10:51am: Chapman underwent an MRI on Saturday that didn’t show any structural damage, per ESPN’s Marly Rivera. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman expects Chapman to miss about a month, reports Mike Mazzeo of the New York Daily News.
9:41am: The Yankees have placed closer Aroldis Chapman on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to Saturday, with left shoulder rotator cuff inflammation, according to an announcement from the team. The club has recalled right-hander Chad Green from Triple-A to take Chapman’s roster spot.
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While the severity of the flamethrowing Chapman’s injury isn’t known, it’s obviously troubling that he’s dealing with a shoulder issue just over a month into a five-year, $86MM contract. The ailment does perhaps explain Chapman’s recent struggles, though, as he surrendered a combined four earned runs on six hits and two walks in the two outings that preceded his placement on the DL. Those showings are almost solely to blame for Chapman’s relatively underwhelming ERA (3.55) and increased walk rate (4.26 per nine innings) in 12 1/3 frames his season. In his previous 12 appearances (11 1/3 innings), Chapman yielded just one earned run and walked four.
Although Chapman hasn’t quite been himself this year, further evidenced by the second-worst strikeout percentage (36.8, down from 40.5 last year) and second-lowest swinging-strike rate (14.6, compared to 18.6 in 2016) of his career, he’s nonetheless among New York’s most important players. Thanks in part to Chapman’s seven saves in eight chances, the Yankees enter Sunday with an AL East-leading 21-12 mark. They’ll now turn the ninth inning over to lights-out setup man Dellin Betances, who had difficulty as the Yankees’ closer down the stretch last season after they traded Chapman to the Cubs, while relying on the likes of Tyler Clippard, Adam Warren and Jonathan Holder to bridge the gap to Betances. Those four have been outstanding this year for the Yankees, who own the majors’ fourth-best bullpen ERA (2.50).
Knew something was up he hasn’t looked right all season. Hope it’s not too serious
I wouldn’t say all season, but it was more so since he closed out the game in Boston a couple of weeks ago.
Scary. Shoulders can be so tricky.. The Yanks are a surprise contender this year; thankfully they have Dellin still. Couldn’t imagine them dealing for a closer but I bet if Chapman misses more than a month or two (which he probably will) they’ll start poking around the likes of Maurer or Barraclough or whoever is a cheap option.
Define cheap. The Marlins won’t let Barraclough leave cheaply.
they have clippard too
imo the run the yankees are on right now will not hold up, I think boston will eventually catch up to them.
Baltimore is more dangerous than Boston with their injury problems
And their questionable staff and hole at third.
Well, every team in the AL East has a questionable staff at this point, right?
Not necessarily compared to the Sox!
Any team in the al east still has an opportunity to come first
The Yankees have plenty of arms available in the minor leagues. They won’t need to make a trade. Betances closes and Holder and Clippard are the setup guys.
Cubs will trade wade Davis for Torres
He’ll be here all week folks..and try the veal!
Lol
Well that’s just great
I’m not an astronaut, and Dellin Betances isn’t a closer.
Boston has they’re own problems. I can see Baltimore bridging the gap to first place
I don’t know. Brach has been awful lately.
Have watched him for years as a devoted Reds fan. I always held my breath as the years went by and he threw so hard. Hope he is back soon.
John smoltz had a great quote ” we all used to pitch through these minor aches and pains”. I know if i told my boss my arm was sore , he would call me a lot of expletives and tell me to get my arse to work ..
Presumably you don’t have a job that requires peak physical exertion though. An inflamed shoulder kinda matters when your bosses invested $86 million in your ability to use that shoulder for 5 years
Your presumably right. Im just a lazy firefighter.
W
If I was your boss and you told me that your shoulder was sore, I’d send you for scans, therapy and wait till you recover, you’re better off to me long term than trying to be a hero. I like to look after my best assets. But I’m not a GM…
Except for 2000 when Smoltz missed the entire year.
When your job is pitching, i think a sore arm is a bit of a problem.
Excellent “no sign” by Theo Epstein and Co.
Throwing that hard, for that many years, with those mechanics, is bound to wreak havoc, eventually.
He been going to his off-speed stuff quite a bit this year, probably because his arm is burnt.
