Los Angeles Dodgers agree to acquire Aroldis Chapman

Aroldis Chapman is headed to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a trade, according to reports.

Update: It seems as if this morning’s reports may have been a bit premature. According to Jayson Stark of ESPN, the Reds are now telling teams that a deal with the Dodgers involving Chapman has not yet been reached. Stay tuned.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has indicated that the Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds have agreed to a trade involving superstar closer Aroldis Chapman. The deal is contingent upon medical evaluations.

Los Angeles will reportedly send back two prospects in the exchange. CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman states that the prospects are not farm system gems Corey Seager, Julio Urias or Jose De Leon.

Trade rumors have swirled around Chapman for the past year. He was a highly sought-after item at this season’s July trade deadline and speculation ramped up once again almost immediately as the offseason began.

The Dodgers may not have the most obvious need for Chapman with Kenley Jansen already installed as their closer. You would be exceedingly hard-pressed to complain about the 28-year-old Jansen’s performance in the role over the last few seasons. Since 2012, he has notched 133 saves for the Boys in Blue to the tune of a 2.33 ERA and 13.6 K/9 rate.

According to Rosenthal, L.A.’s current plan is to keep both Jansen and Chapman at the back-end of their bullpen. Doing so instantly gives them one of the most potent one-two relief punches in the game. With the surprise exit of Zack Greinke, building a lockdown bullpen could help them mitigate some of the expected regression in their starting rotation.

The Dodgers did sign Hisashi Iwakuma this weekend, but it’s safe to say their 2016 rotation (barring anything dramatic) will most likely not attain the incredibly lofty heights reached by Greinke and Clayton Kershaw last season. A resurgent bullpen would help carry the load.

Chapman’s skills as a closer require little exposition, of course. The 27-year-old boasts the highest average fastball velocity in baseball (99.4 mph in 2015) and has averaged 36 saves the past four seasons. The lefty has also posted a 16.1 K/9 in that span, meaning the Dodgers bullpen should be racking up the strikeouts with ease in the late innings next season.

Dodgers relievers outside of Jansen struggled for the most part last year. The L.A. bullpen put up a 3.91 ERA as a unit in 2015, good for just 19th in MLB.

Combining Jansen and Chapman would obviously help improve that number next season, but it’s difficult not to see more moves in the Dodgers’ pipeline. As a trade chip, Jansen could help them net another starter or needed piece. Both he and Chapman will hit free agency next winter, and it’s unlikely they would retain both anyway.

Next: 10 players who could be traded at Winter Meetings

Whatever they do, the Dodgers have some choices ahead of them. They can either explore further deals, or be content with two dynamite options for the eighth and ninth innings. But would either Jansen or Chapman agree to a setup role? The Dodgers will have it figure it all out.

Keep following Call to the Pen this week for more Winter Meetings coverage.