The New York Yankees have two players who are gaining interest from several teams who are looking for impact in the 2nd of the season. They are two/ thirds of the Run DMC as it is Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman. According to Buster Olney of ESPN, who has spoken to several executives that the Nationals, Rangers, and Indians are a few of the parties involved at the current time.
There are reports coming out of New York and recent quotes from the president Randy Levine, who spoke with Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, that have indicated that the Yankees have yet to determine whether or not they will sell off veteran pieces at the deadline on August 1st. However, there are strong indications and speculation that Chapman, who happens to be a free agent at season’s end could be moved even if they decide to keep Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances.
The Nationals, Rangers and Indians have been linked to getting help in relief over the past few weeks. There are left handed relief help in paticular is one of the top priorities that the Indians are having as of late. The Rangers are known to be getting rotation help, however they also hold the second-worst bullpen ERA of any club in baseball. Finally, the Nationals have been said to be looking for a top-tier bullpen arm dating back to last summer’s trade deadline. According to Ken Rosenthal, the most likely team to land the services of Chapman is the Washington Nationals.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo wrote earlier this week that the Yankees “are going to trade” Chapman prior to the August 1st non-waiver trade deadline. There has also been talks within the Yankees inner circles that they want to extend Chapman, but as of now those plans seem to be scrapped,
Chapman, who is 28 years old, is owed about $4.64 MM of his $11.325 MM salary through season’s end. He has pitched to a 2.22 ERA with 12.7 K/9 and a much improved 2.5 BB/9 rate since he returned to the Yankees after serving a 30 game suspension under MLB’s domestic violence policy earlier this season.