The Pirates' bullpen was arguably the club's biggest strength during the offseason, and now they have bolstered it further, reaching agreement on a one-year, $10.5 million deal with free agent reliever Aroldis Chapman, a source said Mark from MLB.com with fine sand.
The club has not confirmed the deal, the physical completion is still pending.
In 2022, Chapman posted a 4.46 ERA in just 43 games with the Yankees – the highest ERA he has had in a 162-game season in the fewest appearances since his rookie year. However, after a strong 1923 season, he entered free agency that offseason when he had a 3.09 ERA in the regular season before allowing just two runs in eight postseasons in the Rangers' march toward the World Series championship innings allowed.
Chapman, 35, signed a one-year, $3.75 million contract with the Royals last offseason and had a 2.45 ERA in 31 games with Kansas City before being traded in the first move of the season's deadline at the end of June Texas was sent. While Chapman is probably no closer at this point in his career (he's only had 15 regular-season saves over the past two seasons), he still has a fastball that averages 99.5 mph (99th percentile). ) and ranked in the 100th percentile in whiff and strikeout rate last year.
With those numbers, Chapman figures to fill a late-innings role for Pittsburgh alongside closer David Bednar and setup relievers Colin Holderman, Carmen Mlodzinski and Ryan Borucki, among other options.
The biggest drawback for Chapman at this point in his career is his command and control. He had a walk rate above 14.5 percent in each of his last three seasons and finished last year with 36 walks in 58 1/3 innings.
This was Chapman's third foray into free agency. In December 2016, he signed a five-year, $86 million contract with the Yankees (which was the largest contract for a reliever at the time) and then signed the aforementioned contract with the Royals last offseason. His best season with the Yankees was 2019, when he had a 2.21 ERA with 37 saves in 57 innings.
The Pirates began the offseason needing to address their starting rotation, which they did with the acquisitions of Martín Pérez and Marco Gonzales, but the back end of the group is still a bit thin. A deeper bullpen group is another way to close the gap from the sixth to ninth innings with leads intact.
Chapman's $10.5 million is significant as it represents the Pirates' second-highest salary this season behind Bryan Reynolds, who is due just over $13 million as part of his eight-year, $106.75 million extension that begins in 2023 -dollars will earn.