By: Justin Gincauskas
The Pittsburgh Pirates and relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman agreed to a one-year, $10.5 million contract Monday, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
After spending parts of seven seasons with the New York Yankees, Chapman played for the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers in 2023. Chapman signed a one-year, $3.75 million contract with the Royals in January last year and played 31 games for the organization. On June 30, Kansas City traded Chapman to the Rangers in exchange for Cole Ragans and Roni Cabrera.
The 35-year-old left-hander is coming off a World Series championship with Texas, who defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games. Chapman pitched 1 2/3 innings across two games in the World Series and had two strikeouts.
Chapman played 61 games between the Royals and Rangers during the 2023 season. He finished the year with a 3.09 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, 103 strikeouts, and six saves over 58 1/3 innings. His fastball is still one of the fastest in the major leagues, averaging more than 99 mph in 2023, which is in the 99.5 percentile.
Aroldis Chapman began his career with the Cincinnati Reds, signing his first MLB contract in January 2010. Chapman spent six seasons with Cincinnati before being traded to the New York Yankees. He played half of the 2016 season with the Yankees until he was traded to the Chicago Cubs. After helping the Cubs win the World Series later that year, Chapman went back to New York, signing a five-year, $86 million contract with the Yankees.
In his career, Chapman has played in 728 MLB games, the sixth-most among active players. He is a seven-time All-Star and sits 21st on the all-time saves list with 321 career saves.
The Pittsburgh Pirates had a record of 76-86 last season and finished fourth in the NL Central.
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