When the New York Yankees acquired reliever Aroldis Chapman from the Cincinnati Reds in late December, many began to speculate who would close for the Bronx Bombers: Chapman or Andrew Miller?
The question has been answered. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said on the YES Network on Monday night that Chapman will enter Spring Training as the team's closer.
Joe Girardi says ... pic.twitter.com/PQnWqA8dA2
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) January 11, 2016
However, that's only an assumption at this point since Chapman is currently under investigation by the MLB for his involvement in an alleged domestic violence incident back in October. Depending on the evidence the league can get its hand on, Chapman could be facing some sort of suspension. (On that note, previous rumors suggested the suspension would be very brief, or that there'd be none at all.)
"Girardi did not indicate whether [Dellin] Betances and Miller would be assigned specific roles," writes AJ Casavell of MLB.com. "If he makes decisions based on matchups, Betances, a righty, and Miller, a lefty, could form one of the more dominant late-relief platoons in recent memory."
Chapman, 27, is entering his final year of arbitration eligibility. In his six-year MLB career with the Reds, the left-hander owns a 2.17 ERA and 1.02 WHIP with 146 saves and 546 strikeouts in 324 games (319 innings).
He's been voted an All-Star for four consecutive seasons and is regarded as perhaps the best closer in the game, alongside Craig Kimbrel.
He'll join the duo of Miller and Betances. The two relievers made for the best back-end bullpen pair in the MLB last year, with Miller posting a 2.04 ERA with 36 saves and Betances boasting a 1.50 ERA with 131 strikeouts in 84 innings.
If all goes as planned, the Yankees will undoubtedly have the MLB's best bullpen as they hope to shorten games and put less pressure on their hobbling starting rotation that consists of Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia, Nathan Eovaldi, Luis Severino and Ivan Nova.
