Report: Royals Are Signing Seven-Time All-Star Reliever
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The Kansas City Royals are a team that underwent some major front office and coaching staff changes during the offseason, but the club's surplus of youth has partially contributed to not many external pieces being added. That cycle was briefly interrupted on Thursday, however, as Kansas City is reportedly signing relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman to a contract. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first had the news:
Feinsand adds that the deal is a one-year commitment worth $3.75 million with other incentive bonuses for performance being available for that number to potentially increase. Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports that the contract is pending a physical. A tweet surfaced on Tuesday afternoon indicating that the Royals had expressed interest in signing Chapman, although nothing appeared to be imminent at the time. Just a couple of days later, however, the seven-time All-Star is on his way to becoming a Royal.
Chapman, who's set to turn 35 years old in late February, boasts a 44-35 career record with a 2.48 ERA and 1,045 strikeouts spanning 667 innings of work. He's notorious for throwing a high-leverage fastball that could consistently hit triple-digits at its peak, and he also has a slider-changeup combination that he goes to as needed. This past season with the New York Yankees, Chapman ranked in the 96th percentile in Baseball Savant's fastball velocity metric and was in the 97th percentile in extension. Despite that, he struggled more than he truly ever has as a big-league pitcher.
In 36.1 innings with New York in 2022, Chapman logged a 4.46 ERA with 43 strikeouts and a career-worst 88 ERA+ (his only ERA+ season below 110). His K/9 remained high (10.65), but he also allowed a staggering 6.94 walks per nine innings. That number was 6.07 in 2021, which also makes it extremely difficult for anyone — even him — to function at a premier level. Prior to that and the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, Chapman had back-to-back All-Star seasons.
Durability has been a concern for Chapman as of late, and his fastball was as slow as it's ever been (97.5 mph) in 2022. The Royals are banking on him having a resurgent 2023 on his new contract and if he manages to put together a good year, it's possible that he's a candidate for a trade near the summer deadline to move players. Chapman joins pitchers like Ryan Yarbrough and Jordan Lyles as offseason signings that will look to shape Kansas City's pitching staff over the next several months.
