New York Yankees acquire Aroldis Chapman from Cincinnati Reds

Christmas may be over, but the New York Yankees got their fans a belated gift in the form of Aroldis Chapman. The team announced Monday afternoon that it had acquired the star reliever from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for four prospects: third baseman Eric Jagielo, second baseman Tony Renda and pitchers Caleb Cotham and Rookie Davis.

The Yankees bullpen, which already boasts the dynamic duo of Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances, wasn’t exactly crying out for reinforcements. However, the club has been in the market for another high-end relief pitcher for a while: the Yanks discussed Craig Kimbrel with the Padres prior to this season’s July trade deadline.

With Chapman added to the mix, the back-end of the Yankees bullpen will now feature three of the most lethal relief arms in the game. In fact, Chapman (41.7%), Miller (40.7%) and Betances (39.5%) posted three of the top four strikeout rates among all relievers during the 2015 campaign.

It’s a luxury that manager Joe Girardi surely won’t mind having next season. Despite being one of the team’s foremost strengths this year, the Yankees bullpen labored heavily toward the end of the season as the skipper began to exclusively trust the Betances-Miller combo in high-leverage situations. Betances in particular threw a lot of innings down the stretch, leading to a decline in command (12 walks in 16.2 innings in September/October).

Having another dependable arm to call upon in the late innings will be a welcome boost to the rest of the pen. Chapman will likely serve as the club’s primary closer, with Betances and Miller taking on seventh and eighth inning duties, respectively. All three have the ability to close, though, which will come in handy if any of them is unavailable on a given night due to recent usage.

Although Chapman’s talents on the mound are indisputable, he currently comes with some legitimate question marks off the field. The Dodgers nearly nabbed him in a trade earlier this month, but the deal fell apart after news broke about a domestic violence investigation into Chapman.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman stated that the organization carried out “due diligence” in evaluating the situation and decided to proceed with the transaction. It remains to be seen whether Major League Baseball hands down any discipline in response to the incident.

Chapman is set to become a free agent after the 2016 season, though it’s worth noting that if he receives a suspension of at least 46 days next season he would lose his eligibility and remain under contract for another year.

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The arrival of Chapman may make the Andrew Miller trade rumors start buzzing again, but Cashman doesn’t sound too keen on that possibility. According to Jack Curry of the YES Network, the general manager called Miller after the Chapman deal was announced to assure him that he intended to keep each component of the Yankees bullpen’s new three-headed monster.