached the World Series since 2011.

The Rangers are the fourth stop for Chapman, who broke into the big leagues with the 2010 Cincinnati Reds and pitched nearly seven seasons for the Yankees but also helped pitch the Chicago Cubs to a surprise world championship – their first since 1908 – in 2016.

Texas started the weekend at 49-32, five games ahead of the Astros, after a winter signing spree that landed manager Bruce Bochy, a three-time world champion in San Francisco, plus Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Martin Perez, Will Smith, Andrew Heaney, and Robbie Grossman.

A year earlier, the team had won free-agent bidding wars for slugging infielders Marcus Semien and Cory Seager, both mainstays in the lineup of this year’s front-running club.

The 33-year-old Smith, who split last season between the Braves and Astros, leads the Rangers with 14 saves but, like Chapman, throws left-handed. Bochy and pitching coach Mike Maddux may decide to divide closing opportunities between the two veterans so that neither wilts during the second half of the season.

Chapman made himself an attractive trade chip by rebounding from a bad year in the Bronx, where he posted a 4.46 earned run average in a 2022 season spoiled by control problems.

Although Chapman has hit triple digits with his pitches in the past, his velocity has tailed off as he ages. But he still throws harder than almost any lefty in the game – especially one who pitches only an inning or two at a time. With averages of 99.4 mph on his fastball and 88.23 mph on his slider, it’s not surprising that he’d held left-handed hitters to a .211 batting average and no extra-base hits. Right-handed batters are having even more trouble against him (.146).

The bad news is that Chapman still has bouts of wildness, walking a whopping 16.4 per cent of the hitters he faces.

Chapman, whose salary once peaked at $17.2 million per annum, is an inexpensive acquisition for Texas since he has only $2 million left, not counting bonus clauses, on his 2023 contract.

Adding him was a no-brainer for the Rangers, whose bullpen ranks near the bottom of the big leagues with a 4.37 earned run average.

The pitcher can hike his earnings when he reaches certain incentives. His contract calls for $312,500 for every fifth appearance between 35-55 and a matching $312,500 for every fourth game finished between 12 and 40 (entering the weekend, he had finished nine).

In addition to Bochy, a former catcher, Texas employs Mike Maddux, one of the most respected pitching coaches in the major leagues. Both should be able to help Chapman if he falters physically or emotionally.

Sensing that they have a real shot at their first pennant since 2011, the Rangers are likely to keep dealing right up the Aug. 1 trade deadline. Among other things, they’re believed to be seeking right-handed relief help, a back-of-the-rotation starter, and anther outfielder.

Owner Ray Davis has given general manager Chris Young the green light to acquire veteran talent even if it increases the team’s hefty $201 million payroll, ninth-most in the majors according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

From the Kansas City perspective, Ragans is a 25-year-old left-hander with limited big-league experience but a future as a starter. He has been used exclusively in relief this season, however.

Cabrera, still just 17, is years away but is projected as a possible corner outfielder.

Entering the Fourth of July weekend, only the Oakland Athletics had a won-lost record worse than the Kansas City’s. The Chapman swap is believed to be the first shot of a fire sale that could send such veterans as Zack Greinke, Matt Duffy, and Scott Barlow to other clubs.