This extra arm rotation probably shot him in the foot, as well.
theo is teh bestsz zomfg
I’m sure it didn’t help the way Maddox abused him last fall!
Maddox abuses him last fall? Ohh, you mean MaddoN? Well Chapman also got a ring, and a big contract from a sucker team, so I think it all evens out.
That contract was coming regardless.
Maddon did use and abuse him without regard and it worked as planned
That was obviously the plan, however. They signed him as a rental. The front office and coaching staff knew they weren’t going to resign him. Everyone got a ring. A win/win.
I used to pitch, however, and I can tell you that throwing a few extra innings in the playoffs isn’t going to do long term damage to an arm.
Plus, he had the whole offseason to recuperate. If he can’t throw as needed, then he has no business in the major leagues.
It’s Father Time catching up to him, and his atrocious mechanics aren’t doing him any favors. It’s just speeding up the process.
Hope this blows up in the Yankees face.
A little instant karma for scooping up a wife beater when every other classy organization passed.
cubs traded for him. they are just as classy
The Cubs didn’t pass on him last summer either
Is qbass187 a Cubs fan? If not, I don’t know what bringing the Cubs into the conversation has to do with anything.
Not a Cubs fan. Obviously
They clearly didn’t “pass” on him last year after the whole situation. They absolutely belong in the same conversation…
Whist, what team do you root for?
Qbuss?
I think ‘Karma’ would have gotten him (not the Yankees) as he was pitching in the playoffs and WS.. Otherwise I think Karma had nothing to do with this, just years of a workload throwing at 100 MPH and being used like a pack mule in the playoffs. Karma would not have let him get a WS ring and a bloated contract either. The Cubs would have gotten hit with the Karma and yet again missed another WS before the Yankees were affected..
The Yankees picked this guy up for peanuts because no one wanted to touch him after it came out he was Ray Rice-ing his wife and firing off firearms to make her dance. The Dodgers even backed out of a sweet trade for him… but the Yankees said “we like that kind of stuff around here” and picked him up for nothing. The fact that they resigned him for big $$$
(Cont.) and now he’s falling apart, is to me: karma.
Wishful thinking on your part. Hardly call this “falling apart”.
He was not married
Semantics. Like that makes a bit of difference
False.
No charges were filed, and she’s still with him.
Riiiiiight, so I’m sure nothing happened then.
Because the abused party never stays
(Cont.) And the abused woman ALWAYS presses charges.
You’ve made one hell of a case…. that most woman beaters are innocent by your logic, that is.
Karma would be your partner wuppin your tale!
“No charges were filed, and she’s still with him.”
Pretty sure that argument doesn’t work anymore after the Ray Rice situation…
You got that right!! I really don’t make a habit of wishing misfortune upon players but people like him….. well frankly they deserve a lot more than a little shoulder inflammation. I don’t feel bad for him or the team that decided to hand $86 million to someone everyone knows is a domestic abuser either. Same goes for every other team that knowingly brings on players with this history. You don’t reward that kind of behavior EVER.
Damn right!
If Price comes back healthy and Carson Smith is back in June Boston will start to pull away. Even with third base issues pitching too good over the year. Price can even be Price of last year for them to make ground.
Same thing happened in Cincinnati a few yrs back
No kidding. That’s what we’re talking about McFly.
What you expect the guy throw 105 mph fastball. A very risk contract. And now yankee fans want overpay for machado and Harper . please do it.
Exactly
The Bullpen isn’t a problem, it’s the horrible starting pitching. If Tanaka keeps pitching like this the Yankees decision will be easy when he opts out. Severino needs to learn how to pitch without his best stuff. If he and Sabathia don’t clean it up they should give Green and Cessa another shot.
Never understood this signing in the first place. You trade average prospects to acquire Chapman in a great move then flip him to the Cubs for Gleyber, which is even better. Then after a shaky post season you re-sign him to the biggest deal that a closer has ever been given even though you certainly have a viable option (in Betances) and no guarantee that your team will be able to gain/keep a lead in order to use him for the save. ::sigh::
This is why dropping a ton of money on a long term contract for a RP is so risky.
The Yankees pretty much print their own money. I love how people act like this signing will set them back. This isn’t the A’s we’re talking about.